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“I can’t believe my knuckles are still bruised,” James said as Lizzie wrapped his hand in a bandage soaked with alcohol.
“I still cannot believe you punched him,” Lizzie said, her tone annoyed and yet full of pride.
“Several times,” James pointed out with a painful wince. “That hurts, Elizabeth.”
Lizzie glanced at him apologetically and continued wrapping his hand.
“I cannot believe you threw a punch that actually made him bleed,” William chuckled. “Where did you learn to be such a brute?”
“When the reputation of someone you love is at stake, even the gentlest person can become a fighter,” James said, not regretting his actions for a moment.
“Indeed, and I appreciate it more than I will ever be able to express,” Lizzie said. “Thank you, brother.”
“You do not need to thank me,” James said quietly, meeting his sister’s gaze and smiling at her.
William went on, “It’s wrong to spread untruths about another person for your own personal gain. It astounds me that he was under the impression he was going to get away with it. But James... you took care of him, in front of a crowd, as well. Dorset was certainly not expecting that. Even though you did it for Elizabeth, you are now my hero, James.”
James grew quiet and lowered his gaze, wincing one last time as Lizzie finished wrapping the bandage around his hand.
“Brother,” Lizzie whispered and touched James’s chin. “Are you well?”
“It is not only my hand that is bruised, Elizabeth.”
“Did Lord Dorset hit you? Where?” Lizzie inquired and examined him briefly.
“No, it wasn’t Lord Dorset. This was caused by my own hand,” James answered.
“I don’t understand,” Lizzie answered with a furrowed brow.
James sighed wearily. He’d come to this decision earlier, but it was more difficult to say aloud than he’d originally thought it would be.
He took a breath and braved the dragon. “I wish to make amends with Kitty.”
Lizzie gasped.
“I was under the impression she made you miserable?” William scoffed.
Their sister whirled on him. “Can you not see he is even more miserable without Kitty?” Lizzie snarled at William.
“I was never truly miserable with her,” James pointed out and glanced at his sister. “I wish she was here with me right this moment. I wish I had the courage to say all the things I still carry within me, that I was given the chance to say.”
“Which are?” Lizzie inquired, her eyes sparkling with hope.
Oh God... he had to say it. Aloud. Right now.
“I am in love with her, Elizabeth. I must be. I cannot stop thinking of her. The entire estate reminds me of moments with her. I spend my days thinking of her, and I spend my night wishing I had not told her to leave.”
“She left on her own, James,” William pointed out. “The young lady could have stayed if she wanted.”
James shook his head. That was incorrect.
“No, I told her to leave, and to never come back. That she was no longer welcome here,” James sighed, feelings of guilt and remorse welling up inside him. “I was such a fool, chasing away the only person I wanted near me.”
“James,” Lizzie sighed and placed her free hand on his arm.
“If I could merely tell her that I am sorry, and I wish for her to come back.”
Lizzie glanced at William over her shoulder and she bit her lower lip. William exhaled and turned away, avoiding James’s eyes.
“What is it?” James asked and glanced at Lizzie. He shifted away from her, his hand out of her grasp and she glanced at him intently.
“There is something you must know, James,” Lizzie said quietly.
“What is it, Elizabeth?” James asked once more, his tone filled with more urgency than before.
“Kitty is already betrothed to another,” Lizzie answered carefully.
“What?” James exclaimed and stood from the low stool, gaping down at Lizzie.
“Kitty is betrothed to Lord Windham,” Lizzie repeated with more clarification and stood as well.
“Since when?” James demanded.
How was that possible?
“It has only been a few days. Lady Josephine, a mutual friend, spoke to me during our visit at the tea house,” Lizzie explained.
“And you were under the impression that you shouldn’t inform me of this?”
James ran his hand through his hair, frustration twisting his gut.
“I only wished to protect you, James,” Lizzie insisted.
“I do not require your protection. I am a grown man—”
“With the heart of a boy,” Lizzie interjected.
James stopped and stared at his sister angrily, his jaw clenched. How dare she say such a thing to him?
“Your heart was fragile after Lady Penelope, and as much as you wish to deny it, her actions still affect you. I see it in every single choice you make, even with regard to Kitty.” Lizzie smiled gently. “I understand that you are upset, but it is better this way. She is betrothed, and you cannot walk back into her life and disturb everything.”
James clenched his jaw and lowered his gaze. Lizzie knew him better than he knew himself.
Yet something stirred inside him, and there was a powerful shift in his heart. His courage rose up inside him and his shoulders straightened.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” William inquired, his facial expression filled with confusion, as was Lizzie’s.
“No. I cannot allow Kitty to marry that man. He is not right for her. She is not meant to be with him.”
She was meant to be his wife. No other’s.
“You don’t even know the man. How can you make such assumptions?” William scoffed, but a smile formed on Lizzie’s lips.
“I am the man Kitty is meant to be with,” James announced. “I have been licking my wounds for far too long.”
“What are you going to do?” William asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Don’t fret. There won’t be any violence involved, or at least none that I intend,” James assured his brother.
“Before you go, brother,” William said suddenly, “are you certain this is the right thing to do?”
James glanced at his brother and narrowed his eyes.
William shrugged. “Think it over. Please.”
“No.” Enough thinking. “It is time for me to be the man she deserves. A man she can depend upon. I cannot simply give in. Kitty means too much to me to let her go.”
“And if she does not reciprocate your feelings?” Lizzie inquired.
James glanced at his siblings. Better to be hurt again than regret inaction. “At least I will know her true feelings.”
“Perhaps, but it will leave you shattered beyond repair, just as you were when Lady Penelope—”
James waved his hand to stop Lizzie from spouting off any more of her unwanted opinions.
“Lady Penelope pretended to be someone she was not. She deceived me, and used me for her own personal gain. There was not a moment where Kitty acted unlike herself. She was honest with me from the moment I met her, and she never pretended to be someone whom she was not. No woman will ever have my heart as she did.”
“Still does, in fact,” Lizzie whispered.
“Indeed,” James sighed, letting some of the tension leech out of his system.
“Go to her, brother,” Lizzie encouraged him. “Go to her, and tell her all these things you told us. Pour your heart out to her, tell her how you feel. No woman who willingly gives herself intimately to a man deserves to marry another simply for the sake of her family.”
James glanced at her and cocked his head. How did she know?
“No one told me, I could see it in her eyes,” Lizzie assured him, and James nodded at her. “Now go, before it is too late.”
*
AS JAMES SWIFTLY LEFT the parlor, Lizzie turned to William.
“You did not tell him,” William pointed out with a scowl.
“I was not the one from whom he needed to hear it. That is now in Kitty’s hands,” Lizzie turned away and gathered her medical supplies from the table.