Page 44 of The Pleasures of Passion
“Because marryinghimallowed me to take Mama with me.”
That stunned him speechless.
“I didn’t care about your going into exile,” she went on. “Ilovedyou.”
Fighting to ignore the power of those words—and the fact that they were in the past tense—he clenched his hands into fists at his sides to keep from reaching out to shake the truth out of her. “You had an odd way of showing it.”
“So did you, taking up with another woman. You merely saw me as one of your conquests. I daresay if I’d gone with you, I would have regretted it. It’s just as your father told me: You were not—”
“My father,” he interrupted, his blood going cold. “What did my father have to do with it?”
She gazed steadily at him. “He’s the one who told me it was a mistress that you and Mr. Whiting fought over.”
“My father,” he echoed hollowly, unsure what to think. “Told you I had a mistress.”
“Yes, the one time I met with him. I asked him about the rumors that you two had fought over a woman, and he told me it was true. That you’d dueled over some light-skirt.”
Why would he . . . Damnation. Could Father have panicked when Bree had repeated the rumors that the duel was over a woman? Might he have said the only thing he knew would deflect the gossips from suspecting that the duel had been over Clarissa?
But Father had to have known it would also have been the only thing to poison Bree against him forever. And Niall had made it very clear how important she was to him. Father had sworn to do what he could to help her.
His heart began to pound. No—it wasn’t possible. Father wouldn’t have betrayed him like that. Not after what Niall had done, the sacrifices he’d made. The very idea was . . . was . . .
Unable even to consider it, he pinned Bree with a hard look. He would get her to admit the truth if it was the last thing he did. “That’s a bloody lie, and you damned well know it.”
Eight
The conviction in Niall’s voice took Brilliana completely aback. He seemed genuinely shocked by the idea of his father telling her about his . . . peccadilloes.
Well, of course he was. Men were supposed to keep each other’s salacious secrets. And a father should almost certainly keep his son’s.
“It isnota lie, I swear.” She tipped up her chin. “Perhaps you should have instructed him better not to reveal the truth.”
“It wasn’t the truth, blast it!” He looked like a pugilist staggering from a blow.
“Then why did he say it?”
Niall glowered at her. “I don’t believe he did. He wouldn’t lie like that. Not about me. Not to you. He knew how I felt about you.”
“You mean, he knew you wanted me in your bed since you apparently couldn’t get your paramour to go with you.”
She choked down bile, remembering how news of the real reason for the duel had sent her spiraling down into despair. Until then, she’d hung her hopes on Niall saving her from having to marry Reynold, but after his father had revealed the truth, she’d begun to think that Reynold might be the lesser of two evils.
“He knew I loved you,” Niall bit out.
The words sang in her . . . before she reminded herself that they were lies. “That’s not whathesaid. He was very kind about why there was no point in his sending on my letter, but—”
Niall pounced on that. “What letter? He never told me about a letter.”
“Well, I wrote one. Because I needed you. I met your father so I could give him the letter to send to you. But he said I had misconstrued your . . . interest in me. That sending it would be futile.”
Pure shock showed on his face. “That can’t be true.” Though he now sounded a bit less certain. “He swore he would pass on anything you gave him, any news of you.” His voice hardened into conviction. “My father was a man of honor. He always kept his word.”
That unsettled her. “Perhaps he thought he wouldn’t be able to find you.”
“He found me well enough when he sent me money. And the newspaper announcement of your bloody nuptials.”
That sparkedhertemper. “Are you saying he lied to me about . . . about how you felt?”
