He’d made the greatest mistake of his life bringing her here. Why did he think he could go through with this miserable party, knowing she did not love him?
He was on the front steps before he knew what he was doing. Brody staggered down the moonlit path toward the motor-garage. He did not know where he was going to go, but he couldn’t stay in that house. He couldn’t face Angelica, knowing he meant nothing to her. She was everything to him.
He wrenched open the door to the garage, but a distant voice stopped him. He turned to find Marcus walking as quickly as he could down the path from the house. His brother couldn’t manage the gravel well, yet never slowed his pace.
“Brody!” He was breathless when he reached the door. “Where the hell are you going?”
“I don’t know—it doesn’t matter.”
Marcus grabbed his sleeve. “You’re not going to…”
“No. Not that,” he said, fishing on the wall for a spare key ring. “I just had to get out of there.”
“Because of Miss Grey?”
Brody found the keys. “You saw what happened. The way she looked—”
“Like she was in love with you? Yes, I saw it.”
He scoffed. “She’s not in love with me, Markie. I meant to tell you earlier, but there hasn’t been time. Angelica and I are not an item. We’re not engaged, and certainly not in love. Well, she’s not, at any rate. The truth is, she might be pregnant, and the baby may or may not be mine.”
“But, I thought…”
He fumbled to get the Bentley key into the ignition. “I know. So did I.”
Marcus stopped him, yanking the keys from his hand. “Give me that. Now, talk plainly.”
“What more can I say? When I went away to hospital, Angelica thought I’d left for good. She took up with some other chap, and might have let him get her with child. It’s too early to tell.”
“But it might also be yours?”
With a deep breath, he confessed everything—the gory details of Angelica’s betrayal, how he’d dragged her to Shrewsbury in a rage, and, finally, that he’d purposefully come inside her on the chance that she might be pregnant, so that he’d never know if the child wasn’t his.
When it was all out in the open, Marcus stared at him. “My God, Brody. What an ass you are.”
“I don’t want to live like mother and father,” he explained, “but I love Angelica too much to see her out on the street. I want to provide for her and the baby—if there is one—and be part of her life in whatever capacity she’ll allow, even though she doesn’t love me.”
“How do you know she doesn’t love you?”
“Because she fucked another man, Marcus. Weren’t you listening?”
His brother shifted his weight to his good leg, and leaned back against the Bentley. “People sleep with other people all the time. Just because she didn’t save her virginity for you, does not mean she doesn’t love you. I saw her back there in your arms. Although she couldn’t see the way you were mooning at her, you didn’t notice how happy she looked with her head pressed to your shoulder. That girl loves you, Brody. I think the two of you need to sit down and talk.”
He shook his head. “This entire situation is a nightmare. What am I going to do if she rejects me?”
“Would she reject you?”
“No, probably not—but only because she might need a father for her baby. She’s a survivor, Markie. She’ll do what it takes.”
He shrugged. “You’ve both got yourself into this pickle. She cannot afford to say no, and you don’t have it in you to toss a pregnant woman out on her ear. At worst, you stay together out of duty and necessity. At best, you’re both madly in love, and it all works out in the end.”
“Do you like Angelica?”
“Very much. I think she’s good for you. Your recovery has been remarkable, and if it’s all because of her, then she has my gratitude,” his brother said. “On top of that, I think she’s brave for coming here and facing us all. You need someone to fight on your side. I think Miss Grey is just that sort of girl.”
“I thought you were on my side.”
“You know I am. But my hands are tied.”
Brody reached over and clapped his elder brother on the shoulder. He was a good man, and didn’t deserve to be put in the middle of everyone’s spats. Most of all, he didn’t deserve to be Father’s slavey, but Brody understood his need to make the old man proud. “Thanks again for not telling the others the truth about my time in hospital. They’d never understand.”
“As far as I’m concerned, they are the ones who put you there.”
The two men locked up the garage and walked back toward the house. Most of the lights were out now. Mother was in her room, and Father in his. The Neills had only come together to celebrate Mary Rose’s birthday. When the festivities ended, their father would be absent once again.