“For what?” Harry asked.
“Don’t play the fool with me. You know I’m talking about the baby.”
For a moment, the drunken haze disappeared from Harry’s face. There was genuine shock upon his features, followed by confusion.
“Baby? What baby?” he asked. “Was that what all the commotion was about? I did hear a lot of noise, but I left you to deal with it.”
“A child was left in my chambers, unattended. And I have just been informed that a maid has disappeared, a maid who asked afteryou. Is there something you wish to tell me, Harry? Was your head turned by another common woman?”
Harry slammed his glass down and rose, meeting Victor’s intense gaze. The book crashed from his lap to the floor. Harry’s eyes were rimmed red, and Victor could smell the champagne on his breath.
“How dare you speak to me like that. If you were any other man, I would challenge you to a duel,” he rasped.
“And in your current state you would be condemning yourself to certain death. Look at you. You are wretched,” Victor said, shaking his head. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
“With me? You genuinely believe I had anything to do with this?” he asked, flailing his arms. “If you must know, no, I haven’t been dallying with any maids. The truth is that I haven’t had my head turned by anyone because I am still in love.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “Stop being a fool. That affair was not based on love. It was infatuation. You both wanted what you cannot have. There are boundaries by which we must abide although it seems you have some difficulty in doing so.”
A dark look came upon Harry’s face, and an even darker smile curled upon his lips.
“Are you sure the child is not yours, brother? Perhaps you are accusing me of the very crime you have committed. It must be hard to be so rigid all the time, holding back everything that is natural to feel. People might think that you have purged all emotions, but I know better. You still feel, right deep down in that cold, black heart of yours, and perhaps you snapped. Did a young lady look at you in a certain way? Did you feel some glimmer of attraction?”
“Silence!” Victor thundered, for it was more than he could bear to hear. Now his hands were trembling. It hurt more because Harry was right. Victor did keep things buried, and there were times when his true feelings threatened to break free like a caged monster. Deep within, Victor feared what might happen if that was ever the case.
And in this instance for some unfathomable reason, his mind turned to Lady Lydia. He thought of her soft features, the determined look in her sapphire eyes, the flowing hair, and the strength she possessed. She had been fiercely protective of a child that she had only known for a few moments.
“I see I touched a nerve,” Harry said.
“You are drunk. I have tried my best with you, but I fear that you are beyond hope. Just tell me the truth. Is this child?—”
“No!” Harry cried and wheeled away from Victor. He paused and then looked over his shoulder. “Not that I expect you to believe me. You doubt me all the time. When I say I am in love, you mock me. Now, you probably think I have brought scandal upon this house. Well, I haven’t. I did what you asked. Things ended, and it broke me, and I have lived in misery ever since that day. I have obeyed your wishes, and although I have thought about her, I have not sought her out. I have not gazed upon her, nor have I come close to being with any other woman. I have no desire to seek another. There is only one woman who means anything to me, and because of your interference, I can never be with her. You might have saved this family from scandal, but you have condemned me to a solitary life. And now you accuse me of this…”
His words lost their vigorous energy. They became forlorn and resigned. A dry, humorless chuckle escaped Harry’s lips. He looked older at that moment, weathered by the storms of life.
“Harry, I did what was best for the family,” Victor said. His voice lost a sense of vigor as well. The air was charged with tension, and it felt as though something had to break.
“You keep telling yourself that, Victor. I hope that it helps you sleep at night. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and this new development has convinced me of what I must do. I cannot stay here any longer. You see me as a nuisance, and I do not wish to bring shame to your perfect legacy. Furthermore, Icannot abide being accused of a crime in my own home. I want to be somewhere I feel welcome, somewhere I can be respected. I intend to leave, and you will not have to worry about me besmirching our family name. I think it best if we keep as much distance as possible between us, Victor.”
“There is no need for that. Stay, and we can talk,” Victor urged. Harry might have gotten under Victor’s skin, but they were still brothers. Harry was almost everything that Victor had in the world.
“That’s the thing, Victor. You don’t want to talk. You want to lecture. You believe you know what is best for everyone, and you can never accept that someone else might have a unique perspective. But I suppose you are going to have to rely on your sense of duty now because you are going to have to decide what to do with the child.”
“I intend to find the mother and get her to take responsibility.”
Harry laughed and shook his head. “It seems that the mother does not wish to be found. The baby is helpless, and you have never been one to pass duty onto anyone else. Besides, I’m sure thetonwill be rife with gossip about this. You are not only going to have to care for the baby but manage the scandal as well. It is ironic, isn’t it, that you should be embroiled in the very thing you wanted me to avoid? Perhaps I have never been the troublemaker here,” he suggested.
With that, he left the library, and Victor gnawed on his lower lip. He huffed as he picked up the book and slammed it shut, gripping the spine so tightly that his fingers turned white.
He had no idea what he was going to do next.
Chapter Six
Lydia had not stopped weeping all night. Her throat was raw and her eyes were rimmed red. Her chest hurt from the sharp, jagged breaths that called forth such sorrow, but all of this was nothing compared to the pain within her soul. The fear, dread, and horror of knowing that all her hopes had been turned to ash.
“Do things look any brighter this morning?” Edmund said.
Lydia glared at him.
