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Juliana inhaled sharply, as if Alexius had slapped her. The ladies and gentlemen in the box with them murmured comments of surprise and dismay.

  Alexius deliberately kept his face impassive. He refused to react to the flash of pain Juliana could not hide from him.

  Her blond curls bobbed riotously as she nodded in agreement. “And I have always understood you all too well, Lord Sinclair.”

  “Have you?”

  “Yes!” She tossed her head back in a defiant manner. “Nevertheless, do not be concerned about my tender feelings. If you had been capable of offering me something of a personal nature, I would have mourned the loss for years.”

  Her confession staggered Alexius. The little fool was casting aside what little pride she had left and risking public mockery. “Juliana—,” he said warningly.

  “I am not quite finished,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I might have mourned you, if you had taken something of value from me. You have not. So you are free, Lord Sinclair.” She spared a scathing glance at Frost, who had one foot braced on the balcony as if he had been prepared to leap to Alexius’s defense. “Free to return to your friends . . . your greedy mistresses and your coldhearted life . . . and spare me your condemnation on who I choose to share my evening with!”

  Gomfrey trailed the side of one finger down Juliana’s cheek. “Well said, my dear.” He grinned evilly at Alexius. “Your courage does you justice.”

  Juliana tore her gaze away from Alexius’s impassive face and sent the earl an impatient look. “How so?”

  “Very few individuals defy Sinclair and his sister.”

  Alexius froze. His stomach seethed as his hot, angry gaze sought out his friends, Dare to his right and Saint and Hunter to his left. Who had betrayed his confidence? Few had been privy to the details of Belle’s small favor. Whoever had told Gomfrey would in due course feel the full measure of Alexius’s wrath.

  “His sister?” Juliana echoed, the color bleaching from her complexion. “Lord Sinclair only mentioned her once in passing. I was not aware she was in town.”

  “How strange, since Lady Gredell has been very aware of you, my lady,” Gomfrey revealed with relish. “Pray, forgive me—did no one tell you that they are brother and sister?”

  Stunned by the revelation, Juliana shook her head.

  Gomfrey shook his head chidingly as Alexius’s hands curled into fists. The earl was enjoying himself.

  “Who told you?” Alexius demanded.

  The earl ignored him, concentrating on Juliana. “A tragic misstep, though I doubt anyone could have anticipated the siblings’ malice toward an innocent.”

  In dawning horror, Juliana’s lips parted as if to speak, but the question she wanted to ask the earl was caught in her throat.

  Lord Gomfrey, the slimy piece of chicken excrement, had no such difficulties. “Sinclair’s affection for you was counterfeit. A close confidant of Lady Gredell told me that the marquess approached you at his sister’s request with the purpose of stealing your innocence. I have no doubt that he succeeded.”

  Juliana swayed dangerously, causing several nearby gentlemen to step forward in case she fainted.

  “I am fine,” she said tersely, brushing aside the hands of those who wanted to help her.

  Although he sensed Juliana would fight him, Alexius longed to sweep Juliana into his arms and carry her out of the private theater box, away from their captivated audience. In the distance he could hear his sister’s distinct laughter. With Gomfrey’s assistance, Alexius in a jealous tirade had publicly shamed Juliana in a manner that most likely exceeded Belle’s expectations.

  Once again, he had lived up to the Sinclair name.

  His father would be so proud of Alexius’s latest mischief.

  Since the earl had managed to proclaim Juliana as his and ruthlessly crush any tender feelings the lady might have harbored for her former lover in one decisive stroke, Gomfrey could not resist gloating. “I have often wondered, Sinclair, how can you tolerate being your sister’s whore?”

  Alexius’s response hit Gomfrey like a lightning strike. One second Alexius was staring at Juliana’s drawn face, and the next he was burying his fist into the earl’s insolent mug. Pain exploded as Alexius’s knuckles scraped Gomfrey’s sharp teeth. The man staggered backward and landed on his ass. There was blood. A lot of it. Fortunately, most of it belonged to Gomfrey.

