My Sister's Intended

by Rachael Anderson

  “No, not even her. I was only just out of the nursery when I met Hugh, and all of our adventures happened in the short span of a year. In a way, I was selfish with his friendship and didn’t want to share him with anyone else. But more than that, I worried that if anyone learned of my secret, he would be taken from me, which is precisely what happened. After that wonderful, rainy day, my father dismissed his solicitor, and I never saw Hugh again.” She looked at him with a pained smile. “We can’t always hold onto the things we cherish, can we?”

  Brand’s thoughts went immediately to Prudence, and he shook his head. “No.”

  In a surprise move, she placed her hand over the top of his, giving it a light squeeze. “You’re kind to listen and not think me absurd, Lord Knave. I am very grateful to you.”

  Her words reminded him of the way Prudence had thanked him for much the same thing. Brand had to wonder how two sisters, who were as close as Prudence and Miss Gifford seemed to be, could keep secrets from each other.

  He looked down at her gloved hand on his, realizing he felt… nothing—no yearning to intertwine his fingers through hers, no desire to pull her to him and wrap his arms around her slim figure, and no longing to kiss her. He only wanted to comfort her, make her see that she was beautiful, and tell her to stop withholding herself from others.

  “I would never think of you as absurd, Miss Gifford, only kind, genteel, and lovely.”

  She seemed to believe him this time for she slid closer, peering up at him with trusting eyes. Before Brand could say anything more, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. It caught him unaware, and his body stiffened. Her lips were soft and slightly cool. She held them perfectly still, as though she had never kissed a man before and didn’t know how to go about it. For a moment, he attempted to return her kiss, but nothing had ever felt more wrong, so he took her gently by the shoulders and pushed her away.

  She stared at him for a moment, her eyes bright with humiliation. “Forgive me. I should not have done that. I was simply overcome by your kindness, and… oh, my. If you did not think me ridiculous before, you must certainly think so now.”

  Brand continued to hold her shoulders. She felt so fragile, so breakable, as though one wrong word from him would send her skittering back into her shell, never to surface again. He wouldn’t wish such a fate upon her, but he couldn’t continue to force something that was so at odds with his feelings. In that kiss, she had shown him that if he continued to court her, if he asked for her hand, if he made her his wife, she would freely give what he could never return. She wanted to experience joy to its fullest. She wanted to swim, ride with abandon, surround herself with animals, and be cherished the way that young solicitor’s son had cherished her friendship years before.

  She deserved to be cherished.

  Brand couldn’t offer her that, and if he continued to pretend that he could, she would come to realize that it wasn’t her but her sister who held his heart. The truth of it would surely break her.

  Brand had always prided himself on being a man of honor, and up until now, he thought that marrying for the sake of his family’s estate was the right thing to do. But now, seeing the hurt written clearly in Miss Gifford’s eyes, he realized that he had been wrong.

  His father would never understand. Perhaps his mother wouldn’t either. But Brand understood, and he refused to injure Miss Sophia Gifford anymore than he already had.

  He took her hands in his and held them tight, desperate for her to understand as well. “You are not ridiculous, Sophia. You are intelligent, beautiful, honest, and remarkable. It is me who has been dishonest with myself and with you, and for that I must beg your forgiveness. I have come to admire and respect you a great deal, and I used to think that was enough. But it isn’t—not for me or you. Somewhere there is a man who will make you laugh the way I have never been able to. He will make you feel comfortable and understand you in the way that I cannot. He will want to take you by the hand, not out of duty but out of love and adoration, and he will want to keep you at his side for as long as he can. That is what you deserve, and it is something I cannot give you.”

  Her fingers trembled in his, and her eyes shown with unshed tears, but she attempted to smile nonetheless. “You sound like Prudence.”

  He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Is it so wrong to have dreams? To want more than…” He let his voice trail off, unsure how to finish the sentence.

