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“But the affair didn’t end when she married Gerald.”
“No. It went on.”
“Dennis and Dexter—they’re the banker’s, right?” she asked. At his nod, she added, “I thought so. They look just like Gerald.”
“She would have dumped Gerald in an instant if she could have had Edward’s baby. And Edward didn’t want that, because he never planned to marry her.” He slanted her a weary look. “Are you sure you want the rest of it?”
“I do. Yes. All of it, please. I want to know what happened the night of that party at Tillworth, the night of the accident.”
He sat forward again. “You won’t like it.”
“I don’t need to like it. I just need the truth.”
He braced his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his fists. “That night, the night of the party, I caught Edward and Fiona in a clinch in the upstairs hall.”
“Oh, my God. That’s bad. Right there in Gerald’s house?”
“Yes. It made me furious. He’d told me the day before that he was going to propose to you, that he was flying to Montedoro at the end of the next week to ‘sweep you off your feet.’”
“He actually said that—and then the next night you caught him and Fiona going at it in her husband’s house?”
“I’m ashamed to say, my response to the problem was to get very drunk.”
“Oh, Rafe. I’m so sorry...”
“You have nothing—nothing—to be sorry for.” He gathered calm about him and sank back into the chair again. “And then later, because I was thoroughly bagged, Edward insisted he would drive me home.”
“Oh, dear Lord...”
“On the way, I got into it with him for planning to drag you into the dog’s dinner he’d made of his life. Edward was unrepentant. He said that he loved Fiona, but he’d never thought she would make him a suitable wife. She would bring him no status, not the way that you would. Plus, there was your fortune. He said, ‘You know how it is, Rafe. Hartmore requires the earl to take a bride with money.’ He said that he was fond of you and you loved Hartmore, so it was perfect. You and he would marry—and he and Fiona could go on as always.”
Genny said nothing. Her mouth was hanging open. She remembered to shut it.
And Rafe continued, “So I offered to give him money. I told him I would see that he had whatever funds he needed—and he could leave you out of it. He became offended. Because the earl of Hartmore can marry his money, but he certainly can’t stoop to living off the largesse of his younger brother. He insisted again that he was going to marry you. And that’s when I pulled out all the stops. I told him that I wouldn’t allow it. I said, ‘I’m going to go to Gen. And I’m telling her what you just told me.’”
Her heart ached with love for him. “What did he say then?”
“He couldn’t believe that I would dare. I think he forgot he was driving. He turned and snarled at me that of course I would never tell you any of it. He said that he knew very well that I was in love with you and you would only hate me if I did such a thing.”
Genny’s heart soared. “You...were in love with me?”
He didn’t answer that. He just went on, “The next turn in the road came up fast. He didn’t see it coming. I said, ‘Look out!’ But he kept on, straight ahead. He was still telling me off when he hit the oak tree.”
“Oh, my darling,” Genny whispered. “How completely awful.”
He stood up, went to the dark window and stared at his own shadowed reflection for a time.
“Rafe. Come here, please. Here to me....”
And he turned and came back to her and stood above her by the side of the bed. “It’s all so ugly and shabby and sad. I didn’t want you to have to know it.”
She reached out, clasped his hand and brought it to her cheek. “Having the truth is never as bad as not knowing, not understanding. And honestly, I only feel sorry. Edward was just a mess, loving one woman and planning to marry another. And I was no prize, was I? Brooke said it. I would have married your brother to be mistress of Hartmore.”
He rubbed his thumb so carefully across her bruised cheek. “You love Hartmore. In spite of all of Brooke’s carrying on yesterday, nobody here faults you for that.”
She gulped. “But they should. I had it all wrong. I wanted Hartmore, so I told myself I loved Edward. It was lies all round.”
Keeping hold of her hand, he sat on the bed beside her. “I meant what I said to him. I would have told you the truth before you ever made it to altar. You were never going to marry him. No matter how much you hated me for telling you the truth, I wasn’t about to let you ruin your life.”
