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Harry made a noise as if he were choking and he coughed loudly. “Leticia,” he said testily, “now is not the time for one of your games. We are talking about the future of this family, and it is vital that you share everything that has developed between you and Richard.”
Leticia bit her lower lip. “I do not think that’s entirely accurate, Cousin. You see,Iam now caught up in a bit of a scandal and—”
“A bit of a scandal?” Aunt Amelia broke in as she flung her hands up hopelessly in the air. “You and Richard are likely to be the talk of thetonfor the next several months. Even with the start of the next Season upon us, no one will wish to talk of anything other than the way you spoke up during the Duke’s wedding and then stole him away from the bride.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Leticia said, grimacing at the thought. “Despite what he declared at the ceremony, Richard and I have no plans to get married.”
“What?” Aunt Amelia squawked. Leticia had never seen her aunt behave in such a desperate and unrefined manner.
“That’s right,” Leticia said gently. “I know what he said, but we do not love each other, and I did not design to steal him away from Miss Loery. I mean…I didn’t want him to marry her, but that was for entirely other reasons.”
“What reasons?” Aunt Amelia questioned. Leticia hesitated, but Amelia persisted. “Come now…don’t just tell us half the story. We want to know…nay, we deserve to know why you chose to stand up at the wedding and tarnish this family’s reputation beyond all recognition.”
Uncle Sebastian stepped forward then and laid a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Amelia,” he said soothingly, “perhaps we should take a minute to calm ourselves before proceeding with this discussion. We’ve all had an extraordinarily rigorous day and stretching it out even further with long talks about people’s feelings—” He made a face as if to indicate he found the concept distasteful.
Amelia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Without looking at Leticia she said quietly, “I am going to do as my husband instructed and settle my nerves, but I cannot just let this conversation slip away.” Then, her eyes popped open, and Leticia could see the tears that were now sitting on the rims of her eyelids, ready to fall from her lashes. “You and I have always had a special relationship. Until today, I truly believed that you trusted me with all your secrets. But now, I see that you have been hiding away the person you really are, and it…it breaks my heart, Leticia.”
“No, Aunt Amelia,” Leticia cried as she lunged toward her aunt. Uncle Sebastian dropped his hand from Aunt Amelia’s shoulder and took a step backward. This allowed Leticia to throw her arms around her aunt and cling to her tightly. “You were right before. I have always been honest with you. And now, I am asking you to believe me still when I say that I’m telling you the truth.”
“But…” Aunt Amelia whimpered as her tears fell onto Leticia’s shoulder, “how can I be sure?”
“You can take comfort in knowing that I would not lie to you…any one of you,” Leticia tacked on that last part as she glanced around the room, making eye contact with her uncle first and then turning her gaze toward Harry. “I am telling all I am permitted to share at this time. In the future, I may be able to confess more, but for now, I need you to know that I never intended for any of this to happen. I did not expect Richard to say he was in love with me. I merely wanted to save him from Miss Loery.”
Aunt Amelia choked on a sob then, and Leticia held her even tighter. “Well—at least you did save Richard from that nasty Miss Loery.”
Leticia was so stunned by her aunt’s words, she dropped the hold she had on her and jumped away. “Aunt Amelia!” she gasped to which Amelia chuckled lightly.
Uncle Sebastian handed her a white handkerchief, and as she dabbed at her eyes, Amelia said, “I never liked that Miss Loery. I always thought she was using Richard so she could become a duchess.”
“Exactly!” Leticia proclaimed, feeling vindicated in that she did not need to tell everyone everything because they already suspected on their own just how conniving and worthless Miss Loery could really be. “She could not be trusted.”
Aunt Amelia patted her cheeks, drying her tears as she did so, and she gave Leticia a long look. “Even though I thoroughly dislike Miss Loery, I still feel it was very irresponsible on your part to meddle as you did.”
“Yes,” Harry added, moving forward, and taking hold of Leticia by the elbow. “I knew you wished to speak with Richard prior to the wedding, but I did not dare imagine you had such plans up your sleeve. Did you know all along that you wanted to break up the wedding?”
“Of course not.” Leticia searched for the right way to explain everything, but it was an impossible feat without telling them all the details. “I wanted to help Richard.” She looked at Harry and said in a low, pleading tone. “Harry, you must have known…you must have had some inkling that Miss Loery was not the right person for him. He is your dearest friend, after all.”
“It is not my place to decide who Richard marries,” Harry said, dropping the hold he had on her and straightening up. “Nor should you have any say in the matter, either.”
“But Harry,” Leticia argued, “we love him…both of us do…and you must see that it falls to us as his friends to—”
“You love him?” Harry asked, his bright eyes widening in astonishment. “You said, just a few minutes ago, that you did not have any loving feelings toward Richard and that you did not wish to marry him. But now—are you admitting that you do in fact carry a torch for him?”
Leticia groaned. “You have mistaken my meaning entirely. I said that we both love Richard—as we are all close friends. If you had been in possession of the information I learned, you would have done everything in your power to prevent this wedding from taking place too.”
Harry ran a hand over his chin thoughtfully. He stroked his bottom lip with the nail of his thumb and looked as though he wanted to say something jokingly but thought better of it. When he did speak, his words were quiet and serious. “Is there something between you and Richard?”
“We are friends,” Leticia said, lifting her palms helplessly to show him that she was no longer concealing anything.
He shook his head and chuckled dryly. “That is not what I mean, and you know it. Quit dancing around the issue and deal with me honestly, Letty. Are you in love with Richard?”
“No,” Leticia replied flatly.
Harry puffed out a great breath of air, and he ran a hand over his chin, tugging at an invisible whisker. “And do you swear that you have no intentions of marrying him?”
“I do not see how that has any bearing on the situation as I’ve already explained—”
“Just do me the courtesy of answering the question,” Harry interjected brusquely. His entire demeanor changed in an instant. A curious sensation swept through Leticia as she stood near her cousin, preparing to answer a question she felt as though she had already sufficiently put to rest.
