Invitation to Ruin (12 page)

“May I?” She pointed to the bench he’d previously been using for his liaison.

He stood aside, sweeping his arm toward the bench. “Of course, forgive me. I am not used to a dalliance being so rudely interrupted, especially by a young lady. My wits seem to be in a muddle.”

Ignoring his teasing, she settled on the bench while he regarded her suspiciously. It was difficult to remember Richard was Anthony’s twin because they looked nothing alike. Richard was not as tall, not as solid. He had a leaner frame but was still well muscled. His hair was fair, with the shape of his face more rounded than Anthony’s chiseled features. She could not quite see the color of his eyes, but they seemed to be sparkling in the moonlight. He was rumored to be as much of a rake as her betrothed. Seeing him fondling Lady Spencer only confirmed the rumor.

It would seem, even though they were nothing alike, the twins were alike in their pursuit of the opposite sex.

“I do not wish to appear rude, but is there something urgent you’d like to discuss? I do have plans for this evening.” He was tapping his foot.

Melissa raised her head and gave him a scathing look. “Oh, I am sorry. Have I disrupted your life of pleasure? Do please forgive me, but I’d say having to wait half an hour for your liaison with Lady Spencer is nothing compared to destroying my life, which you appeared to be able to do with casual ease the other night.”

Richard stood up straighter and pulled at his cuffs. A look of seriousness steeled over his features. “I will admit that in my endeavours to help my brother I did not properly factor in the consequences to you. I assumed given your family’s
money situation, and the fact your brother was trying to arrange a suitable match for you, having to marry my brother would not be disagreeable to you.”

She hoped her eyes stabbed him with her anger. “You thought wrong. I do not want this marriage.”

Richard shrugged. “It’s a little late for that now.”

She hung her head and sighed. “I am well aware of my predicament.”

“If you don’t want to tear a strip off me, then what is it you want?”

“I want to know about your brother.”

His eyes narrowed, and he shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. “What exactly do you wish to know?”

Melissa paused for a moment. How did she ask Richard to reveal his brother’s secrets? Especially as Richard did not know or likely trust her.

“It’s no secret that I do not want this marriage. In fact, I have made more of a fuss about having to get married than your brother. Don’t you find that surprising?”

Richard’s head cocked to one side.

She continued. “Anthony’s views on marriage are well known. He is vehemently against the institution.”

Richard allowed a wry smile to curve his lips. “Come, Miss Goodly, most men of my age feel the same. I for one, am in no hurry to marry.”

“Exactly.”

He moved to sit next to her on the bench. “I don’t quite follow. “

“Your brother has not complained once. He has not ranted and raved against the injustice of the trap you set for him. He hasn’t tried to buy his way out of this mess. He does not even appear to be angry. “

“Perhaps he’s fallen for your charms.”

Melissa scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous—”

“Are you fishing for compliments, Miss Goodly? You know very well you are beautiful.”

She flushed at his words. “He does not know me, and he
certainly did not wish to share my bed. He craves my cousin Lady Cassandra and you know it.” Her hands, resting in her lap, balled into fists. “If I am to have any way of making this marriage bearable, I deserve to know what I am up against. Your brother is up to something and as his fiancée I demand you tell me what it is.”

Richard stilled beside her.

“You know I am right. Why has he so readily embraced this union? What does he gain with our marriage?”

He was ignoring her, lost deep in thought. Even in the dark she could see the lines of worry crease his forehead.

“I am not sure what he hopes to achieve, but I am hoping he gains back his soul.”

Melissa gasped. “His soul?”

Richard stared deep into her eyes. “Can I trust you, Miss Goodly? My brother has been hurt too much for me to hand you the weapon to destroy him.”

Melissa felt her heart clench in her chest. “Does the scar have anything to do with it? Tonight I asked him where he got it and he refused to even discuss it.”

He rose and began pacing up and down in front of her. She knew he was debating what was best for his brother. He obviously cared for Anthony a great deal, so why had he forced his twin into marriage? “If it helps I would never knowingly hurt your brother. I have admired him for many months.”

