The Garden and Bruises

I nodded but my heart felt heavy. I begrudgingly let Lord Radcliffe take my hand as my brother and grandmama trailed behind some distance with watchful eyes. I looked down at my hand in Lord Radcliffe's and it was turning a frightening purple, my eyes widened with shock.

I tried to gracefully twist my hand a bit in his grasp so he got the hint to loosen his hold on me but it only seemed to anger him. His dark eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted into an ugly grimace as he held my hand tighter.

I gasped in pain and he laughed, it was nothing like Max's infectious deep timber- it was dark and sharp like he enjoyed causing me pain.

As we made our way through our small garden, he stopped at a bench and my brother and grandmama stopped within earshot of us. He roughly jerked me down next to him, still clutching my hand, my eyes burned with tears from the pain.

"Miss Brooks, I hear that you have quite the reputation with men," Lord Radcliffe whispered to me. "Such behavior would not be tolerated when we are married."

The audacity of this man was so palpable you could run a knife through it. I wished Max were here, he wouldn't let this man touch me this way.

"If. If we are married, that is a distinction I would like you to be extremely clear of," I replied tightly. The nerve of this man had me dizzy from waves of uneasiness coursing through me. I was scared of the future that I may have with him already.

He did not like this answer. "You are a woman, nothing more than a means to an end to get heirs, and don't you forget that," Edward hissed at me as he tightened his grip on my hand.

I cried out in pain and tried to yank my hand away from him without making too big of a scene. My brother noticed my discomfort and started toward us but my grandmama stopped him.

"Your sister needs to remember her place," She declared. "You have been too lenient with her in your parent's absence and it is showing. I should have been more cautious of letting you handle your sisters' affairs."

Ben's face turned sour. "I have done the best I can in raising myself and my two younger siblings to be kind-hearted and as polite as possible, you haven't come to see us since our parent's funeral and here you are criticizing me for not being involved enough."

I stared wide-eyed at my brother's defensiveness, he never stood up to grandmama like that before. Lord Radcliffe sneered at my brother's words. "You are a disgrace to the title you bear, Lord Brooks, a gentleman knows to not entertain the plights of women."

I yanked my hand from Edward fully this time and stood up to face him. "You do not get to talk to my brother who is above you in rank in such a distasteful manner," I thundered. "You are abusive of your power as a man and tried to put me in place by means of force, you sir, are a disgrace to the title you bear."

My grandmama gasped at my brazen words, "Aurelia Brooks, you have no room to talk about disgrace, Lord Radcliffe is a gentleman who did not know his own strength. Sir, if you would apologize for the unnecessary roughness and Aurelia you shall apologize for raising your voice."

I stared at my grandma with widened eyes. "You cannot expect me to even entertain the idea of marrying Lord Radcliffe after this let alone apologize to him."

"You can and you will or else I will cancel tea with the Countess of Westmorland and you can marry Lord Radcliffe tomorrow." Her sharp gaze was on me and held me, prisoner, until I relented. I did not like my grandmama but she did not mess around.

"I apologize for my outburst, Lord Radcliffe," I muttered halfheartedly.

"I too apologize, for my roughness, I did not know you were so fragile," Lord Radcliffe obsequiously replied and pulled me to his side hooking my arm around his.

Grandmama was satisfied and led the way with my brother back inside the house. I felt hollow holding onto Lord Radcliffe's arm, if things did not work in my favor with Max's mother I would rather join a nunnery or become a spinster than marry the vile man that walked next to me.

"That sister of yours needs to learn her place," grandmama mumbled before she went back inside.

I rolled my eyes and Edward pulled me closer to him, slightly more gentle than before. "Helping you learn your place is exactly why I am here, Miss Brooks," he whispered to me before holding the door open for me.

Chills ran down my spine and I detached myself from Lord Radcliffe.

When we reached the parlor again, I parted ways from the group pretending my head was hurting, and ran upstairs to my room. Winona was folding some linens in the corner when I dragged myself to my bed.