If possible, Ainsley’s spine went even straighter. He glanced momentarily to Senara.
She wondered what he saw. Did she look as undone by Rory’s arrival as she felt? Could he see in a glance all the guilt she bore when it came to him?
Putting on the playful mood she’d once loved, Rory gave her shoulder a squeeze, still laughing. As if they shared a joke. “Is it any wonder they couldn’t get information from him? Sealed up tighter than that sarcophagus his employer has on display. But that’s all right, old boy. Your reticence is my gain.”
Ainsley’s expression went utterly still. “Rory. What have you done?”
Rory laughed again. “What you hadn’t the gumption to do. They said they approached you first, back in May. Just wanting a bit of information about your employer, so as to make the best business deals possible with him. Harmless, Hank. You ought to have seen it was—but just because you missed the opportunity doesn’t mean I’m so dense.”
“They.” Ainsley took a step—one single step closer to his cousin. But it was a step so forceful that Rory stumbled back, pulling her with him. “The Scofields? What have you—you wouldn’t. Couldn’t. You don’t know anything of interest to them.”
Rory’s laugh sounded thin this time. “They didn’t realize that. All they knew was I’d spent Christmas with you. Two cousins, of an age. Of course we’re the best of friends. They’re happy to believe anything I tell them—and pay me handsomely for it too.”
Senara’s arms sagged to her sides. After all those years of flirtation, after an innocent stolen kiss last year, he’d finally focused his full attention on her this summer. Because, she’d thought, he loved her too.
But by that time, he’d already been in the Scofields’ pocket. Tears stung her eyes. He must have remembered where she was from, at the very least. He may have forgotten she had a direct association with the Tremaynes, but he’d clearly known something about what Beth had gotten involved in. Was that all this summer had ever been to him? Were all his words of affection empty?
Had she compromised everything she’d ever believed in for a rake who was just out to use her?
Ainsley took another menacing step. “What information? What have they asked you for? I told them in May that I had no interest in betraying Lord Sheridan’s trust.”
Rory finally stepped a bit to the side, though he kept that one arm around her waist. “I know you did. Probably even told his lordship that they approached you.”
“Of course I did. He had to know that the people he was doing business with weren’t above stooping to bribery.”
Rory raised a finger, grinning. “Or extortion. That’s why they came to me, you know. Not because they thought I’d know anything about Sheridan—because they assumed I’d know things about you. Things that they could use against you to get what they needed about him, if it came to that.”
Ainsley didn’t take another step. But his hands curled into fists.
Senara sucked in a breath. “Rory. How could you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Relax, Nara. It isn’t as though I gave them any real weaknesses of his to exploit. Couldn’t—he hasn’t got any, you know. Pillar of virtue is Henry Ainsley.” His tone dripped mockery.
The breath she’d pulled in felt like a rock in her chest. She’d thought . . . well, that the cousins were friends. That she ought to get to know Ainsley because he mattered to Rory. She’d come to admire this man she hoped would be her cousin soon, for every sterling quality Rory was now mocking.
She’d misjudged him so. Not Ainsley—Rory. How? How could she have been so blind?
A muscle in Ainsley’s jaw ticked in the light spilling through the kitchen windows. “What have you told them?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. Blimey, Hank, I wouldn’t put you in danger. I may want to make a few quid, but I’m not a monster. And really, you ought to be thanking me. Since they think they found a fount of information in me, it means they’re not pressing your mum, or mine. I’m a blighted hero.”
Exactly what she’d wanted him to be. A hero worthy of any of Beth’s tales. But he didn’t seem the hero now. Heroes didn’t sell information to the villains for a few pounds. Heroes didn’t mock the virtues of their cousins.
Heroes didn’t seduce a girl just because he thought she might be useful.
She shuddered. Maybe these suspicions were wrong. Surely. Please, God. But what if they weren’t? Was she really fool enough to have fallen for such a charlatan?
Ainsley was drawing in slow, careful breaths and letting them out again with the same careful measure. “Tell me everything you’ve told them, Rory. Now.”
Rory took a step to the side, pulling her with him. “I didn’t come here to listen to your lectures, thank you. I came for my girl.” He flashed her a grin. “Just like I said I would, luv. Flush from my good fortune and ready to start a life together. We can go anywhere in the world you want.”
Blast it, why did tears have to sting her eyes? Why did hearing the dream tumble from his lips shatter her heart? “Rory.” This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have in front of Ainsley—in front of anyone. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have at all. But she needed to know. “This summer . . . is this all it was about? My connection to the Scillies?”
“Tell me about Mucknell, luv.” Tapping her for information, so he’d have something true to pass along to the Scofields, something other than whatever tales he’d told them about Ainsley and Sheridan.
His smile didn’t falter, but something flashed in his gaze. “Of course not. How could you think so? You know I’ve always fancied you.”
Did he? She had always fancied him . . . but he’d never singled her out until recently. He’d flirted, stolen that one kiss, but he flirted with all the girls.
She pulled away from him, needing a bit of space. Needing the fresh, rain-scented air to bring reason to her mind. Think, Senara. Piece it together.
He’d asked her outright, just five short days before her dismissal, about Mucknell, yes. But before that? He’d certainly shown more interest than he ever had before in her history, her family, where she came from. She’d thought it was because he was coming to care for her. That he wanted to know all he could about her, as she did him.
But how could she know if it was sincere or if he had ulterior motives the whole time? Lord . . . Only when she breathed the name in a silent prayer did she realize how long it had been since she had done so. Months. Because it had been Rory, not God, filling her thoughts this summer. And because Rory lured her into things that made her squirm every time she tried to pray.
Probably answer in itself, but that was ultimately her fault, her failing, not his. Lord, I know I have so much to answer to. I know I’ve failed you. But please . . . if you could show me his true nature. Whatever it is.
“Nara.” He tried to ease closer again, but that just sent her another step back. He spread his hands, palms open. “Why are you looking at me like that? It’s all been for you. For us. So we can build that life together, just like I promised. Everything else—that’s just steps on the path. Things that had to be done to get where we wanted to go. Lying to a few blue-bloods with more money than sense, giving up our positions . . . sacrifices we needed to make, that’s all.”