“No?” Blackbrook queried, his brows rising. He took a long draw on his cheroot then blew out the bluish smoke in a slow plume. “What is it that I think?”
Somehow… Somehow, he had to come out of this without destroying the only true friendship he had ever had. But with each passing moment, the fact that it was too late began to take root. “You think that I have ruined Jack.”
Blackbrook folded his arms across his chest, that languidness a deception for the coiled fury within. “Have you?”
“No,” he said.
“No?” Blackbrook repeated, mocking him. “It was not my sister that Drexel saw climbing out of your bedchamber window?”
James closed his eyes as the ramification of that single question crashed down upon him.Drexel…
“He wants to own your sister,” he growled.
“Oh, I am very aware what sort of beast that man is. And when he came to me and told me that my sister was ruined and offered to save her from that ruin with marriage?” Blackbrook’s face transformed to one of disgusted rage. “It was all I could do not to murder him. And I would have killed him there, but he made it clear that information about my sister will be released if anything happens to him.”
James’s stomach twisted with horror. How had he been so naive? He’d wanted to be with her. He hadn’t been able to deny himself those intimate moments. And now…
“Deny it,” Blackbrook gritted. “Deny she was in your rooms.”
He closed his eyes for a moment then admitted, “I shall not deny it. But—”
Blackbrook abruptly swung his legs off the desk and leaned forward. “Please, let us not argue the hows and whys.” His eyes narrowed, and he slowly stood. “Now, I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
James stared at him.
He longed to sink through the floor. He had never disappointed anyone so entirely as his friend, a friend that he held in great esteem, a friend that he had been determined to help, and who had now found him to be an utter traitor.
“I don’t know,” he confessed.
A muscle tightened in Blackbrook’s jaw. “I think if you gaze into the inner depths of your heart, you know exactly what you’re going to do. Otherwise, I shall call you out and you shall be dead before the sun rises above the horizon.”
“You’re not going to kill me,” James said softly, even if he knew he deserved it.
“You think I don’t love my sister enough to do it?” Blackbrook demanded.
“I think you love your sister too well to do it,” he replied honestly.
Blackbrook jabbed his cheroot into the porcelain bowl on the desk then slammed his fist down on the polished wood. “I cannot let this stand. You have taken advantage of her. She is an inexperienced girl who has held you in high esteem since we were children. And this is how you repay her trust? By allowing her into your chambers?”
“Nothing has happened.” But the lie was bitter on his tongue. Something had happened between them. There was no question. He wanted Jack. He wanted her with his soul. But it was his soul and the dark knowledge of his father and the future that might await him that held him back now.
Blackbrook’s eyes glinted like two hard stones. “Good God, man. I had no idea you were such a bastard. I can see it. You have had her.”
“I haven’t,” James said firmly, at last able to tell the truth. “I swear to God.”
Blackbrook snorted. “Your audacity at making any such solemn oath is absurd. I want to know what you’re going todo.”
“I promised your sister I would find her a husband,” he blurted.
“What?” Blackbrook demanded.
“I promised her just like I told you that I would find her a husband,” he rushed, realizing the only thing for it was to be completely honest. “She came to me. She climbed that tree, came into my window, and demanded I right the situation I created when I put Louise and Deptford together. I said I would give her a husband when she told me I had ruined her life.”
“And have you?” Blackbrook drawled. “Found her a match.”
“No, I confess I have not.”
“And why is that?” Blackbrook demanded, his tone low, deadly.