Page 35 of His Accidental Duchess

“Why did you have it on your person?” he repeated. His desire was rapidly cooling now, turning into plain old anger. “If this is some ploy to steal my fortune…”

“What? Of course not!” Anna snapped, smoothing out the letter, and it did seem that she was telling the truth.

You’ve read too many novels, Theodore, you fool.

Anna had gone pale, and she folded her arms across her chest. “You cannot possibly think that letter means anything to me,” she said after a pause. “I just didn’t want the servants to poke around in my writing desk and read it.”

“None of my servants would do that,” he snapped back, insulted.

“I’m sure you’re right, but how was I meant to know that?”

He growled. “Lock the wretched desk, then!”

“The lock is broken!”

He threw up his hands. “This is why I wanted you to leave your wretched, worm-eaten things at home! I have just made you a duchess, and?—”

“You know, that is going to get old very quickly,Your Grace. I like this writing desk—it was a present from my parents, and I wanted to keep it. Where is the harm in that?”

“I thought one of our rules was that you could not interrupt me,” he said, his voice dangerously low.

She gave a harsh laugh. Theodore could have told her that laughing at him when he was angry was a mistake. Stephen could have told her the same, but she didn’t seem to care either way.

“AndIthought that another rule was that we would leave each other alone to live our own lives,” she shot back. “And here you are, complaining about my writing desk, and having a tantrum over a letter.”

There was a short silence after that. Theodore stared at her, trying to work out what was going on under her flushed, angry mask.

There was nothing for it. He would have to come out and say it.

“Were you in love with him?” he asked quietly.

Color rushed into Anna’s face, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions.

“What sort of question is that?” she managed, at last.

He smiled grimly. “A reasonable one. My brother is a handsome man. Charming, likable. I have often had… suspicions about him, and I long since resigned myself to the fact that he does not want to marry. It’s none of my concern, of course. You can imagine my surprise when I learned he was to marry, and especially a woman like you. I never thought Henry would have had it in him to attract you, but then again… you have known each other for a long time. I can imagine how awful it would be, to be on the cusp of marrying the man you love, only to find he has betrayed you at the last minute.”

Anna swallowed hard, tilting up her chin. “It would be terrible indeed, to be sure. But that isn’t my fate, thankfully. I was not in love with Henry.”

“Then why keep his letter so close, and on your wedding night of all times? It seems to me that you wished he could be here instead of me, and are keeping his last letter to give yourself strength and make yourself remember.”

She let out a frustrated growl. “It was anaccident. I forgot I had it on me at all. Like I said, I didn’t want anybody to read it. It… he… oh, bother it all. Look, you are his brother, I don’t see why you shouldn’t…” she trailed off, biting her lip and glancing down at the letter, half unfolding it.

From where he stood, Theodore could see that it was a long letter. That didn’t necessarily mean anything—Henry was hardly given to brevity. He had a knack for chattering on and on about nothing in particular, and it frankly drove Theodore wild.

But to send such a long letter to the woman he’d just jilted at the altar…for her to hide whatever she thought would pose a threat to his reputation… What sort of woman would do such a thing? What kind of affection must she hold for him?

There was no guarantee that Henry felt anything for her—he couldn’t, not if he’d left her in such a way—but she clearly felt deep friendship, love, and loyalty toward him. Even after everything he had done.

A painful, sickening feeling lodged itself just behind Theodore’s breastbone, as if he’d swallowed a slug. He recognized the feeling—he had hoped never to experience it again.

Jealousy.

“Read it,” Anna said abruptly, interrupting his thoughts.

He blinked and found that she was offering the letter to him with something akin to desperation.

“Go on. Take it and read it, and then you’ll know exactly why I was so keen on keeping it secret.”

---