Chapter 2 A Bargain of Betrayal

Dorian's lips twisted bitterly to learn the name of her intended. "Lord Evercroft, no less? Since when has that damned Deveraux ever shown the slightest interest in marrying anyone? This is most interesting. Rafael seeks very high for you, doesn't he? Not happy to gain an impoverished earl for you? Oh no, he finds you a well-moneyed marquis instead!"

"I have no say in it, Dorian."

Dorian came forward, a bitter gleam in his dark eyes. He reached out and took her hand. He placed the ring on her third finger. She looked down at the large emerald and diamond ring glittering up at her. It was the last of his worldly wealth. The only reason it wasn't sold along with everything else was that he intended to give it to her. She withdrew it. She offered it back to him with a trembling hand.

She'd been gone a fortnight. Her resolve to wed no other but he buckled under her brother's constant browbeating. She would accept Lord Evercroft as her husband. She had no choice in it now. Pain seared her insides to see the anguish on his face. Tears scored the backs of her eyelids. Another matter came to mind. She was encouraged to stay resolute for that reason. That sad fact reminded her she needed to see this done. Her resolve struggled in the face of the man she adored.

"Your fight of this travesty is admirable to witness, Aubrielle." Dorian held his mother's ring clenched in his palm before he put it back in his pocket. "What happened to your determination to be with me always, my love? How did a fortnight change what's in your heart so easily?"

"Stop it! Don't do this to me, Dorian. It is done," Aubrielle replied in a stronger voice, tears glistening in her eyes. "I wish it weren't so, but this is what must happen."

"He sells you outright, Aubrielle, and you allow it!"

"The money lenders need to be paid somehow, Dorian. There is no other way," she confided, worrying her lower lip. The desire to tell him everything at that moment burned within her. Her inner voices warned her. Don't tell him! Don't do it! There's no point to it now. It's too late for all that. She sighed, looking up at him with fear etched in her expression. "They came here not long before we left for London. They made threats to him if he doesn't pay his debts. The threats are very real."

"A good thrashing would do the man some good! It only serves him right for gambling away his fortune as he has. He thought nothing of you on his way to ruin, 'tis obvious. You would sacrifice all to save his miserable hide?"

"They will kill him this time," Aubrielle added in her defense, her chin going up at his chiding tone. "He is my only brother! What would you have me do? I can no more ignore his plight, than yours, my love!"

He shrugged his broad shoulders dismissively, unconcerned for her brother's welfare. It was obvious he bore Sir Rafael Dane little affection, despite having grown up with him. They were of the same age. That was where the similarities ended.

At twenty and three, Dorian took his newfound responsibilities very seriously as the Earl of Gale. He had no love for Rafael, who was older by five years and ran his modest holdings into the dust this last year.

Aubrielle's brother had been a close friend of his older brother, Cassius. One could argue it was Cassius who led the once-responsible young baronet astray. He lured him to London and started his downward spiral at the gaming establishments. Dorian never cared for Rafael, finding him arrogant and weak-minded.

One constant Dorian believed he'd never see falter was the man's devotion to his younger sister. Rafael adored Aubrielle since her birth, spoiling her shamelessly after their parents died. That too, went to the wayside, as Rafael gambled away his modest fortune, even his sister's modest dowry. Now he would sell his sister to continue with his reckless pursuits.

"They won't kill him! He exaggerates! Where would they get their money then? No, he lies to get you to agree with this. You stand fast and he will have no recourse."

"I was here when they came for him. I listened outside the door," Aubrielle told him and shivered from the memory of the uncouth men who'd threatened him that day. "I have no choice but to marry Lord Evercroft. He has agreed to Rafael's terms."

"How much did Evercroft buy you for, Aubrielle? I would know your price." The pain on his handsome face was more than she could bear.

"He agreed to pay off Rafael's debts and give him a large sum to keep him solvent," she admitted, eyes firmly glued to his ragged boot tips.

"Don't do this to us, Aubrielle." Dorian came to her, taking both her small hands into his larger ones. His features appeared earnest in the flickering firelight. "We will make due, my love. I don't want to marry anyone else. I wish only to marry you. If I have to take any sort of employment; I will do what I must."

Aubrielle looked up at him. Her eyes blurred with unshed tears. "It's done, Dorian. The wedding is a week hence, Evercroft arrives next Saturday."

Dorian looked as if he'd been slapped. He dropped her hands. He gazed down at her in stunned anger. "You won't even try to fight this? Rafael will listen to reason if we both go to him."

"I won't sit back and watch you lose Gale House," Aubrielle answered him in a choked voice, thick with emotion. "You're not thinking straight to make such a rash decision."

"It's not your right to make both our decisions in this!" Dorian raged in turn, his arms swinging outward in frustration. "I have some say in this, Aubrielle!"

"One of us must be practical and decide! You would give all up with no thought of your future! For love, you say?" She jumped up from the chair, blue eyes flashing in anger. "You would run away and elope tonight? What of tomorrow, my love? We would be without a home and destitute. Have you no thought of your mother in your selfishness? You're responsible for more than just yourself now."

"Selfishness?" He snorted in derision, flinging her a look of disgust as he paced before her. "Forgive me if I thought you would wish to marry the man you claim to love."

"I do love you, with all of my heart, Dorian, but I can't marry you," Aubrielle repeated quietly and stiffened as shards of pain speared through her heart. "Lord Evercroft will be my husband."