  The earl bared his bloodied teeth. “Filthy bastard!” He wildly launched himself at Alexius.

  Dare grabbed Juliana and dragged her out of harm’s way. No one in the box seemed to know what to do as both men crashed into several empty seats and sent several others skittering. Alexius grunted as Gomfrey landed a solid punch into his stomach. They rolled, causing several of the ladies in the box to scream and flutter. Behind them, he could hear men shouting. Suddenly, unyielding hands clamped onto his upper arms in an attempt to separate him from Gomfrey. Alexius used the opportunity to plant his heel in the earl’s testicles. As Alexius struggled against the hands that held him, it was satisfying to watch as Gomfrey turned over onto his side and retched.

  Alexius was prepared to pummel his captors until he realized it was Frost and Hunter who held him. He shook off their hands and wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. “How the devil did you get here? Sprout wings and fly?”

  Frost slapped the palm of his hand against Alexius’s bruised back. “If I had tarried, I would have missed all the fun.”

  “So much for worrying about Vane and Frost instigating a fight,” Saint murmured. He and Reign released the gentlemen they had been restraining so they could attend to their friend.

  Alexius eyed Gomfrey. He could barely stand even with the assistance of his friends. “Where is Vane?”

  No one bothered to speculate.

  “With this many witnesses, the managers will probably ban us for life,” Reign added cheerfully.

  “We could always offer them a sizeable bribe.” Frost shrugged at Alexius’s scowl, opened his arms, and gestured at the boxes surrounding them. “At the very least, they should be paying us for such an entertaining performance!”

  Juliana.

  She stood silently beside Dare. Thankfully, she seemed untouched by the violence.

  Ignoring the growing stiffness in his lower back, Alexius limped past his friends and moved toward her. “Come with me.”

  The moment he touched her on the arm, Juliana seemed to recover from her shock. She struggled against Alexius’s side as he escorted her out of the box.

  “Sin, release me at once!”

  Gomfrey shoved his friends away. “She is mine, Sinclair. You cannot have her.” He moved to prevent Alexius and Juliana from leaving.

  “Help Gomfrey clean up his face,” Alexius called out over his shoulder, knowing his friends would make certain that no one followed him and Juliana. “I want to have a brief chat with Lady Juliana before I take my leave.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  SIN SWEPT THE crimson velvet drapery aside with his arm and marched them through the narrow opening. He was taking her to the small anteroom where she had planned to escape Lord Gomfrey’s insufferable company. That had been before Sin had arrived with his friends.

  “Unhand me,” Juliana ordered through clenched teeth. “I have nothing to say to you!”

  “Liar.”

  Sin pressed her back against the wall and held her in place with the length of his body. If she could have extended her arm, the door would have been within reach.

  “After that amusing bit of drama for the ton, I suspect we both have a few things to say to each other.”

  Juliana’s face crumpled at the reminder. Between Sin and Gomfrey, she had been completely humiliated in front of the entire theater. Her position did not give her much leverage, but it did not stop her from striking Sin’s shoulders with her fists. “That dreadful woman Lady Gredell is your sister?”

  “Half,” he replied succinctly. “Different mothers.” Sin gave Juliana a little shake. “Q
uit fighting me. You are only hurting yourself.”

  “No, I think we can both agree that you are responsible for my pain!” she yelled back, renewing her efforts to free herself from his grasp.

  Unmoved by her efforts, Sin held her in place until her strength left her. Blast it all, she could not even claw at his face with her fingernails. Bothersome gloves! Tired, she sagged against the wall.

  “For reasons I could never fathom, Lady Gredell took an instant dislike to me.” Juliana turned her face away from his, her burning gaze narrowed on his coat sleeve. It hurt too much to look at Sin, knowing he had betrayed her. “She seemed determined to ruin my stay in London, and you have been helping her all along!”

  “Not as much as you might think,” he shouted back. “Belle has often accused that my loyalties were divided where you were concerned.”

