The Heiress Effect (Brothers Sinister #2)(66)

“No,” she said softly. “That is not what is going to happen.”

He blinked at her in confusion. “You can say no all you wish, but you have no legal power.”

“No,” Jane repeated. “You are wrong. You’re Emily’s guardian, but you aren’t mine. You have no way to control what I do.”

He gave her a haughty look. “Speak sense for once, because I do not take your meaning.”

He couldn’t win. Why had she never seen it before? She’d been so busy hiding in the shadows that she’d ceded all her best weapons.

“I don’t have to go to our aunt’s house,” Jane said. “I have money. I can do anything I wish. You haven’t noticed because all I’ve wished for is my sister’s happiness and wellbeing. You’re so set on believing me disobedient. You’ve not realized that I have been trying to obey your edicts. Think what I could do, if I chose to be difficult.”

He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“If I wished, I could purchase a house next to this one. I could live there with a string of lovers. I could purchase an advertisement in the newspaper announcing that you suffered from a malady of the brain.”

As she spoke, he turned white. “You wouldn’t.”

She leaned forward. “I could tell everyone I met about your sordid medical practices. I’d let them know how unfit a guardian you were. I could make your life impossible. That’s who I am, if you haven’t noticed. I’m an impossible girl, and you cannot rid yourself of me. Not with threats. Not with words. Those are my terms.”

He stared at her in mute, baffled confusion, as if she had suddenly transformed into a bear and he didn’t know whether to scream and run or fetch a rifle. “I will not have you in my household.”

“Then it’ll be the newspaper,” she said with a shrug. “And—”

“But you may visit,” he squeaked. “Once a month?”

She stopped and looked at him, and he managed a weak smile.

“I can’t keep you out of Cambridge,” he said, looking down at the desk, “but I can dictate who Emily sees.”

If Jane bought a house in Cambridge, that would mean the end of any freedom at all for Emily. Their uncle would be guarding her too closely, trying to keep them apart. And—Jane realized—she couldn’t really carry out her threats. If she did, she’d have no leverage on him. Even Titus might prove dangerous if he had nothing to lose.

At least this way he was negotiating.

“You’ll go to my sister,” Titus said. “You’ll do as she says. You won’t make a scene or a fuss. You see Jane, I do care for your welfare even if you do not. I want you to safeguard your reputation, not throw it away in some desperate attempt to lead your sister down your path.”

“My path.” Her cheeks burned. “For all you talk of it, you don’t know anything about my path. You’ve never tried to really help. You’ve just given me orders.”

He waved a hand. “Spare me the histrionics.”

She caught hold of herself. She brought the shrouds of her dignity about her and glared at him.

“The truth is, Jane,” he said, “that if you hadn’t had me to look out for you, I do not know what you would be doing. Go to my sister. Find a husband.” He sighed wearily. “God, you girls tire me so.”

She would never convince him. “I’ll see Emily every other week,” Jane said. “And she’ll write as often as she wishes.”

“I will monitor the correspondence.”

She’d expected nothing less. She shrugged at this. “You’ll stop torturing her with those dreadful physicians,” she said.

“No. If I hear of someone who can do her good—”

“Then you may speak to me. I’ll want proof—testimonials from former patients who have a malady similar to Emily’s, patients that the physician has helped. The lot of them are far too quick to experiment, and heedless of the pain they cause. And you’ll ask Emily if she wishes to proceed.”

He snorted. “Your sister does not know what is good for her because you coddle her. This is why nineteen-year-old girls have guardians, Jane—to make them do the things they would not choose on their own. Frankly, you’ve just proven that you’re not any better.”

She glared at him. “This is not negotiable, Titus. It is either that, or I will embarrass you. Badly.”

His nostrils flared and he pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Very well. Before I embark on a course of treatment, I will…consult.” He made a face as he talked, his lips lifting away from his teeth as if he were a snarling dog. “God. When will this ever end?”

He could claim weariness as loudly as he wished so long as he left Emily alone.

Jane nodded.

“Then we are in agreement,” she said.

“You’ll leave tomorrow.”

By the time she crawled into bed, Jane had lost the ability to make sense of the world.

She had let everyone know that she was not as stupid as she’d pretended. Oliver was gone. On the morning, she was leaving Emily behind and going to live with her aunt in Nottingham. She’d held Titus to a bargain, wresting concessions from him with threats.