“Aidan? How did you get here so quickly?”
Even from afar, he noted the redness around her neck. The blackguard must have held her by her throat. Aidan wished to throw his head back and howl in distress. Lily could have been killed because of his perfidy.
It is my fault!
“Ran here … as soon as we heard the news … Left our parents … to take the carriage … Terrifying … to hear you had been attacked. I …” Aidan raked his hands through his damp hair before crossing the room to drop on a knee by her side. Taking her hands upin his, and shaking his head as he sought words, he exhaled sharply. “This is my fault! If I had taken care of you that night, instead of abandoning you to carouse with my friends …”
Lily frowned, reaching out to pull on his lapels before lifting her arms to hug him. “It is not, Aidan. I am well. Gracious! You must have run like the wind to arrive here so quickly.”
“I should never have left you alone.”
“But you did, and now I am married. Life goes on.”
Aidan groaned, his chest tight with the burden of culpability. “Until it does not.”
“I am safe. See, you are speaking with me at this very moment. The entire matter is settled.”
Aidan pulled away. His sister was so small that even lowered to one knee, they were practically eye level. From this close, he could see the marks of abuse on her throat. If the offending footman had not been killed, he would spring to his feet to beat the man to death himself. How could anyone be so craven as to attack a lovely young girl like his sister?
“Is it over? Was the footman the one who committed the murder?”
Brendan Ridley, the new Baron of Filminster now that his father had been killed, cleared his throat. “No, I am afraid not. He claims he was paid to conceal the identity of the killer. At least we know now that it was nobody in the household.”
Aidan jumped to his feet. “How do we know it is true?”
Lily’s husband must have felt uncomfortable with Aidan towering over them. He rose up, walking into the cleared space in the middle of the room. Filminster finally replied. “I suppose we shall search his things to find evidence of the payoff.”
Aidan’s nostrils flared. “If it is true, then there is still a killer out there. Someone who might harm my sister!”
“We will keep our guards to patrol the house?—”
“What?”
Filminster glanced over at Lily, who had straightened up with a look of dismay. “They do not need to shadow you. Simply take care of our home until we know we are safe. In addition to that, we will have a new housekeeper and maids at the end of the week, so Ridley House will be properly staffed, along with a new lady’s maid. It will be far more difficult for any attempt at intrusion once there is a full staff on duty.”
Lily turned her gaze to Aidan, who was only mildly mollified by her husband’s assertions.
“See that you do, Filminster. My sister is irreplaceable.”
CHAPTER 1
“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
Aristotle
AUGUST 3, 1821
Aidan had not slept for the past two nights. Lily’s encounter with the footman had been a rude awakening in regard to his own behavior. The thought of harm befalling his sister was more than he could bear, which was why he was sitting in Filminster’s study for the third time in as many days.
“I need your help.”
Filminster’s declaration punctuated the tension in the room.
Aidan straightened in his seat, eager to help resolve the danger Lily faced in any way he could. Thefeeling of helplessness was unbearable, so any action would be an improvement to his state of mind.
Across from him sprawled the fool, Lord Julius Trafford, in his ridiculous attire, while Aidan’s brother-in-law, Filminster, stood at the window with his hands clasped behind his back.
“What has happened? Is Lily safe?” Aidan had been drowning in guilt since he had abandoned his sister—all that had unfurled from that one decision still had Aidan reeling in the aftermath.