  Juliana’s eyes widened as she rapped the back of her head against the wall in outrage. “You discussed what we did together with her? Oh, this is too much to bear! The first time that I saw you in the Lettlecotts’ gardens, I thought you were an untrustworthy rogue.”

  Sin’s hazel eyes glittered dangerously. “Did you? That knowledge did not keep me from putting my hands on you. I do not recall you resisting overly much when I—”

  “Stop.” In her mind, she thought about those early encounters. The stolen kisses they had shared. The rainy afternoon in the coach. The pearls. Oh god! She had been such a naïve fool. “Was Lord Gomfrey telling the truth? Did your sister order you to seduce me?”

  His silence was damning. Juliana watched as the muscles in Sin’s throat constricted. “She viewed her request as a favor,” he said eventually.

  “How could you? I thought you—” She broke off, no longer believing in the caring, loving man she had welcomed into her life.

  Sin glowered down at her. “What? Loved you?”

  Juliana winced at his scathing mockery of her feelings and his lies.

  “In the Lettlecotts’ gardens, you witnessed firsthand the sort of man I was. An untrustworthy rogue, you called me. Juliana, do you truly believe my sister would demand from me a task that I would not have willingly pursued on my own with countless other women? Did you think you were different from my other conquests?”

  His questions, as he had intended, cut Juliana to the quick. “I did not know Lady Gredell was your sister. Had I known . . .”

  The tight constriction of her corset would be her undoing. She took several rapid breaths to keep from fainting. Juliana met his heated gaze. “Had I known, I would have avoided you at every turn. I would not have dared to breathe the air around you.”

  Sin laughed, his warm brandy-laced breath washing over her. She could not resist inhaling, taking a small part of him into her lungs. “My poor lovely lybbestre. How it must chafe your pride, knowing that you took more than my breath into your body.”

  If regret was a dark, fathomless lake, she would have drowned in it.

  Juliana pushed against his upper chest. The man was made of granite and would not yield. “It more than chafes, Lord Sinclair. It disgusts me!”

  “Really? You wound me, Juliana. Unfortunately for you, I am in the mood to prove that you are just as much of a liar as I am.”

  Before she could react, Sin fused his mouth to hers. The kiss was demanding and thorough. Desire licked her flesh like a gentle flame, reminding her that Sin possessed her body and soul. Juliana moaned in despair. What they had shared had been based on a cruel deception. If he was pressed into choosing between her and his beloved sister, Sin’s loyalties unquestionably belonged to his family.

  It was difficult to blame him, since she would have done the same.

  Still, he had hurt her.

  Sin lingered, biting lightly at her lower lip before he ended the kiss. “Tell me why Gomfrey thinks he has the right to put his hands on you?”

  Befuddled by Sin’s kiss, Juliana just blinked at him. His grip on her upper arms gentled as he tasted her mouth again. “Tell me. Give me a reason why I should not march back into the box and challenge him.”

  Color suffused her neck and face as she caught onto Sin’s game. “Let go of me this instant!” She bit his lower lip when he tried to placate her again with a kiss.

  “Christ! Bloodthirsty witch!” Sin released her and brought his fingers to his lips to check for blood. He stabbed his finger at her. “You liked my hands on you just fine. Do not even try to deny it.”

  There was no point in denying the obvious. “Try to kiss me again and you will need a surgeon to fix the damage,” she threatened, rubbing her arms to put some blood back into her limbs.

  “Gomfrey—,” he began.

  Juliana gaped at him in disbelief. Sin’s arrogance and tenacity had no boundaries. “Is not your concern.” She paused, tilting her head back defiantly. “Neither am I, for that matter. After what you have done, you no longer have the right to question with whom or where I spend my evenings.”

  Sin scrubbed his face with his hand. He looked uncomfortable, as if what he had done had not set well with him. Good! Juliana refused to soften her heart toward him. The man could suffer for a thousand years and it still would not be enough to make up for his misdeeds.

  He moved closer, crowding her until she felt the wall at her back. “Can you answer one question? Why him? Why Gomfrey?”

