“I am not looking for an explanation. I am looking for retribution.”
“What for?” Aaron asked wildly, spreading his arms open wide. “Shekissed me.”
“Is that true?” Lord Bolton asked, looking back to Aaron.
“On my life, Lord Bolton.” Aaron was careful to put enough seriousness and somberness into his tone as he could muster. “I would never do this.”
Lord Bolton looked him over before offering the smallest of nods, seeming to believe him.Thank God for that!
“Explain more,” Lord Bolton urged and jerked his head in Hugh’s direction. “If you expect your brother to believe you before he tries again to hit you. I might not be able to hold him off next time.”
“Hugh, please listen.” Aaron begged, walking to Lord Bolton’s side to meet his brother’s gaze. “I think Jane has been lying to the both of us.”
“How can you say that?” Hugh was not listening, still in his rage. Aaron knew he had to cut through that rage, somehow.
“You said she told you of a conversation that we shared, one where she told me the two of you cared for each other.”
“Yes. Enough of this.” Hugh was ready to advance forward again when Aaron lifted his hands, palms out, in a pleading gesture.
“Hugh, she never told me that. We had no such conversation.” The words at last seemed to break through. Hugh did not believe him, that was evident, but his body had frozen, and his eyes had narrowed.At least he is listening now.“Jane said she cared for me.” Aaron held a hand to his chest, trying to make his meaning plain. “She even talked about being my wife someday.”
“She did?” Hugh’s feathers were clearly ruffled as he took a step back, horrified at the idea.
“Hugh, I thought she cared for me as I did her. The first I knew that there was anything between you was the night I caught you alone with her, in that particularly passionate embrace you were sharing.” Aaron could remember it so clearly; it was something much more intimate than what he had just shared with Jane.
“She said you knew.” Hugh was insistent, even as Aaron shook his head.
“I never did.” Aaron judged it safe to take another step forward, closer to his brother. “When did you tell her you cared for her?”
“Years ago.” Hugh’s words shook Aaron to the core. It suggested that Jane had been holding onto a deception with the two of them for a long time. “She always talked of marrying me.”
“It sounds like this woman has manipulated the both of you.” Lord Bolton’s simple words struck home, making Aaron walk toward his brother again, taking Hugh’s shoulder in his grasp.
“I think Lord Bolton is right, Hugh,” his quiet words made Hugh shake beneath his touch.
“I don’t understand. Why would she do it? Why would she tell each other such things?” Hugh asked, looking up to Aaron with his face draining of color.
“Is she someone that takes pleasure in others’ pain?” Lord Bolton’s question made them both look toward him. He was stoic indeed with folded arms.
“No, I will not believe her capable of that.” Hugh shook his head, insistently.
“Hugh, be serious,” Aaron spoke gently. “I didn’t think she was, but as children, she was always setting us against each other, wasn’t she? What of when she took our toy soldiers?”
“We were just boys.”
“We were.” Aaron agreed, when he recalled another memory. “We were teenagers when she told me that you kept scaring her and making her jump, weren’t we? She encouraged me to go and argue with you, only for us to discover you had done no such thing.”
“Perhaps she grew bored easily. It’s how she takes her amusement in the world.” Lord Bolton’s words were making such sense that Aaron found himself reaching for the low-lying wall surrounding the terrace and sitting down. Hugh sat beside him; the two brothers silent for a minute as the truth washed over them.
“I am telling you the truth, Hugh,” Aaron muttered as gently as he could. “Jane brought me out here. She asked to see me and brought the maid too, who can confirm what happened if you need to ask her. Jane claimed there would always be a connection between us, and when I told her the truth, that I feel nothing for her now, that I love Emily, she kissed me.”
Hugh hung his head forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Aaron could see his brother believed him at last, even as horrible as it was to acknowledge. Aaron rested his hand on his brother’s back, offering the only support he could give.
“I need to return home and look after my sister,” Lord Bolton said taking a step back. “May I trust that you two will not start fighting again?”
“I give you my word,” Hugh said slowly.
“Good.” Lord Bolton turned away, exchanging one slow nod in parting with Aaron before he hovered at the door. “Before I go, might I suggest you two talk through just about everything this Miss Drew has done? The time is done for confusion. Before anyone else ends up carrying a broken heart with them.”
