Page 19 of Bred By the Duke

“That was four years ago.”

“I'm aware.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She looks at me now, incredulous that I could have kept something like this from her. “You told me about the man at the conference with the wife he'd forgotten to mention. You told me about the one who cried at the aquarium.” Her voice is climbing. “You told me you had a verruca from that spa we went to!”

“You'd have been furious with him, and he'd have known you were furious with him, and it would have gone through that house like damp. So I didn't tell you, and I stopped coming.”

She goes very still.

“The spa,” she says, the realization of it making her sink back onto the seat.

“The spa,” I agree.

“And the bed and breakfast by the lake with the scones.”

“Yep,” I admit.

Cassia looks out at the water for a long time. When she speaks again it's quieter, and there's something underneath it that isn't anger.

“I put you next to him at my engagement dinner.”

“You did.” I nod.

“He didn't come.” She pushes her hair back off her face with both hands and holds it there. “He didn't come to my engagement dinner. He sent that ridiculous decanter. And I remember standing in the hall thinking, how could he be so busy as to miss my engagement dinner.” She lets her hair go. “I think part of me knew. I just ignored it because that was easier than thinking of my best friend with my brother. Urgh.” She scrubs her hands over her face.

“I’m sorry, Cassia. I think we both tried really hard to pretend we didn’t have feelings. It was easier when we weren’t around each other. We didn’t plan it. I barely said two sentences to him since that first night in the library…”

“Don't be nice to me, I'm working up to something.” She wipes her face with her sleeve. “This morning, when Mamma said all that, do you know what the worst part was? For about two seconds I thought, oh, that would explain it. That would explain why you’re friends with me.”

My mouth drops open. “Cass, don’t ever think I’m your friend for any reason other than the fact that I absolutely adore you.”

She looks at me. “You wouldn’t be the first, Ro.”

That’s the moment I decide to tell her.

I tell her about the meeting on Friday afternoon in Nigel's office, and the phrase strategic review, and how they framed it as mutual. How I said thank you at the end of it because apparently that's what I do when the rug gets ripped out from under me. I tell her about the letter that arrived on Tuesday morning and is still lying on my kitchen table because I couldn't make myself put it in a drawer. I tell her about the boiler, and the two months' pay, and my grandparents, who ask me every Sunday how work is going, and how my gran tells the whole of her Thursday club that her granddaughter is a senior project manager.

Then I tell her why.

“It’s because they wanted access to you and your brother, and I kept saying no. At first, I was polite about it, and I’d say ‘they’re too busy,’ or ‘No this wouldn’t be in their interests.’ But they kept pushing and pushing so I finally told them that they hired me for me, not my connection to you and Lucas…”

I pinch my mouth closed and chew the inside of my cheek.

“And…” Cassia probes.

I shrug. “And they found a way to get rid of me. Because they didn’t hire me for me at all, they hired me to get to you.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, picking at the bobbles on the knee of her leggings.

“When you rang,” I add, “I'd been sitting there for four hours not knowing how to tell anyone. And I realized I could have five days of being with you, helping you with the wedding, spending time with you. I didn’t even think Lucas would be here...” I trail off and look over the water.

“You should have told me,” she says. “You could have told me.”

“Which part?” I ask.

“All of it. I feel like you don’t trust me or something.”

I snort. “Of course I trust you, Cass, you know all my secrets. I just didn’t want to risk spoiling your wedding. I know how long you’ve been planning it.” I mean it so completely that my voice goes strange. “I got in the car and I stopped being a woman who'd been fired and had no idea what to do next and started being a woman with a plan. You have no idea what you did for me by calling. So don't sit there feeling sorry for me, because I've had the best time sorting your wedding out and I got to spend it with you.”