  This was not concern, Juliana had to tell herself. Sin was outraged that she had discarded him for another gentleman. Thank goodness she had not been foolish enough to run to Sin with her family’s problems. He and his sister would have laughed merrily at her appalling predicament. By morning, the entire ton would have learned that Lady Duncombe had sold her youngest daughter to Lord Gomfrey to settle a gambling debt.

  Oh, she wished that she could turn back the hands of the clock and return to earlier in the day. Instead of driving past Sin’s club, she would have ordered her coachman to stop. She would have marched up Nox’s front steps and demanded that Sin show himself. It would have given her immense pleasure to end their affair and ruin his plans.

  It might have allowed her to hold on to the tattered scraps of her pride.

  Juliana crossed her arms. “You have asked three questions, and I have no interest in addressing any of them. Now if you will excuse me, Lord Gomfrey is waiting for me.”

  Dread swelled in her breast at the thought of Lord Gomfrey. Juliana did not want to return to him or the curious speculation of the ton. If given a choice, she would have gladly walked away from both gentlemen for using her for their pleasures.

  Sin caught her by the arm. “We have not settled things between us.”

  “Settled what, Sin?” she asked, her throat aching with grief. “What do you want from me? Tears? Do you wish to see me beg? Lay broken at your feet?”

  “Christ, no!” He seemed sincerely revolted by the suggestion. “Juliana,” he sighed, his usual charm and wit eluding him for once. “Do not return to Gomfrey. You have not heard the rumors about him. He is not . . . gentle with his lovers. You are too innocent to comprehend the deviant appetites of some gentlemen.”

  Unlike Sin and his friends.

  It was not astonishing that Sin and his ilk congregated in clubs where they drank themselves into a stupor, regaled one another with debased tales of conquest, and placed bets on their next victims.

  Juliana wondered if her name currently graced one of those betting books. It was a depressing thought.

  Misunderstanding her silence, Sin turned her so that she faced him. “Listen, you do not have to prove anything to my sister, Gomfrey, or the damn ton. I already know that you possess the courage of a dozen men. Allow me to return you to your family.”

  He pitied her, and rightly so. Juliana longed to move closer and bury her face into his chest. She had always felt so safe, so cherished, when he had held her.

  Instead she brushed away his hands and his offer. “That is very generous of you, Lord Sinclair, considering the unscrupulous part that you played in this debacle.”

/>   Sin’s brows lifted. “Did I call you brave? ‘Dim-witted’ is apt, since I planted my fist into the face of the last man who insulted me.”

  “Go ahead; strike me down.” Her arms opened, daring him to hit her. “The pain could not be worse than the realization that I fell in love with a lie.”

  His hazel eyes dulled with shock and then narrowed with suspicion. “You are not in love with me,” he said flatly.

  “Not anymore. Hate has stifled it.” She gestured toward the outer hall. “You have had your victory. Take it and leave.”

  “And Gomfrey?”

  She knew Sin well enough to aim a spiteful verbal barb with accuracy. “The better man.”

  Sin closed his eyes and nodded. “Very well.” He walked by her and tore open the curtain separating them from the private theater box. “Let us depart,” he told his friends.

  The curtain dropped back into place as he turned to face her. Juliana braced for his next words, because they would be his last. After this bitter parting, she did not expect to see him again.

  Sin reached into his coat and retrieved something from the inner pocket of his waistcoat. To her surprise, he removed a small white plume.

  “I never understood why I kept it,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I have been carrying it around since that first night.” He laughed softly at his foolishness. “Well, it no longer matters.”

  He blew on the downy feather. Both of them watched as the feather caught the invisible current of air. It floated gently downward until it alighted on top of her left slipper.

  Juliana crouched down to pick up the feather.

  Is this . . . ?

  She peered at the insignificant piece of fluff.

  Yes, this was the blasted feather that had betrayed her to Sin all those weeks ago when she had been caught in the Lettlecotts’ hazel tree.

  Why had he kept it?

  Juliana was so distracted by his unexpected revelation that she had not realized Sin had moved away from her until he spoke again.

  “One more thing,” he said tersely. “What if you are with child?”