Page 63 of Her Dark Seduction
Chapter 19
My body still ached as I descended the stairs the next morning. Vane sat at the kitchen table with Lily and Jack. My stomach clenched as he turned his blue gaze on me, but he rose and left the room, Lily following. I moved to the fireplace but Jack stopped me, insisting I sit while he ladled porridge into a bowl for me. I jumped as he took my hand.
“Are you well, sister? Lily and I heard you last night.”
“I am fine,” I whispered, blowing on the porridge to cool it.
“I would believe you had I not heard screaming,” he said before withdrawing his hand. He did not press the matter but watched while I spooned porridge into my mouth. His careful scrutiny did more to loosen my tongue than demands or coercion.
“Sometimes I have bad dreams.”
“Do they include my brother?” I started and looked up.
“You were crying for him, and I notice he did not come home until morning.”
My appetite gone, I pushed the bowl away.
“Do not think badly of him, sister. He’s a good man and has a kind heart.”
“So Lily says,” I replied, “yet he cares not…” I broke off and rose to leave but Jack took my hand.
“Perhaps if you know him better you’ll think more kindly of him. The events in his life have scarred his heart, and he has yet to heal.”
“Is this to do with William? The man Lily has spoken of?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed in pain. “Aye, it is all to do with our brother.”
Brother! “So, William was your brother? The one who died?”
“Aye,” Jack said, “he was our younger brother. Valentine is the eldest but he was not my father’s child; our mother had lain with another. William and I did not know he was only our half-brother and a bastard. Children don’t question why one brother has a different surname. We loved him just the same. Father agreed to raise Valentine but never truly recognized him. Sawford was our mother’s family name. When I became of age, father handed the business to me.”
“Was Vane angry?”
Jack smiled, reliving the memory. “No. He was a generous-hearted brother and loved William and me very much. We agreed to run the business together. Lily and I had recently married, and he adored her, treating her as his own sister, comforting her when we were desperate for a child and our efforts were fruitless.”
Pain flashed across his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “my being here must be difficult for you.”
“Nay, we are resigned to it, Lisetta, and will share your joy when your child arrives. I am glad Valentine has married.”
“Yet you were surprised at the time? Because of William?”
“Aye.”
“What happened, Jack? My husband will not speak of it.”
He sighed. “Valentine had always given his heart too easily. He fell in love with the daughter of a knight serving the lord here. Elizabeth was a beautiful creature and Valentine was smitten. He offered for her and was accepted, or so we thought. However, when she discovered he was bastard born…”
“…she rejected him?”
“Nay, worse.” Jack said. “She turned her attentions to William. Valentine caught her whoring herself with William in his bed. She told him she could never shackle herself to a bastard and that William had offered for her. The foolish young whelp also fancied himself in love, and she had managed to persuade him the child she carried was his, though I suspect it was Valentine’s.”
“Dear lord—does Vane have a child?”
Jack shook his head. “He lost his temper when he saw Elizabeth with William. She’d planned it, of course, but poor, foolish William had no idea. He told Valentine he loved Elizabeth and was going to marry her and raise the child. They fought and Valentine struck a blow. William fell and hit his head.”
Jack closed his eyes as if uttering a brief, silent prayer before opening them again, moist with unshed tears.
