Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane #2)(84)

“No. I told her that I’d never touched Anne.” Griffin met his brother’s somewhat bloodshot eyes grimly.

Thomas barked a laugh. “You lie.”

“No, I do not.” Griffin couldn’t stop the heat entering his tone. God! He’d lived with this slander for years. “I never made love to Anne, never seduced her, never had any intention of seducing her. If she told you otherwise, she lied.”

“Anne told me on her deathbed you were her lover.” Thomas banged his glass down on the side table. “She told me the baby was yours. She said you’d been lovers for months, that you’d started seducing her before we’d even wed.”

“And I told you at her funeral that she lied!”

“Do you really expect me to believe a known rake over my wife?”

“I expect you to believe your brother!” Griffin’s shout echoed about the room. He bent forward, grasping the back of a chair, trying to regain his composure. “Jesus, Thomas. How could you? How could you believe I would seduce your wife? I’m your brother. You never even thought to give my words credence. You just believed a hysterical woman dying in childbirth over me. It was as if you’d been expecting it all along, and her words merely confirmed your suspicions.”

“I had been expecting it.” Thomas picked up his glass and drained it. “You flirted with Anne, admit it.”

“Yes! Fine! I flirted with her. I flirted with her like every other gentleman does with every other lady in a ballroom.” Griffin threw up his hands. “But that was all it ever was. It never went beyond silly words in public. I never meant it to go beyond that.”

“She loved you.”

Griffin inhaled. “If she loved me, it wasn’t because I encouraged her. You know that, Thomas. Once you were married, once I realized that she might be taking our social flirtation at all seriously, I went north.”

But Thomas was shaking his head. “You knew she had a tendre for you and you exploited it.”

“Why the hell would I do such a thing?” Griffin asked in exasperation.

“Jealousy.” Thomas gestured with his glass. “You said it yourself: Father never invited you to his study. You weren’t the heir.”

Griffin laughed incredulously. “Do you think me such a pathetic man that I’d seduce my brother’s wife out of jealousy?”

“Yes.” Thomas downed the rest of his glass with one gulp.

Griffin closed his eyes. If Thomas had been any other man, Griffin would have called him out. The insult to his honor, to his integrity, to his very character was unbearable. But this was Thomas.

His brother.

And he still needed something from him.

Griffin inhaled slowly. “I think you know, somewhere under that stuffy, stubborn hide, that I’m innocent of this heinous charge.”

Thomas started to talk, but Griffin held out his hand. “Let me continue.”

After a moment, Thomas nodded stiffly.

“Thank you.” Griffin looked at him. “You don’t love Hero. She has admitted being my lover. I don’t think you want to marry her. Let me have her, Thomas.”

“No.”

Despair clawed at his chest, but Griffin didn’t let the weakness show. “You don’t want her. I do. Don’t be a dog in the manger.”

Thomas laughed. “The tables have turned, haven’t they? Not so cocky now, are we?”

“Don’t. Don’t, Thomas.” Griffin closed his eyes.

“If Wakefield has decided we’ll marry this Sunday, I fully intend to comply.”

“I love her.”

Griffin opened his eyes on the stark words. They were true, he realized. The understanding should’ve been a shock. Instead, it felt strangely right.

He stared at his brother without hope, but without fear either.

Thomas looked startled a second; then he glanced away uneasily. “More fool you.” And he left the room.

HERO WAS LYING in bed that night, sleepless, her mind running in tight, erratic circles, when she heard the sound at her window. It was a tiny thing, something like a scratch, and if she hadn’t been wide awake and worrying, she wouldn’t have heard it at all. Could a cat have climbed up to her balcony? She propped herself up and stared toward the long windows. Her room was black, but muted moonlight lit the window dimly. She squinted. Surely—

A large shape suddenly loomed, silhouetted black against the window.

Hero gasped and choked, struggling to scream.

The shadow moved, the window opened, and Griffin calmly stepped into her bedroom.

Hero found her voice, even as her heart leaped in gladness at the sight of him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Hush!” he said, sounding like a disapproving schoolmaster instead of a midnight marauder. “Do you want to wake the entire house?”

“I’m most definitely contemplating it,” she replied, though he no doubt knew as well as she that she lied. Hero sat up in her bed and tucked the sheets primly under her arms. She wore a chemise, but she didn’t want him to get any ideas that she was wanton.

Well, even more wanton than she’d already shown herself to be.

He didn’t make a reply but prowled closer. The room was dark, and as he moved, she lost his shape behind the bed curtains. She felt an awful moment of panic as he disappeared from her sight, as if she’d never see him again. She reached out to brush aside the curtains and saw him by her dresser. He seemed to be studying the things on the top. Could he see in the dark?