  “More than kindness, admiration, and respect?” She shook her head. “I suppose not. I only wonder at the possibility of it.” She slipped her hands from his, and her eyes blinked rapidly to contain the tears. Her voice trembled when she asked, “Will you take me home, my lord?”

  She made a valiant attempt to veil her emotions, but Brand could see plainly that he’d upset her. It broke his heart, and he couldn’t bring himself to return her home in such a state.

  “I am truly sorry, Sophia,” he said. “I wish I could offer you more, but my heart is already pledged elsewhere. I have tried to ignore it these past weeks, but I can do so no longer. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us, especially not you.”

  Her shimmering eyes darted to his for a moment, only to look away again. She wiped at her cheeks with her hand, and when she returned them to her lap, Brand noticed the tear stains on her gloves.

  Devil take it, he thought, hating himself for allowing things to progress to this point. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, hadn’t meant to do so, but it had happened nonetheless. Why hadn’t he realized the futility of their courtship before now?

  “Before I return you to Talford Hall,” he said gently, “will you answer one question?”

  She nodded, still not looking at him.

  “Do you care for me in that way I described? Are you the best version of yourself around me? Do I make you laugh? Do you yearn for my touch? When I have deposited you at your door, do you await our next meeting with impatient anticipation? Am I in your thoughts constantly and relentlessly?” He held his breath, hoping she did not feel more for him than he did for her.

  “That is more than one question, my lord.”

  Brand smiled a little, liking her show of backbone. “They require only one answer.”

  “I…” she began, her voice quivering. She stopped and cleared her throat. “Is that how you feel about the woman who holds your heart?”

  Brand swallowed, wondering if she knew of whom they spoke. “Yes.”

  She nodded slowly, her lips pressed together. At last she spared him a glance. “I suppose my answer is no then. Perhaps I could have grown to care for you in such a way, but I am not there yet. I think I only wanted to feel that way because you were my only choice. Prudence often speaks of love and romance as though it is a requirement for a happy life, but I have never had the luxury of being able to dream as she does.”

  Brand tentatively touched her hand, and when she did not shrink away, he closed his fingers around hers. “Now you do. Somewhere out there is a man who will make you happy. I don’t know who he will be or when you will meet him. I only know that if you dare to believe in the possibility of it, you will cross paths with him one day. I will make sure of it.”

  She snickered, but the sound contained no mirth. “How, exactly, will you do that, my lord? Will you conduct interviews with all of the eligible men in London this upcoming season?” She peeked at him with a sad smile.

  “I might,” he teased, his voice soft. In a more serious tone, he added, “I will not rest until I have made things right.”

  Her smile dimmed, replaced by a look of compassion. “You have already made things right, my lord. You have been honest with me and have done so in the kindest way possible. The wrong thing would have been to ask for my hand and spend the rest of your life yearning for another. I might have been content with a marriage based on mutual respect and admiration, but not at the expense of your happiness. It may not seem like it at present, but you have done us both a great service, and for that I thank you. I can only hope
and pray my mother will come to see it that way.”

  Brand blinked, humbled by her words. She had every reason to despise him, but she didn’t. She had somehow looked beyond her own disappointment and was now offering him comfort. She was a wonder. His respect for her increased even more, and he reaffirmed his vow to do everything in his power to help her find a man worthy of her.

  “Don’t worry about your mother—or father. I will speak to them both, along with my parents.”

  She nodded, appearing relieved by his offer. “I don’t envy you that task, but I will gratefully accept your offer. I have no wish to impart such news. Perhaps if it comes from you, she will understand, though I wouldn’t wager a farthing on it. Not that I am doubting your powers of persuasion. I simply know my mother to be of a stubborn, headstrong nature. She likes her plans to unfold according to her wishes.”

  “In that case, I shall do my best not to cower before her.”

  She laughed lightly. “I have no doubt that you will. Now, if you will kindly take me home and give me time to change into my riding habit and escape to the stables, you may request an audience with my parents and be done with it.”

