Free Family Scandals by Denise Patrick Page A

The motion had drawn the top of her dress tight across her breasts, and Marcus felt his body react. He turned and looked in the direction of her gaze.
    “It is your brother and nephew.” Her voice washed over him like a gentle breeze. “I thought they might take the opportunity to go sailing while Caroline was indisposed.”
    “Sneaking away?”
    She shook her head. “No. Caroline would never admit to seasickness, but she is not a good sailor. And Michael would have been at loose ends without her this afternoon anyway.”
    “They are close?”
    “Very,” she said on a sigh. “They may eventually grow apart, but I do not think they will grow very far. I pity the young man who eventually catches her eye. His Grace will be bad enough, but I think Michael will be worse.”
    He chuckled. “I was seventeen when my sister married. I remember making Trent promise never to hurt her. I’m sure he agreed in order to humor me—I was little more than a boy to him at the time.” Two gulls screeched overhead, then dove down beside the cliff and disappeared from view. “And it was unnecessary, as it was patently obvious he was very much in love with Eliza. I think it amused him I cared enough to say anything to him at all.”
     
    Corinna knew why a sudden sadness settled in her heart. The pain of Douglas’s loss was never very far from the surface. The picture of Marcus as a youth, caring enough for his sister to approach her betrothed, brought her memories of Douglas. She could see him doing much the same for her. In her case, however, he would not have needed to extract such a promise. He had known that Marcus would never hurt her.
    And so had she. So why didn’t she trust herself to tell him who she was? What was she waiting for—or afraid of?
    She had very few options in her life right now, but would telling Marcus who she was give her more or less choices? She had no doubt he would insist on their marriage being recognized, but was that what she wanted? And did she want to trap him that way? Wouldn’t it be better for her to live her life on her own, rather than trap Marcus in a loveless marriage?
    A silent sigh escaped as she pushed away the disturbing thoughts and turned her attention to the afternoon and the man sitting beside her.
     
     
    Marcus put down the letter he was reading. It was the last of his father’s letters to Brand, this one detailing his grandfather’s downfall. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to concentrate on it. Instead, he kept seeing a pair of gray eyes awash in sadness.
    And loneliness.
    It was something he understood intimately. When Douglas had been killed, he had lost his best friend. His only friend. It was as if a part of him had died as well. When he received the letter addressed to Douglas, he had not wanted to open it. Once he had, he wished he hadn’t.
    Losing a wife he hadn’t really known hadn’t affected him as much as it affected his mourning for Douglas. Suddenly, he was mourning not only his friend, but also the friend’s sister whom he had sworn to care for and protect.
    She, too, had gray eyes. Closing his eyes, he tried, but could not completely recall Amy’s face. Instead, the governess appeared before him, her eyes drawing him in.
    Amy would have been about the same age. But she had been much shorter, and thinner. What would she have looked like all grown up at seventeen, he wondered. Would she have gained any height, or weight?
    At fourteen she had been outspoken, forthright and honest to a fault. Would she have retained those qualities, or would school have tempered them? After all, she had been sent to the same school Felicia had attended. He and Douglas both hoped the school would have tamed her a bit. She had needed those qualities at home—living in a household with siblings who more often than not attempted to do her harm.
    But none of that mattered any longer. Amy was gone.
    Leaning his head against the back of the chair, he closed his eyes and sighed.