Richard stopped and swung to face her. “Then why have you been so opposed to the match.”

She instinctively knew she was going to have to trust him before he would trust her. She whispered softly, “I am scared of marrying a man I could easily come to love and of never having that emotion returned. If I did not care for your brother this match would be far easier. “

Melissa sat very still. Would he help her?

He smiled at her warmly, dropping down on his knee before her and taking her hands in his. “Those are the sweetest words I have ever heard. All I want is for my brother to find love and to be happy.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And he could not do that on his own?”

He rose and retook his seat beside her. “Not could not—more like would not.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Do you know anything about our family history—about my father’s business?”

She pursed her lips. “I know there was something distasteful with your late father’s affairs, but my parents wouldn’t speak of it in front of me. I was very young at the time.”

Richard drew in a deep breath. “I am not sure I should be telling a young lady our seedy past, but as you are marrying into the family, marrying Anthony, it’s best you know.”

Melissa felt her shoulders tense.

He could not look Melissa in the eye. “My father inherited nothing but debts from his father, the third Earl of Wickham. He was on the brink of losing everything. So he married my mother, a very wealthy heiress in her own right.”

“Did that save the estate?”

Richard shook his head. “However, a good friend of my father’s, Baron Rothsay, offered him a business solution.” He hung his head and seemed to take a big swallow. “My father became a slave trader. One of the largest in all of England.”

Melissa felt sick—a slaver—the most distasteful practice she could ever imagine. To deprive a person of their free will, their dignity, and their hope. The perpetuators of such trade were evil. They had little or no humanity. She tried not to let her horror show.

“Mother says the trade changed him. In order to survive the despicable vocation, he became cold, cruel, and unapproachable.”

“But what has this got to do with Anthony?”

Richard sighed. “When we were born the coffers were still not at the level needed for the family to survive. Father was determined to groom Anthony, to prepare him for what he’d need to do in order to ensure the Wickham legacy survived.”

Melissa began to tremble. “Anthony’s a slave trader?”

Richard quickly uttered, “No. No. Anthony closed the family business down when he was four and twenty, the year my father died. His trading business is cargo—nonhuman cargo.” Shaking his head, Richard continued, “I don’t know how to tell you this, how to make you understand.”

She put her hand on his arm and gently said, “Just tell me. I am not a simpering miss; I won’t swoon on you.”

He gave her a grateful smile. “My father’s version of grooming was very severe. Anthony won’t even tell me the terrible things Father did to him, but he received the scar on his face from the man who sired us.”

Melissa felt her eyes brim with tears. She’d thought her parents cruel with their disinterest, but her heart clenched with sorrow at the thought of a father beating his child, any child.

“I was raised by my mother, while Anthony was given to my father. I have to live with the guilt of knowing, but for an accident of birth, it could have been me.” His face contorted in pain. “My brother’s wounds are deep. He guards himself, his feelings, his desires, ensuring he doesn’t give in to any imagined weaknesses. He denies himself love. He is under the mistaken impression that he is evil. Evil like the father he so closely resembles. He believes he does not deserve love.”

Richard lowered his head and said softly, “I love my brother. But I don’t know how he feels about me. I’ve never heard him speak one word of love to anyone. I think Father beat every feeling out of him except hate and bitterness.”

With a heavy heart she stood, her legs trembling from the story he’d told her. “I still do not understand. How does my marrying your brother change this?”

“Once again I have taken the cowardly route. I can’t seem to get through to him. He has sworn to never marry, and I hoped the love of a good woman would break through the cold shield he’s put around his heart. That with time, and with children, and a loving family, he’d learn to love and live again. I owe him to try because I did nothing to help him while we were growing up.”

Richard stood and moved toward her. He took her two hands in his. “Are you a good woman, Miss Goodly? I was hoping with a surname like yours you’d be the perfect foil for his dark, brooding temper. Will you fight for my brother? Will you love him so well he’ll not stand a chance of not loving you in return?”

She looked into his eyes; they gleamed with a combination of hope and sorrow. She cleared her throat. “You ask a lot, Mr. Craven.”

