“I think I saw what IthinkI saw,” Callum countered. “I thought that I saw you and Miss Rothwell embracing. But now, I am not so certain. Was she willingly embracing you? Or were you forcing yourself on her?” He shut his eyes. It had happened so fast that he, himself, could not have said which version of the story was true. He had not even thought to look more closely.
“She embraced me,” James said firmly. “She was crying, and I went to comfort her, and she clung to me.”
Callum drew a breath. That, too, could have been true. Miss Rothwell had certainly been crying—her face had been streaked with tears. But why had she been crying? Another thought struck him, hitting him as though a cannonball had been fired at him.
“She was not embracing you.” He gaped, his jaw dropping in shock at the realisation. “Her arms were at her sides. She wasnotclinging to you. You are lying.”
James looked up at him. Callum saw fear in his eyes. Fear and anger. Joy surged forth in Callum. They had staged it! His sister had not been misunderstanding their words. They truly had planned to hurt and humiliate him. It truly was a plan.
“You did stage this,” Callum said when James did not speak. “You intended to hurt me. All those glances, all the moments I caught you together with her. Those were deliberate.” His heart raced as he realised the depth of how they had fooled him.
James did not look at him. After a long moment, he raised his eyes to Callum’s. The expression in them was so angered and so bitter that Callum blinked in surprise.
"What if I did?” he asked with a small shrug. “You have so much. Why should I not take from you the one thing that youwould care about losing? You have everything, but it doesn’t seem to mean a lot to you.”
Callum’s frown deepened. He felt utterly baffled. “What do you mean?” he asked after a long moment.
“Hah! You see?” James demanded. “You see? You have everything. But you don’t even know it. A house. Land. Titles. Wealth. A family. You have a purpose in those wretched horses. You have respect. And then, on top of it all, you have someone you love? I wanted to take at least some of it from you. What I could take. The one thing you seemed aware of.”
Callum swallowed. “I don’t have everything, James. Like you, I nearly lost it all.” His throat tightened as the memory of that fear resurfaced—the looming threat of losing everything. He and Mother had been cast out of society, working tirelessly to restore the manor despite the scandal that had barred them from entering society without shame. There had been years of hardship, as he fought to repay the debts and rebuild their family’s standing in the world.
“Ha! As if your situation and mine were anything alike. Your father was the one who ruined my father! It washis fault! If he had not led my father down a bad path, my father would never have ruined us. And you got it all back! I lost half my estate. We were rejected from society and we remained rejected thereafter. Can you imagine the humiliation? Having to depend on charity from my uncle and from your mother? It was shameful!” He spat.
Philippa blinked and cleared her throat. She had remained entirely silent throughout the time. Callum had forgotten she was there. “That is not fair, James,” she said quietly. “My family was happy to support you.”
“They should not have had to!” James yelled. “Can you imagine how terrible it was for me? Needing charity? I am a viscount!” He drew himself up. “I should have to dependon nobody! And your family reduced me to begging from my relations like a pauper.” The last sentence was directed at Callum, the words roared angrily at him.
“What happened between your father and mine,” Callum said softly, “was between your father and mine. It should remain there. I cannot pretend to speak for either of them. But I do know that it was not my fault. Or yours,” he added gently. While he was shocked, and hurt, by what James and Philippa had done to him, he could not help but feel sorry for the man. Besides, while part of him tried to understand how someone could have come to hate him, another part of him could not stop thinking about the fact that it was not true. Rosalyn had not run into the open arms of James. He could not contain his delight.
James blinked, and Callum watched closely as his words took effect. The stunned look in James’ eyes suggested that, for some unfathomable reason, he had sought revenge because he believed—wrongly—that he was responsible for what had happened. He had blamed himself for the ruin of the estate, and again when he had failed to repair it.
“Maybe that’s true,” James blustered. “But I still wished to hurt you. And I am not sorry that I did it.”
Callum sighed. “You did hurt me,” he said honestly. “And if my sister Harriet had not overheard you, you could have done a lot worse than that. You could have changed the course of my life. But that was not meant to happen,” he added wonderingly. For the first time since his father’s death, faith was stirring within him. Someone—some higher power—had decreed that Harriet would overhear that snatch of conversation. And the same Someone had brought James and Philippa to this place and made them confess their wrongs.
“What will you do?” Philippa asked. She was gazing at him fearfully and Callum frowned, then understood that she meant to ask if he was going to punish them. He sighed.
“You were both foolish. And I hope that you never come to experience firsthand the depth of hurt you caused or the horror that you could have wrought on me. I would not wish that upon anyone. But it did not happen. And you told the truth—eventually, at any rate.” He sighed. “Now, leave the manor. I forgive you, but do not seek me out or call on me again.”
“You forgive us?” Philippa gaped.
James just stared at him. Callum could not guess what the man was thinking.
“I do,” Callum said wearily. “Be gone. I wish you well, and I forgive you. But I pray our paths never cross again.”
The two of them gaped at him and then, slowly, they went to the door. Callum stood and watched as they walked out into the hallway. Then, when their footsteps had gone, he went and shut the door. He leaned back against a wall, breathing heavily. He was exhausted.
“Brother? Brother?” Harriet asked gently. “You forgave them. It was the right thing to do.” Her blue-eyed gaze was solemn.
“It’s Christmas,” Callum said wearily.
“Yes,” Harriet agreed. “It’s Christmas.”
Callum sighed. “It’s Christmas, and I have much to do.”
Harriet frowned. “Where are you going, brother?” she asked as he walked towards the door.
“I am going to ready the coach. Sussex is five days’ journey from here and they cannot have got far.” He opened the door. Harriet ran after him as he went briskly down the hallway.
