Page 78 of To Resist a Scandalous Rogue
His sister furrowed her brow. After a moment, she tilted her head to the side. “Did you plan to make her your mistress?”
“I planned to marry her.”
The words were uttered with all the grace of a lead bomb. If Finlay could snatch back the words and rephrase them in a way better suited for a duchess’s ears, he would. But to his surprise, Alethea appeared nonplussed.
“Right.”
“That’s it?” He regarded her curiously. “You are not going to tell me how I would have married far beneath my class. How such a marriage would have ruined my political aspirations?” Finlay scratched behind his ear. “How you would have refused to have us in your home.”
A dreadful silence ensued, and he felt as if he waited for a firing squad to fire its first shots.
“I am offended you would even think I’d treat you and your bride in such an atrocious manner.” Her scowl was menacing. “You may have behaved like a rake about town, but you have always been kind. Despite all your best efforts, you’ve always been the best man of my acquaintance.”
Inconvenient emotions strangled him, and he fixed his eyes on where he gripped the sheets.
“If you felt strongly enough to want to make her your bride, I would never dream of standing in your way with my ill-placed judgment. I’ve been gone a year, Fin, and in that time you have done great things not only to benefit the Rockhaven estate, but to bring prestige and respect to your own standing. It is not my place to tell you what you can and cannot do.” She smoothed her hands down her skirts and cleared her throat. “Society would most definitely disapprove of such a marriage, but I would never. Some, no doubt, disapprove of my marriage. Still, I find Mrs. Taylor’s actions peculiar.”
It was his turn to feel bewildered. “How so?”
“Well, if you’d made your feelings to her as clear as you say, why wouldn’t she hold out for a better offer from you? At the very least, she would have expected you to set her up as your mistress. That is worth far more than two hundred pounds.” She bit her lip. “Or so I imagine.”
“She said she would never be my mistress.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, and when he lowered it, he caught his sister’s scowling expression. “Save your venom. I did not ask her. She simply said that the only way we could be together is if she were my mistress and she refused to do that.”
“Good for her. Although she would have been secure…for a time. If she thought the only way the two of you could be together was if you made her your mistress, then she certainly didn’t think you would ever make her your bride.”
“Honestly, the thought only occurred to me recently. And Charlotte thought herself far below me. She was very aware that any association with her could ruin my political career.” He licked his lips. “And she would have to convert.”
He grasped his head. Lud, not a quarter of an hour before he’d thought himself a fool for trusting such a fickle woman. But now, with his sister’s help, he was beginning to believe something else was spurring Charlotte’s actions besides greed and opportunity.
Words she’d said to him the night they’d spent together suddenly came back to him.For just one night, can we forget about everything and everyone outside that door and just…be? Together?
She’d only given him one night. Why?
“So she didn’t want to be your mistress and was cognizant of the damage she could do to your political aspirations.” Alethea paused, her nose crinkling. “If all this you’ve said about her is true, I don’t see how she’d betray you in such a way.”
“Truly?” He wanted to feel embarrassed by the breathless way in which he uttered that single word, but his twin would never judge him for a fleeting show of emotion.
Alethea nodded. “There has to be a reason why she resorted to threatening you.”
Although Finlay held his tongue, his brain had begun to frantically consider different options.
“Did she mention being in debt to anyone?”
Finlay shook his head.
“Had she been acting odd or out of character lately?”
He frowned. “She’s been guarded, even distant, since the abduction attempt.”
Finlay felt his jaw unhinge, and he turned to his sister and watched her eyes grow large. He expected his did the same.
“Abduction attempt!” they said simultaneously.
“Explain,” Alethea said, with all the authority of a duchess.
Finlay obeyed, telling her how someone had tried to take Charlotte, how the Campbells had taken her in, and how she’d only just returned to her home.
“Obviously, she was not being truthful when you questioned her after the crime.” She paused, her gaze unfocused. “Is it possible someone could have visited her at some point after she returned home?”
