“No, I didn’t. I had no idea Chamberlain was courting her. I never would have allowed it.”
“You wouldn’t have allowed it? Just who the hell do you think you are?” His eyes widened. “How long have you known Jane’s sister?”
“A few months,” he answered tightly. “We met by chance, and I thought that was the end of it. Then I met her again here.”
“Here? At my house?” Colton picked up the back of the chair and slammed it down.
“I would have met her anyway. Her godfather is my uncle.”
“The only reason you know that is because of me.” Colton sat back down and rested his elbow on his knee so he could drop his forehead into his hand. “If I’d never gambled, I wouldn’t have gone to you for money. My parents wouldn’t be dead. My sister-in-law wouldn’t want to marry a criminal.” He peered through his fingers at Rafe. “She does want to marry you?”
“Yes.” Rafe coughed. “And might I point out that she may not even be your sister-in-law if not for me.”
“Oh, bloody fucking hell!” Colton dropped his hand from his head and straightened. “It doesn’t matter how we got here, only that you leave. You can’t marry her. You must understand that, don’t you? Think of who you are.”
“Were.” Rafe stiffened his spine and used his iciest Vicar voice. “I’m the Earl of Stone.”
“Not yet you aren’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d manipulated that situation somehow, perhaps assumed the identity of a dead boy.”
In a jolt of fury, Rafe leapt from the chair and pinned Colton to his. He curled his hand around the viscount’s neck. “Don’t ever say that. I am that boy. Like you, I should be dead and my parents are gone, mur—” Rafe released him and turned away, stalking away to the edge of the room. He fought to catch his breath and calm his racing heart. His vision tunneled, and he clenched his hands into fists.
“Were you going to say they were murdered?” Anthony asked softly.
Rafe wasn’t going to disclose anything, not to this man who held him in such contempt. And perhaps rightfully so. “It doesn’t matter. They are long dead.” He slowly turned, twitching his shoulders and flexing his hands. “I am going to marry Anne, and I am not going to hurt her. There is no one I care more for in this world, except my sister. I expect you understand that too.” Like him, Colton had a younger sister.
“I do. Sarah married a cad like you. Well, not like you, but a cad just the same.”
“I thought she married your best friend.”
Colton waved his hand. “Wait until your sister wants to marry your best friend. Only that won’t ever happen since your sister is already wed.” He blew out a breath. “Does Anne know who you were?”
As far as Colton was concerned, Rafe had been the Vicar, a man who lent money at a higher-than-legal rate. He had no idea of Rafe’s life before he’d reinvented himself as a moneylender in Blackfriars.
“No.” Rafe had never planned to tell her either, but that had been prior to becoming betrothed. Fuck, this was a tangle.
“You must.” Colton stood and gave Rafe a stony stare. “You worked closely with Chamberlain, and while I know you weren’t party to his extortion, you used him to gain new borrowers—men from his circle that you would not have had access to.”
Rafe wiped his hand down his face and swallowed a frustrated groan. He hadn’t considered Chamberlain before he’d proposed. Hell, he hadn’t considered much of anything. He just knew that she loved him, wanted him, and he wanted her too. She was also potentially the key to gaining what he needed to take down his uncle.
A goddamned tangle indeed.
“I’ll tell her.” Rafe met Colton’s gaze. “You won’t say a word.”
“Do it soon, and tell me when it’s done. I’ll speak to her before the final banns are read. I won’t let her get to her wedding day again only to realize the man she plans to marry isn’t who she thought.”
Put like that, Rafe was no better than Chamberlain. In fact, he was worse. As far as he knew, Chamberlain hadn’t used her for anything like Rafe was planning to do.
No, he wasn’t using her. He cared for her. That their betrothal would benefit him in his quest was simply an added benefit.
“I will protect her,” Colton said firmly. “Family is of the utmost importance to me, and she is my family. And in the absence of her father, I take full responsibility to ensure her well-being.”
“You’re a good brother-in-law,” Rafe said quietly. He exhaled and glanced up at the ceiling. “I became the Vicar to better myself. I’d stopped charging that higher interest rate a few months after you repaid your debt. And I stopped intimidating people who weren’t on time with their payments.” He looked at Colton and felt a bone-deep regret. “I am so sorry about your parents.”
It was a long moment before the viscount responded, and when he did, his voice was low and harsh. “Thank you. I hope you love her. It can save you, you know. It saved me. Without Jane, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
Rafe didn’t love Anne, though. He wouldn’t.
“With her, you can find the strength to look forward instead of back,” Colton continued. “I imagine that must be hard for you right now after learning who you are.”
“Yes.” He swallowed, trying to keep his throat from constricting. “My entire life was stolen from me. Please don’t come between me and Anne.” In that moment, he knew why he’d asked her to marry him. She’d been the only tether he wanted to hold on to since Eliza and, before that, Selina. People like her didn’t come along very often, and when they did, you clasped them tightly and you never let them go.
Colton nodded solemnly. “I’ll give you time.”
“I am going to write to her father,” Rafe said. “Not for his permission, but because I should. I should, shouldn’t I?”
“Yes.” Colton’s lip curled. “He’s an ass. I hope he doesn’t return to London for the wedding. I’d just as soon not see him after what he put Jane through.”
“Perhaps I’ll tell him the wedding will be in August. You and Lady Colton will be gone by then, yes?”
Colton actually smiled. “Yes. Perhaps you won’t be the world’s worst brother-in-law after all.”
“I will try not to be.” Rafe meant it. He’d never been part of a family, and now he had Selina’s husband’s large extended family, Selina’s pretend sister Beatrix and her new husband and their daughter, and soon he’d have Anne and her sister and the man standing before him. He supposed he also had to include his blood family. No, he’d never call his uncle family. Never.
“Thank you for not calling me out,” Rafe said wryly. “That is what you lords do, isn’t it?”
“We lords, and yes, sometimes.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “And don’t provoke me. I’m still not in favor of this. If Anne gives me any indication she’s not happy, I’ll put a stop to everything.”
“Understood. But you won’t have to. If Anne is unhappy, I’ll let her go.” Somehow, in the span of an afternoon, that thought had become almost unbearable.