Page 109 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

“I did.” He looked embarrassed despite everything. “I’m sorry, I…”

“You’ve suffered a terrible ordeal.” Jane folded the bloodstained handkerchief. “You needn’t apologize.”

Jane couldn’t help noticing how intently the duke studied her brother now. One simple, delirious sentence had raiseda hundred impossible questions—questions Jane herself could scarcely begin to understand. Why had Colin spoken to Hector as though he were Evan? Why‘my love?’She pushed the thought away almost immediately.

He had been unconscious, beaten, half-delirious. Surely he had spoken nonsense. People recovering from fevers mistook strangers for relatives all the time. That had to be all this was. It had to be.

Even so, when she looked between the two men, her brother avoiding the duke’s eyes and Hector watching Colin with newfound intensity, an uneasy feeling settled deep inside her chest.

Jane folded the bloodstained handkerchief into her palm, though there was little use in trying to keep it clean now. The linen was streaked with crimson and dust, much like the rest of the warehouse around them.

Jane looked at Colin carefully. His gaze remained lowered, fixed upon his scraped hands. He knew what he had said.

“Colin,” she said softly. He flinched. “Look at me.”

Slowly, he raised his head. His eyes were rimmed with fatigue, but there was something else there now. Fear. Not fear of Strachan. Not fear of his injuries. Fear of them. Fear of what they now suspected.

Jane reached over and rested her hand lightly atop his. “You needn’t be afraid of me.”

“I…” His voice failed.

Hector spoke quietly. “Tell us the truth.”

Colin closed his eyes. Silence stretched between them. Jane watched him struggle with something far greater than pain.

When he finally spoke again, his voice was scarcely above a whisper. “We were never enemies.”

Jane frowned. “What?”

He swallowed. “Evan and me.” Another silence.

“Our arguments…” A bitter smile crossed his bruised mouth. “They were performances.”

Jane stared.

“The fights. The shouting. The insults.” He laughed softly, though it held no humor. “We became rather convincing after a while.”

Jane’s thoughts raced. Every public disagreement. Every whispered scandal. Every story she’d heard over the years.

“Youhatedeach other.”

“No.” He looked toward Hector. “We needed everyone to believe we did.”

Hector remained perfectly still. Jane could not read his expression. Colin continued before either of them could interrupt.

Jane blinked. Understanding came slowly. “You…” Her words caught. “You were protecting something.”

Colin nodded once. “Someone.” He drew a shaky breath. “I love him.” The confession echoed through the warehouse. No one moved. “I love Evan.”

Jane felt as though the floor shifted beneath her.

Her brother lowered his head. “I do.” His shoulders trembled. “I always shall.”

For several heartbeats she could think of nothing to say. She simply looked at him. He was the little boy who had taught her to climb trees despite their governess’s horror… the young man who had danced with her after their father’s funeral because she had forgotten how to smile… the brother who had devoted every waking hour to restoring the earldom after inheriting it far too young.

He was still Colin. Nothing abouthimhad changed, except her understanding.

He glanced at her uncertainly. “I know what this means. If this became known… I couldn’t let anyone know. You may hate me?—”