Page 28 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks
“I can’t,” he said. “My brother cannot know I’m in London or it’s back to France with me.”
“Would he really send you back?”
Cass had kidnapped his brother’s wife. “Yes, he would.” Why wouldn’t he? Cass couldn’t imagine. If his heart loved a woman, and another man had harmed her, he’d rip the man’s heart out. Forget exile. Forget forgiveness. The word would hold no meaning. The only thing that would have any shape in Cass’s mind would be protecting his beloved one.
He looked away from Miss Cavendish, his pulse rising.
“You know your brother best.” She shrugged, and the hood of her red cloak fell from her head, and her thick curls tumbled out. Had she even bound them before leaving the house? He itched to curl one round his finger.
He weaved his fingers together behind his back. “I do.”
Her fingers gripped the edges of her cloak and pulled it tighter about her. “But if he only knows the past you, you must give him the chance to know the new you.”
“Ha! If you knew the worst of me, you would not say that. You would understand I deserve exile.” Worse, even.
“Very well then. Tell me.”
He would. But only because the kiss hadn’t worked. He’d tried to scare her off, but here she was. He’d need to tell her the truth to make her, finally, look on him with the disgust he deserved.
He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Last year, I entered into a secret agreement to marry my brother’s fiancée, the Lady Willow. Her idea, not mine. I agreed to it, though. We connived to convince her parents and my own that she and Bax planned to marry, but before the wedding, she and I would run off together."
“You obviously didn’t.”
“No. She fell in love with my brother. Of course.” If Ada met Bax, she’d likely fall in love with him, too. “So I kidnapped her. Her father gave me money to elope with her.” He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t exactly know why he did that. But I know why I took the money. I hated my brother. I thought him better than me in every way, and I wanted to have the thing he wanted most. I drowned every day in a bottle of whisky until I passed out. I let anger consume me, control my actions. I—”
“You do not look like someone who overindulges.”
“Pardon me?” As he poured his heart out to this woman, she cut her eyes up and down his form, assessing him in a way that made him feel naked to the core.
“A farmer near home was a drunkard. Not always, but in the last five years, after he lost his wife, we all watched him transform from a trim man into a portly sot, a sad transformation. I am thankful they bore no children. You do not have the same gut or sallow features. You look very”—she blushed—“active. Healthy.”
He shuffled from foot to foot and rolled his shoulders. God save him from that innocent blush. “I gave up drink. And I’ve been quite physically active since then.” He liked the hard, sinewy muscle he’d put on in the last half year through labor at his estate. It made him feel strong, alive, as if he had the power to change his own destiny. “Don’t you want to ask me about the kidnapping? Why aren’t you running away in hysterics?”
She quirked a smile. “Over the kidnapping? I knew about that already.”
“Bloody hell. Who told you? Lola?”
She shook her head, and the hood fell all the way off. “Nora, my sister. She’s Lady Willow’s good friend.” She rushed toward him, her face eager and sorrowful at the same time. “I’m so sorry. It appears I’ve accidentally revealed you. I did not mean to. When my sister asked your name, I did not know I should not give it to her. I had no clue she knew your brother well. And I did not know you brother wishes you so ill. If I’d known, I would not have—”
He took her hands in his, stilling them. “I believe you.” He did not blame her, but her sister’s knowledge would likely prove a damned nuisance. The roads to Bax shortened with every step. It would not be long before his brother knew. It might not be long before he sent Cass back to the Continent. His father thought Bax would forgive him, and Cass knew—knew—his brother to be a forgiving sort.
But… but what if this time Cass had gone too far? If an act existed that Bax couldn’t forgive, it would be hurting the woman he loved.
“Will your sister tell Lady Willow?” he asked. “That I’m in London?”
Miss Cavendish shook her head. “I do not know. You must see now why you must stop living in the past. Your present is so precarious, and your secret cannot stay a secret much longer. You must make yourself a life your brother would approve of.”
“Or be banished to the Continent again.”
“Just so.”
Cass breathed steadily, trying to control the panic lacing through him. If Bax knew he’d returned—he shoved his hands through his hair—he’d likely put a bullet through Cass’s heart. It’s what Cass would do in his brother’s position.
“But,” Miss Cavendish ventured, “you must learn to behave in the company of others. It’s easy to behave all alone, or in a house full of people who like you already. But in public… it’s an entirely different affair.”
“I am aware of that.”
She held out a hand. “Do come to the Tower with us.”
