Page 56 of Burning Secrets of a Lady's Pen
Best regards,
Mr. Seymour Batten
And just like that, Imelda’s hopes and heart plummeted.
Chapter 20
“Don’t speak!” Corin snapped, stopping Romeo before he could start another blubbering apology.
Corin couldn’t stand to hear it.
He couldn’t stomach another word before they were safely indoors and behind the safety of the walls of their own home. Already, what his brother had said, so publicly and as loud as he had in those gardens, was ringing in his ears.
“They’re going to kill me, Corin. He’s going to shoot me for what I’ve done.”
In the court of law, it would be all but a confession.
Every scenario, every possibility, every ‘he’ and ‘they’ that was possible had been occupying Corin’s thoughts the whole way since he had first stopped Romeo from talking in that garden. The fire in his veins from holding Imelda had turned to ice, his muscles tense and bunched up as he pulled Romeo from the gardens and back to his private carriage.
“Corin,” Romeo despaired, his tears choking his voice.
“Not a word,” Corin reminded him harshly, listening to the slowing of the horses’ hooves on the gravel outside. “Not one damn word.”
What would they go inside to find?
A summons?
The law?
Corin barely waited for the sound of the carriage rolling to a complete stop before he opened the door, jumping down out of the thing, and not even waiting for Romeo. Every step felt like committing himself to a harsher sentence as he entered his home, leaving the door open behind him to head straight for his study.
“The only price to pay is blood.”
Whose blood?
Romeo was silent as he trailed behind Corin, shutting first the front door and then the door of the study with far more care than his usual dramatics allowed.
Corin closed the distance between himself and his liquor cart as Romeo hesitated there in the closed doorway.
“Spare me the apologies.” Corin’s words grated like gravel as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. “What did you do?”
Romeo inhaled sharply. Corin didn’t have the heart to face him.
“The Earl of Medbourn…has found out about my affair…with his wife.” For all of the breaks in his voice, Romeo did an excellent job of getting right to the point.
Corin almost wished he hadn’t.
He winced as he lifted his full glass and downed it in one swallow.
“Stop,” he ground out as Romeo took a deep breath, undoubtedly to continue his story. Corin poured himself another glass, hesitating only a moment before pouring his brother one as well. “Start at the beginning.” As much as he hated the theatrics of it all, this didn’t seem to be the sort of story he could dive into the end of and have it make sense.
He crossed the distance between them to hand Romeo his drink before crashing unceremoniously down into his study chair.
Romeo stared at the liquor in his hand for a long moment, a confused, weary frown marring his face.
“I met Sandra in France,” he began slowly. “She’s a good deal younger than the Earl. We share many hobbies.”
Corin snorted. “You always seem to.”