  “Do not say you are a coward, Miss Gifford,” he teased as he collected the reins.

  “I readily admit that I am. And you called me Sophia earlier. I wish you would continue to do that. We can go our separate ways as friends, can we not?”

  “Yes, we most certainly can, Sophia, but only because you are a woman of astonishing character. Any other woman might have tossed me from the gig and left me to my own defenses. I would not have blamed you if you had.”

  She smiled. “You speak as though I have done you a kindness by allowing you to remain in the gig and drive me home, but I assure you, sir, that as soon as you speak to my mother, you will not think it a kindness.”

  He laughed, giving the reins a light whip and directing the horses to turn them around. This time, they did not lurch, Miss Gifford did not slide backwards in her seat, and Brand did not stifle a curse. But that was the only positive change. Though tears no longer glistened in Sophia’s eyes, the sadness remained. Brand despised himself for being the cause of it, but he could do nothing more to ease the pain of rejection. Only time could heal that.

  PRUDENCE STEPPED OVER a log and tugged on Scamp’s leash, keeping him from investigating an ant hill. Her fast-moving feet carried them both forward—not towards any certain destination, but away from Talford, Sophia, and that wretched clearing.

  Prudence had stayed up most of the night, determined to make some progress on her story, and for the most part she had. Her heroine had only just lost her beloved husband, and Prudence almost felt as though she became the woman in the story. The emotions poured out of her—the longing, pain, sorrow, loneliness, and even anger. Her pencil could hardly maintain the pace.

  But when the time came for the heroine to rally, the story came to an abrupt halt. Try as she might, Prudence could not make her heroine find even an ounce of strength within her. In the wee hours of the morning, it became apparent that she needed to improve her own spirits before writing another word, so she stashed her pages beneath the floorboard and dragged her weary mind and body to bed.

  When she awakened a while later, it had not helped to see her sister climb into Lord Knave’s gig with a radiant smile on her face, as though all was right with the world when it clearly wasn’t, not for her at any rate.

  Prudence despised the way she felt. She ought to be happy for Sophia. Pleased. Excited. Tickled beyond measure. Instead, the hideous feelings of jealousy and misery hovered near her like a shadow on a sunny day. Out of desperation, she had donned her walking boots and escaped to the outdoors. Scamp fought her much of the time, attempting to pull her toward the clearing and memories of afternoons spent in blissful ignorance of how Prudence would one day be made to suffer. How naïve she had been to think she could remain distant and unaffected by Brand.

  No, it was Lord Knave to her now. It had to be Lord Knave.

  Lord Knave.

  Lord Knave.

  Lord Knave.

  When the memory of his kiss assaulted her, Prudence lashed out at a rock with her boot and injured her toe, muttering a few unladylike words. As she limped forward, she came to the realization that she couldn’t stand by and watch Lord Knave continue to court her sister. She needed to leave. Perhaps she could pay an extended visit to her aunt in Sussex. Yes, that could be just the thing. New scenery, new faces, new conversations that didn’t revolve around Lord Knave, and most importantly—distance. Oh, how she needed distance.

  She could stay away until Sophia left for London and return to face the memories with only the servant to witness her misery. It was the perfect solution. The only solution. Surely her mother would think it a grand idea as well.

  But it didn’t feel grand. It felt lonely and cowardly and dreadful.

  A horse whinnied in the distance, and Prudence looked up, surprised to see Talford through the trees up ahead. She must have circled around without realizing it, which was probably for the best. Her toe ached abominably.

  She limped around the corner of the house in time to see Lord Knave disappear from sight in his gig, riding away from Talford and from her. It felt like a wretched omen of things to come. He had probably just dropped her sister off, which meant Sophia would be bursting to tell Prudence all about their drive and the kind things Lord Knave had said.

  Scamp began yipping and charging in the direction of the gig, and Prudence had to pull extra hard to keep him close. If her foot didn’t throb so very much, she would have dragged him back into the woods and extended their walk, if only to avoid her sister’s happy glow.

