Taming of the Beast (Scandalous Affairs #2) - Christi Caldwell Page 0,118
for what Claire spoke of now. Justice.
Her sister spoke again, this time in hesitant tones. “Mother is fearful this person highlighting the crimes of the peerage might somehow uncover more in terms of her involvement in the disappearance of the real Lord Maxwell.” She paused. “Do you think she has reason to be afraid?”
Ah, so her sister knew of Faye’s writings, after all.
The first person Faye had reached out to had been the Earl of Maxwell. He and Tristan had forged a sense of peace when the earl had returned to claim his place among Polite Society, which had made it easier for Faye to approach him and enumerate her mother’s sins and request that he allow Faye to print those sins for the world to read.
“Faye?” her sister prodded.
“I think Mother needn’t worry,” she finally said. “The earl has been clear to the world that he doesn’t wish to resurrect his past any more than it has already been resurrected.” Pity, that. “He has no ill-will for us. Or, that is what the papers say, anyway.” Faye tacked on that last part as an afterthought. “He will not go public with stories that will hurt our family.”
Perhaps the earl would one day change his mind and wish retribution upon the dowager baroness. Or perhaps it would be enough justice to know the daily terror of discovery that Faye’s ruthless parent would forever live with.
Claire grabbed Faye’s wrist and tugged her against her side. A snowball went sailing past, landing with an ineffectual, near-silent thump in the snow behind her.
Her elder nephew raised his fist, shaking it at being subverted by his aunt.
Caleb let out a deep, albeit playful, growl and charged after the child.
God help her, in that instant all Faye saw was Tynan and Finn and Jack and John, those little boys who’d found shelter and security because of Tynan.
She wrapped her arms around her middle and held tight. Would it always hurt this badly? Would there ever come a time when he didn’t intrude on her every single thought and exchange and dream and memory?
“You have also been a good deal distracted.”
Faye tensed. It was the first time since Claire’s return with her husband a week earlier that she’d acknowledged something was different about Faye. Ah, but then, a sister always knew. After all, hadn’t Claire’s piecing together Faye’s role in that news story been testament enough?
“You’ll not say anything?” Claire gently prodded.
“I did not realize it was a question.” Faye rubbed her hands back and forth in a bid to bring greater warmth to her limbs. Furthermore, what was there to say? Everything was different. In the short while since her sister had run off, only to return married, Faye’s life had been forever altered.
She and Claire stared out at their brother and his family. Laughter pealed around the grounds, filling the air with that young family’s joy as they skated. And Faye proved a petty and terrible person, because she was filled with a numbing amount of envy for that happy pair. And worse, for her sister, who’d returned as in love as Faye was, but Claire’s love had been realized in all the ways love should. Pain sawed away at her chest. That, coupled with the biting cold of the winter air, made it hard to breathe.
“Do you wish to talk about it?” Claire asked.
“There is nothing really to say.”
“Faye,” her sister said chidingly.
Yes, Claire was entitled to that. After all, the two of them had been closer than all the Poplar siblings. Oh, they all carried an equal love for one another, but the bond between Faye and Claire had always been greater. Perhaps it was because of the narrower age gap between them. Perhaps it was because Christina had moved away when they’d been younger and built a life with her family.
Drawing in another of those agonizingly difficult breaths, Faye spoke on a quiet rush. “I fell in love.”
Her sister didn’t so much as blink.
Faye frowned. “I said—”
“Yes. You fell in love. Only love can cause a woman to look so.”
“And how do I look?” she asked before she thought to stifle the query, because did she truly wish to know how the world now saw her?
“As though you are in a constant state of suffering.” She paused. “That is, different than your usual moroseness.” Claire softened that with a smile.
Faye sent an elbow sailing gently into her sister’s side.
Claire immediately tossed an arm around her shoulders. “Who is he?”