“Why are you talking in the past tense?” she cried, flicking the blonde curls that had escaped her updo back across her shoulder and offering a sweet smile. It was an attempt at manipulation. “Hugh, darling, we are not going to let this destroy what we share, are we?”
“Do not speak to me in that way anymore.” He leaned further back toward the glass window behind them. His words made that smile on her cheeks falter. “Did you love me?”
“Hugh, I –”
“Did you ever love me?” Hugh demanded, cutting her off. “A yes or no will suffice.”
She did not answer, not at first, before she attempted another one of those smiles and tilted her head to the side.
“Of course, I love you, Hugh.”
“Oh, that was quite a delay,” Aaron pointed out, looking to his brother. “I told Emily I loved her, and she cut me off in her eagerness to tell me she loved me too.”
“She did?” Hugh asked, looking to Aaron with hope. It was clearly what he had been hoping for, even expecting, but it was not to be.
“If I was to place a wager on this matter, Hugh, I’d say that Jane cares for you. After all, she chose to marry you after the two of you were caught together.” Aaron kept his gaze on Hugh as he spoke, not wanting to give Jane the satisfaction of looking at her again. “But maybe all that she really loved was the control and the manipulation of how you felt. How often did she provoke you into being angry at me? How often did she bring up the subject of me when you were courting?”
Hugh’s face said it all with the eyes widening in realization before he jerked his head to look back at Jane.
“Hugh, surely you are not going to listen to him.” Jane moved forward, reaching for Hugh’s hand, but he drew it out of her reach. “You know what he is. We have been over this. He is simply jealous of you; he doesn’t want us to be happy together.”
“Then why did you kiss him?”
“I didn’t. He kissed me.”
“He did not.” Hugh shook his head. “We spoke to your maid, Jane. She confirmed all that Aaron said.”
Jane stumbled away, clearly horrified that she had been betrayed by her own maid. Aaron smiled for the first time. It felt like a victory, as if Jane’s high and mighty position was beginning to tumble a little. She did not look so sure of herself now.
“Aaron?” She looked to him. The way she so quickly turned her pleading attempt on him disgusted him.
“Don’t you dare try to be nice to me now.” His words made her back up even more, until she was halfway across the room.
“This is not how it was supposed to go,” she was muttering, speaking more to herself than anyone else. “This is not fair.”
“I think it’s very fair indeed,” Aaron declared as he folded his arms. “It’s a good job we discovered this all now, before you married Hugh.”
“What do you mean?” Jane asked, her eyes on Hugh again. “No, do not call off the wedding. My name will be ruined. My reputation!”
“It will recover a little in time,” Hugh said, adopting a coldness to his tone. “You have had what you wanted for long enough, Jane. I have danced on your puppet strings until now, I won’t’ do it anymore. The betrothal is off, and I am more than happy to see my name dragged through the mud of the scandal sheets just to avoid being married to someone who would lie to me so.”
Jane had no words as she covered her mouth. The tears were there, and they were evident to see, yet Aaron felt no pity. Not after the discovery that she was behind all the letters to Emily, how could he? She deserved any heartbreak coming to her, though Aaron was not convinced she was capable of suffering heartbreak at all. It implied she had a heart in the first place.
Jane hurried out of the room, leaving the two brothers together, listening to her distant wailing through the corridors. Hugh bent down, resting his hands on his knees and breathing deeply.
“That can’t have been easy,” Aaron said, taking his brother’s shoulder comfortingly. “Well done.”
“Thank you. My turn is done. Now it is your turn?”
“My turn?” Aaron repeated.
“Are you going to go to Lady Emily?” Hugh asked, looking up to meet Aaron’s gaze.
“My horse is waiting outside for me already.”
* * *
“Please, let me in to see Emily.” Aaron was pleading with the butler, but it was getting him nowhere. The butler was refusing to let him into the house.