Aidan rescued him by being just as hard-hearted. "So you decided to have your revenge?"
"I love him," she wailed. "And when I discovered my condition, I felt desperate that he should love me as well. I will be the mother of his children. How could he not love me? I hired Tess away, thinking I could at least reveal some of Miss York's secrets to him. Tear her down with idle gossip. Then when I heard the recent whispers about her, and well, it seemed to good to be true. I just wanted him to see her for what she was! I wanted him to scorn her. To hate her."
Jude leaned back in his chair, relieved that the whole story was finally out. "Where have you spread your lies?"
"Nowhere. Not yet."
"Not yet?" Edward asked.
Though the woman's hands shook with startling force, she did not look away. "I... Tess, the maid ... she told me your sister had some intimacy with Fitzwilliam Hess, but if you promise not to tell my husband, I swear to you, I'll never say anything.
"For God's sake," Aidan roared. "Are you threatening us even now?"
"Please!" she cried. "I'm sorry, but I love him! If you tell him what I've done, he'll never forgive me. Please, just give me that. You may cut me dead at the next ball, but please do not tell Charles." She was sobbing now, both arms wrapped around the firm bulge of her pregnant belly.
"What you are doing is unforgivable," Edward said.
She nodded frantically, eyes shut.
"Christ," he bit out. "Do you swear you will never so much as imply a foul hint about my sister?"
"I swear. On the life of my child. Just grant me this mercy."
Jude was inclined to he done with this mess, and when he glanced at Aidan, he found that the other man had averted his eyes. Despite his had temper, Aidan had a good heart, and no taste for cruelty toward women.
Edward, of course, had the softest heart of all three of them, and he actually started to reach toward the woman's hand before he caught himself and sat back. "All right," Edward finally said. "You will have to earn your husband's attention in some other way. I won't tell him."
"Thank you," she sobbed, her body curling in as if she meant to protect her child. "Thank you. I'm sorry. I don't... I feel I've gone a little mad."
Well, Jude had heard that tale about pregnant woman often enough from his mother's friends. They laughed over their moods and manic tempers later, but he did not think Mrs. LeMont would laugh over this.
Aidan walked out, and Edward followed, but Jude hesitated for a moment.
He almost left without saying a word, but then she looked up at him with a question on her face.
"Your husband," he said carefully. "He danced with Miss York last night. And she told me she's never seen him happier."
Her brow crumpled in doubt. "She did?"
"She said he spoke of you and the babe and nothing else."
Her face cleared, and for a heartbeat or two, she looked hopeful, so Jude left her with that. He understood what it was to love someone who could not love you. He hadn't resorted to criminal activity, but surely he'd made a fool of himself at least.
There should’ve been some satisfaction amongst them as the men remounted their horses and turned toward home. They'd averted disaster, after all, saving the York family both their reputation and their five thousand pounds. But they were a trio of long faces as they rode down the drive of the LeMont estate.
"Well," Aidan said. "There will be no scandal, so it seems we will not be brothers after all."
"I'm sure you're relieved that my services will no longer be required."
"Jude, I never meant that. I'm humbled that you agreed to marry Marissa in the first place. But now . .. she simply doesn't share your feelings."
Jude stared out at the horizon and didn't say a word. This time, the brothers did not push him. Speaking of love was one thing, but a broken heart was another matter entirely.
Chapter 22
Despite the cold that turned her fingertips to ice, Marissa wandered through the garden. The roses were being pruned, and she wanted t
o supervise the gardeners, but more than that, she could not bear sitting and stitching and waiting for the news.