His hands tightened their grip. “I don’t ask it for myself. I ask it for my brother who has suffered more than any human being should. Can’t you try?”

She shook her head. “You misunderstand. I am already partly in love with your brother, but what could I possibly offer a man like him? To a man who has legions of women succumbing to his every whim at the wiggle of his little finger?”

Richard raised his hand and stroked one finger down her cheek. “Your love. Just love him, not his title or wealth, but the man.”

She swallowed and gave a small smile. “I can do that.”

“Thank God.” And he raised her hands and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

“How touching. My brother and my bride-to-be, sharing a rather intimate moment in the garden. How sweet, how conniving, how distasteful.”

R
ichard dropped her hands as if they were hot coals.

“This is not what it looks like.”

“You wed her.” Anthony stalked toward them like a beast sniffing for blood. “If I’ve got her with child, you can raise it to inherit the title.”

Melissa clenched her fists at her side, tipping her chin up to hide the pain slicing through her body. Who did he think he was?

Richard shook his head. “Anthony don’t …”

“We’ve been known to share women, often at the same time.” His voice dripped with sarcasm and anger. “I’ve only had her once, and it was over in a minute, literally. I’m sure she prefers a man who can whisper sugary nothings in her ear while he drives into her. You always were much better than me with the sweet talk.”

Blushing hotly, Melissa swallowed the lump in her throat. He was trying to rid himself of her, his burden.

“Miss Goodly has done nothing wrong.” Richard’s voice was a harbor of calm in a rising tide of anger. “She is the innocent party in all of this.”

“Not so innocent anymore,” Anthony snapped back. “I have been taken in by a pretty face. You were obviously in on my brother’s plan to trap me in marriage from the beginning. Well, you both look pretty cozy to me. You’ll be pleased. She’s enthusiastic in bed.”

Melissa gasped and stumbled backward, as if Anthony had kicked her in the belly. She turned around and retched into the rose bushes.

Anthony heaped on the pain. “What’s the matter, my sweet? Does the thought of missing out on becoming a countess upset you?”

“Enough!” Richard roared.

Tears of humiliation and anger welled in her eyes.

Richard continued, “You and I have never raised a fist to one another. But by God, if you continue with this slander …”

Anthony laughed an ugly sound. “Lord Dashell was right. She’s not worth the trouble.” He gave her a mocking bow. “As you seem to prefer the company of my brother, I shall leave you with him. Try to convince my brother to take my place, will you?”

Anthony looked at his brother with dead, cold eyes. “If you aren’t prepared to make an honest woman of her, kindly unhand her. I don’t share my property—not with anyone. I warn you, if I find you’ve cuckold me, not only will I never forgive you, but I shall demand satisfaction on the dueling field.”

With that, he pivoted and marched away.

Melissa sunk onto a sitting position on the bench, her knees shaking. What kind of man was he? How could he be so vicious and cruel? He wanted his brother to take her. He was handing her off like a piece of garbage.

“I’m sorry,” Richard said softly. “He’ll calm down shortly and feel like a cad. He knows I’d never dishonor him or myself by seducing you. It’s just his dark temper gets the better of him. He fights first and thinks later. With the life he’s led, he instantly assumes the worst.”

“How can you excuse him?”

“I know the pain he’s had to endure. If you knew what my father did to him, you’d be amazed at how he’s managed to stay sane all these years.”

Sniffing, Melissa wiped her tears away with her gloved hands.

“Miss Goodly, what my brother just did was inexcusable, but believe me when I say that he was not striking out to hurt you. He was protecting himself. Please do not turn away from him. He needs you, he needs love.”

“I can’t …” She shuddered. “You ask the impossible. He seems incapable of love.”

“A man who can be that fired up with jealousy is a man who can also love.” Richard’s face lit with a slow smile. “He’s just demonstrated he’s not as immune to feelings as I suspected. Hmm … Anthony jealous.” Chuckle. “I never thought I’d see this day. Miss Goodly, you are an angel!”