  “We must both stop this silliness,” she told Scamp firmly. Then she drew in a deep, fortifying breath and pulled him inside, where, much to her surprise, she found the entire household in no better state than she.

  A few servants bustled nervously up the stairs and through the foyer. Prudence caught the strained eye of the butler and asked, “Has something happened?”

  He opened his mouth to respond, but her mother’s sharp voice came from the parlor, silencing him. “Why has my tea not arrived yet? I called for it ages ago!”

  A maid carrying the tea tray quickened her steps, appearing almost frightened. Prudence gave her a look of sympathy as she passed. Mother did not succumb to a fit of the temper often, but when she did, all those in the house were made to suffer. What had happened to cause such a stir?

  “Ah, look. Tea,” came her father’s soothing voice. “Thank you, Izzy, for being so prompt. Come, my dear. Let us sit and have a drink, shall we?”

  “Is that a spot on the carpet?”

  “I see no spot,” came her husband’s reply.

  “Just there, in that corner. Honestly, if that dreadful puppy has wet my rug again, I shall have it sent away at once. Why you were so insistent that Prudence needed a puppy I will never know. It has been nothing but a thorn in my side, and I will not tolerate its messes any longer!”

  “I still fail to see a spot, and I think Prudence would be very sad to see Scamp leave us.”

  Prudence took a quiet step backwards, thinking it best to continue her walk after all. A sore toe was only a nuisance compared to the diatribe she would receive if her mother spied her now.

  Unfortunately, her willful puppy had other thoughts. He began yipping and scampering towards the parlor.

  “Prudence?” her mother called. “Is that you?”

  Prudence glared at Scamp and whispered, “Now see what you’ve done.” To the butler she mouthed, “Where is Sophia?”

  “I believe she went for a ride, miss,” came his response.

  Drat, thought Prudence, not relishing the thought of facing her mother alone. How had her sister managed to escape when she could not? Life could certainly be unfair at times.

  “Do not ignore me, Prudence. Come in here this instant!”

  Resigned to her fate, Prudence allowed the puppy to scurry a
head of her. He ran straight to her father and attempted to jump up on his knee.

  Her father’s answering smile seemed more sad than amused, which was odd, but he lifted the puppy onto his lap for a good rub.

  “Good afternoon, Father and Mother,” said Prudence.

  The strain around her mother’s eyes appeared deeper than usual. “It is anything but a good afternoon. Where have you been?”

  “I took Scamp for a walk, just as I usually do. He has not wet anything in this house for weeks, Mother, and you cannot be rid of him. He is my puppy, and I will not be denied his companionship, especially when I cannot go out in society any longer.”

  Much to Prudence’s surprise, her words seemed to take some of the zest out of her mother’s temper. In fact, her shoulders drooped, and her eyes filled with regret. “I was only jesting about giving him away. I would never actually do such a thing. And… I think I have been wrong to keep you away from society. I have been wrong about a great many things, haven’t I?” The last few words came tumbling out tremulously, and as she looked to her husband, her face crumbled. “Oh, my dear, what are we to do?” She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands as quiet sobs shook her shoulders.

  Astonished, Prudence looked to her father for an explanation, but he only shook his head. Then he rose and handed Scamp back to Prudence before going to console his wife.

  Prudence stared at her parents, trying to make sense of it all. Had someone died? Had an investment taken a turn for the worse? Had Sophia succumbed to another illness?

  No. Sophia was out riding. That couldn’t be it.

  As she slowly left the parlor, no more enlightened than when she’d entered, she again caught the eye of the butler. Her unasked question was met with a shrug and a slight shake of the man’s head. Apparently he didn’t know anything either.

  Prudence gathered her puppy close as she slowly walked up to her room. For a time, she kept a lookout for her sister, watching the stables through her window. But after a wretched night of very little sleep, her body soon grew weary, so she curled into a ball around Scamp and drifted off.