Page 102 of Claimed By Her Forbidden Duke
“Finley, do not speak in such a way!”
He barked out a bitter laugh. “Why not? It sounds as though my very dear friend Edmund has spoken far filthier words, and you have liked it.”
Nausea rolled through her at his words.
“Do you know,” he said through gritted teeth, “how longIhave bided my time? How I have kept other suitors from taking your innocence because it should bemine. Your innocence, your gratitude, your honor. It is allmine, darling sister.”
Penelope’s heart stopped, her throat closing up at the revelation. She shook her head, her hands trembling. “You do not mean such a terrible thing.”
“Do I not? I watch you, Pen. I watch you when you do not know it, and I enjoy it.”
She thought about the time he had walked in on her before she went dress shopping with Cecilia, and how he had been so nonchalant about it.
“I spread rumors about you, let the ton think you were uninterested in anybody, that you were destined for the countryside. But why would I send you there when I can keep you where you belong? Right at my side.”
“Finley,” she said, fighting the urge to gag. “Stop—stop this.”
Her head spun as she looked back at her brother, his eyes wide and his face flushed red with anger. There was a mania to his smile; it was too wide, too slack. She hated it.
She wanted to escape, but he blocked her exit, and there was something creepily horrible about the thought of him chasing her through this empty, endless house.
Her heart hammered in her chest.
“I will not stop.” He laughed, the sound spiraling wildly. “Heavens, it feels good to confess my feelings. I desire you, Penelope. And now that you know, nothing will stop me from taking what ismine. I will have you cleansed first of my friend’s touch,” he snarled, backing away from her as if he suddenly thought she was dirty. “I protected you from unworthy men, and this is how you repay me? By spreading your legs for my friend? Offering yourself so freely?”
“You are wrong,” she whispered. “You are wrong for having these feelings, Finley. We—we are siblings. You have all but raised me. You are mybrother. Please, please stop this insanity. Please, let us simply part and never speak of it again.”
“Do not tell me what to do!” he shouted, slamming his palm into the wall next to her head. She gasped. “I will not stop.”
She panted in fear, tears welling up in her eyes.
“We are not even related by blood, you foolish wh—” He broke off, gritting his teeth.
Penelope felt ill. The room behind Finley spun, and she almost swooned.
“Cousins marry, you silly girl. We are not true siblings—not that I care.”
“Icare,” she said, trying to keep the terror from her voice. She held his gaze, nodding, smiling, trying to encourage him to a calmer place. “I care, Finley, and I do not… I do not feel the same. I am sorry, but?—”
“Is it because of Edmund?”
“It is because I see you as my brother,” she whispered, dread creeping down her spine.
She wanted to weep, wanted to scream, wanted to claw free.
“When we get to America, we will not be. We will… Yes,yes, that’s it, Penelope. We will adopt new aliases, and we do not have to worry about frivolous things such as siblingship. Our parents married when you were a child, for Heaven’s sake! We can be a real couple and leave all of thistonnonsense behind us. We can be free, physically and emotionally. You will not be a spinster and—well, you said it yourself that I have taken care of you all your life, have I not?”
His eyes shone with something far, far away, a thing that she could not reach.
Penelope could only stare at her brother for a moment, replaced by this manic man she did not understand. America? A couple? New names?
Physically.
She thought she would empty her stomach right there as she cringed back against the wall when he came closer.
“Finley, you are wrong,” she told him. “Sick, even. You are sick, and you are not right at this moment. You are scaring me, Brother?—”
“Stop calling me that.” His scream tore from his throat, angry and hateful. “I amnotyour brother. I am your—we were meant to be together, Pen, do you not see it? You would have been married otherwise. A man would have wanted you, but nobody did.Ido. Oh Heavens, I do. I have heard you at night when you were thinking you were quiet, but you are not. Not always. You make the very sweetest sounds, Pen?—”
