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“Worse?” she repeated.
“I drank, gambled...slept with whores and any other woman who would take me.”
“There were many,” Anton muttered.
“I highly doubt you are entirely innocent, Anton,” Chastity muttered. “You did keep a townhouse before you married Eliza after all.”
Luke ignored Cassie’s brother and sisters. Cassie deserved the full truth if she was to ever accept him. “It was not so much that my behavior was unusual for a man taking his first taste of freedom, it was that I indulged so heavily. I was scarcely sober, and my debts were many. My education meant nothing to me.” He shrugged. “I was to be a viscount. What did it matter?”
“I see.” Cassie’s expression gave little away. So strange considering he could always read her. “And that is your great secret?”
“No.” He glanced at the ground. “The people I associated with were not good people. The only good person was your brother. He saved me from a wretched future.”
“Damned right.” Anton folded his arms. “And you owed me better.”
“One of the women with whom I associated claimed a pregnancy by me.”
Cassie gasped and he heard Aunt Sarah mutter something about knowing where this was going.
“I did not recall even bedding her but I was so deep in my cups it might well have happened. She wanted money—vast sums—or marriage. I could not ask for more money from my father so I intended to take her hand, even though I knew my family would never accept her.”
“But clearly you did not,” Cassie said. “You are not married.”
“No. Anton discovered her plot, you see. I confided in him my troubles and he investigated the woman. It seemed she worked with a group of men who would pretend to be members of her family and threaten her latest victim to pay up or wed her. They moved about the country, and if she ever wed, she took what valuables she could and fled. Anton had them all charged with fraud and theft.” Luke shoved a hand through his hair. The relief had been great but the realization of what a fool he was had been worse. “I cannot claim that even wholly changed me but I ceased drinking heavily and concentrated on my education after that.” He looked over her shoulder to Anton. “Your brother saved me, Cass.”
She eyed him for several sickening heartbeats. If she declined him, so be it. At least he had told the truth. At least she would fully realize why he was not good enough for her.
“So this is why you kept forcing me away?”
“Forcing you away?” Anton asked, his voice tight. “How long has this been going on?”
Luke offered a grim smile. “For me, several years.” He shrugged when Cassie’s eyes widened. “I have loved you for longer than I’d like to admit.”
“It was less for me,” she said, her lips curving. “But my feelings are no less deep.”
Anton snatched Cassie’s arm and hauled her back then stepped in front of Luke. Luke bunched his hand at his side, fighting the temptation to strike Anton for his manhandling of his sister. Anton was the best of men usually and Luke did not blame him for his anger. He would feel no different were it his sisters.
“That’s enough,” Anton bit out. “He is not good enough for you. You can do better.”
“Like the Duke of Marsbeck?” Cassie asked.
Anton spun on his heel. “How did you know about that?”
“I may have overheard,” Aunt Sarah piped up. “It hardly seemed fair to keep it to myself.”
“You were prepared to arrange a marriage to an older man whom I barely knew, Anton.” She tapped his chest. “And you were negotiating in secret.”
“You need looking after,” he protested and took a step back.
Cassie shadowed his steps, continued to tap on his chest with each point made. “You are meant to love me, dear Brother. Trust me. Care for me. Mother believed you would always do best for us. How is marrying me off to a stranger the best for me?”
“I have three unmarried sisters and one who has been a widow for far too long,” Anton said tersely.
“Well, you are not marrying me off,” Eleanor murmured.
“Nor me,” Demeter agreed.
“But you need looking after, Cassandra,” Anton insisted. “You are always getting into messes. I should have known it would not be long before you ruined yourself and wound up in trouble so grave.” He gestured to Jameson who remained knocked senseless.
