Page 65 of A Lady's Key to Passion

“But you agreed to it,” said Jane stiffly. “I have told you repeatedly that I regard you as just a friend, and yet you thought you could force me into loving you.”

“It is true,” he said in a small voice. “I realise how wrong I was. I am truly sorry, Jane. Can we still be friends?”

Jane regarded him steadily. “I will have to think about it, Charles. I am heartily sick of manipulative people who think only of themselves and never how much their actions can hurt other people.”

Charles was silent for a moment. “I deserve that. I hope we can be friends again one day. I accept that you can never love me.” He hesitated. “I ran into the earl on the way here, Jane. He told me what happened with Lucy and how she is forcing him to marry her.”

Jane’s heart started beating hard. “You ran into him? Where?”

“Not far from your house,” he replied. “I think he came here wanting to speak with you, then lost the courage. He truly loves you, Jane. I can tell. And it made me even more ashamed of what I had done. Do you love him, too?”

Jane’s eyes filled with tears. “What does any of it matter now? What does it matter if I love him or if he loves me? It was never meant to be. Even without Lucy’s scheming, I could never have married him anyway.”

“It matters,” said Charles in a grave voice. “I hope you can find it in your heart to realise that love isallthat matters. You have the power to stop Lucy. What could be more natural than two people who love each other than marry to profess that love? And that is what the two of you are, Jane. Just two people in love.”

Jane looked away. She felt like bursting into tears yet again. Everyone was putting it back onto her that she must solve this situation. But Charles didn’t know about the vow.

But Marianne does, whispered a small voice in her head. And she is telling you it is time to let the vow go. To finally follow your heart.

She turned back to Charles. “The earl told you that he loves me?”

Charles nodded. “He did. And I believe him. It is not even him saying it. It is the fact that he has pursued you relentlessly. It is the fact that he is willing to sacrifice himself and accept a marriage with a woman he does not wish to marry to save your reputation.” He paused. “Everything he does is for you, Jane. It would be a crying shame to just let that love go.”

Jane looked down at her hands. Now she really wanted to burst into tears. She knew that this was Charles’s way of trying to make it up to her. He was trying to show how sorry he was. She smiled wryly, thinking of how ironic it was that he had been trying to tear them apart all this time, and now, he was doing his utmost to bring them together.

Could it be true, what he had just told her? Did Percy truly love her but never found the words for it?

She thought back over their brief but intense time together. It was true. He never gave up on her, even when she kept pushing him away. Even when he denied that he could ever fall in love and claimed he never wanted to. And he was saving her now by agreeing to marry her cousin.

Sometimes actions spoke louder than words ever could. And perhaps his actions were shouting something from the rooftops. Perhaps all she had to do was stand still and finally listen.

Chapter 37

The next day Jane lay on her bed, feeling more miserable than she had ever felt in her life. Marianne had tried to persuade her to accompany them on a walk, saying it would be good for her spirits, but she had declined.

She didn’t want to walk or draw or do anything that she usually loved to do. Besides, the thought of being anywhere near Lucy was appalling. Her cousin was still swanning around the house with the same smug look upon her face she had been wearing since she had caught Jane and Percy together.

The curtains were closed tightly, but Jane could see a sliver of bright sunlight through the cracks. It felt odd to be in her room like this during the day when she wasn’t ill. But perhaps, it was almost like shewasill. She was sick in her spirit and her soul.

She closed her eyes.

I am sorry, Mama. I have tried so hard to keep the vow I made to you. But it is making me so miserable. Do you truly wish for me to be this unhappy for the rest of my life?

Her eyes fluttered open. There was no answer. Her mother’s voice had been silenced forever. She could never release Jane from the vow.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Marianne walked inside, gazing around for a moment. Then she swiftly opened the curtains, sending in a stream of bright sunlight. Jane blinked owlishly.

Her sister came to stand at the foot of her bed, her hands on her hips. “You must get up,” she said in a firm voice. “You cannot wallow like this in self-pity forever, Jane.”

Jane gaped at her sister. “I do not feel like it. I just want to be alone....”

“Enough,” said Marianne in the same firm voice. “You are suffering from melancholy and shall only get worse if you continue like this.” She paused. “I want you to go and see Percy.”

“What?” Jane sat up on her bed. “I cannot, even if I wished to. What if Lucy finds out?”

“I will take care of Lucy,” said her sister in a grim voice. “I saw his carriage at Cliff Lodge. He is at the house overseeing the renovations. I want you to go and speak with him. I want you both to resolve this, once and for all.”

Jane bit her lip. “He probably does not wish to see me, Sister. He was furiously angry when he left here the other day, and I do not blame him.”

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