Kell clenched his jaw. He felt a measure of guilt at his brother’s unhappiness, but anger as well at Sean for precipitating this disaster. “You left me little choice. If not for your means of seeking revenge, I would never have been compelled to wed her.”
“She deserved what she got!”
“I’m not so certain of that. She wasn’t responsible for your impressment-her groom was. And even he wasn’t wholly to blame, for he was merely trying to protect her. What did you expect him to do when you assaulted her last summer?”
“She has duped you completely, hasn’t she?”
“I don’t think so.”
“No? You believe her over me. You’ve sided with her over your own flesh and blood. You’ve played the fool for her like countless other witless swains. You were taken in by her wiles, just as I was.”
“You’re mistaken,” Kell said grimly.
“Am I? How else can you explain your betrayal?” His bitterness was edged with a grief that seemed genuine when tears filled his eyes. “You stole her from me, Kell. I loved her, and you stole her from me.”
Kell shook his head slowly. “If you truly loved her, Sean, you would never have tormented her as you did. You would not have wanted to see her so devastated, standing alone against society, enduring the cruelty our own mother did.” He felt his hands curl into fists. “I was not about to let her suffer the way our mother suffered, Sean.”
Looking ashamed, Sean averted his gaze. “I did love Miss Kendrick. I do. I swear it. I would have married her myself.”
“That never would have happened,” Kell assured him. “She never would have accepted you as her husband after what you did to her.”
His face twisting in pain, Sean ran a hand roughly down his face. Kell took pity on his brother and gentled his tone. “You should be satisfied with your revenge thus far. Think about it. You accomplished precisely what you set out to do. You’ve tumbled her from her elite station. She will never wed her duke, never lead society.” He gave a scoffing laugh. “No doubt she’ll be shunned simply because of who I am. In order to explain her sudden disappearance, we’re putting about the story that we were madly in love; that I abducted her because I couldn’t bear to live without her. A love match with a half-Irish gamester who possesses my notorious reputation could prove just as big a scandal as jilting a duke. The ton will never forgive her for loving so far beneath her station.”
Sean’s mouth twisted in contempt. He, like Kell, held a burning resentment for society’s view of class differences. In truth, Kell was convinced that being unable to compete against a nobleman for Miss Kendrick’s hand in marriage had outraged Sean as much or more than her refusal of his suit.
But his brother apparently was not willing to forgive him, at least not yet. Sean shook his head, his voice lowering to harsh fury. “May you both rot in hell.”
“Sean…”
“Get out. Just leave me alone.”
“In a moment. I have not finished what I came here to say.”
“There is more?” Sean sneered.
“I want you to absent yourself from London for a while.”
Sean stared. “Why the devil should I?”
“Because it will permit the scandal to die down, as well as allow time for her family’s wrath to cool. They could still decide to prosecute, you realize. If you remain here, you risk prodding a raw wound.”
“And just where do you expect me to go?”
“To Ireland. To the farm. You haven’t visited there since last winter.”
Three years ago Kell had purchased a horse farm outside Dublin, to provide Sean a place of refuge when his demons grew too fierce to bear. Now seemed an opportune time for him to return.
“I will make all the arrangements,” Kell added. “You can take the opportunity to gain control of yourself. And to think about what you did.”
“Just what did I do that was so terrible?”
Kell stifled a sigh. “No man of honor raises a hand to a woman, Sean. You crossed the line. What is more, you lied to me about what happened between the two of you. Raven Kendrick never gave you her body as you claimed.”
Sean’s green eyes filled with anguish, but he remained mute.
“I’ve made excuses for you in the past because I understood how you suffered. And I realize how your experience during your impressment could drive you to want revenge. But what you did to Raven Kendrick was inexcusable.”
“Go to hell.”
“As long as you go to Ireland.”
Sean’s spine went rigid. “I don’t have to do what you say. You’re no brother of mine. Go play the fool with your scheming bride. And don’t complain to me when you are burned by her wiles.”
“You will leave London, Sean, even if I have to escort you myself.”
“You will have to carry me, then.”
“If I must.”
Setting his jaw, Kell turned away and let himself out of the house he had hated for years. His brother needed time to become accustomed to the shocking news of his marriage, but Sean’s accusations had hurt more than he would have thought possible.
How had events come to such a pass? Never in his darkest dreams would he ever have expected a woman to come between them. The last thing he’d wanted was to wound his brother by taking a bride Sean claimed to love. Yet he would still do it again, in order to protect his brother from himself.
For years now, Sean’s self-destructive tendencies had alarmed Kell, although he’d always felt compelled to make allowances. Having an innocent boyhood shattered by depravity was an agony that only the strongest souls could fully overcome. And Sean had never been very strong.
His path to torment had begun the day they’d lost their father to sudden illness, when Kell was fourteen and Sean nine. Their father’s unexpected death was a devastating blow, but Adam Lasseter was scarcely in the ground when their hated uncle exercised his powers of guardianship and banished their mother from their lives. Fiona had had no power or resources to fight the disdainful Lasseters-nor did Kell at the time. During his tearful farewells with his mother, he’d sworn faithfully to look after his younger brother.
A solemn responsibility at which he’d failed terribly.
Kell climbed wearily into his waiting carriage and settled back, his conscience aching, his own thoughts bitter as he remembered those grim years when he and Sean had been forced to live under his uncle’s roof. They had never seen their mother again, for she’d died in Ireland barely a year later, too destitute to afford the care that might have saved her from the influenza epidemic that had raced through the Dublin slums.
Kell’s hatred for William Lasseter had become irrevocable. Seething with defiance, he had let his loathing drive his every action-rebelling at every opportunity, earning himself countless beatings. Devil’s spawn, his uncle called him. They had argued intensely and often, and Kell even ran away once, taking Sean with him. But their uncle dragged them back home, severely punishing them both and threatening to make Sean suffer worse if Kell’s insubordination continued.
After that, he had tried to contain his smoldering hatred for his younger brother’s sake, biding his time, resolving to wait until he could reach his majority and gain the power to fight his uncle.
At seventeen, Kell had gone away to university, while Sean remained at home under William’s control, schooled by tutors. When Kell did come home for holidays and term recesses, Sean seemed withdrawn, despondent, but he denied anything was wrong… Out of shame, Kell finally learned to his revulsion.
He’d returned home for Christmas during his second year and discovered the sordid truth: that William Lasseter had an unnatural desire for thirteen-year-old boys.
Kell had planned to attend a worship service with his brother when he found Sean huddling before a roaring fire in his room, enveloped in a dozen blankets but trembling with cold.