Wolfsgate by Cat Porter Page A

audibly hitched. He really should control his temper, but to hell with that. “What was that really about then?”
    “He must have seen me from the road and came over to say hello.”
    “He came for more than hello, Justine.” He’d seen Blakelock kissing her hand, savoring it, and he’d seen her pleased smile beaming back at him at which point something in his head had detonated.
    “He did not know about our marriage,” Justine said. “There has been no formal announcement, after all, and William must not have—”
    “Of course he hasn’t!” His voice rose sharply. “You didn’t answer my question, Justine. What is between the two of you?”
    “Nothing,” she said, her cheeks pink, her large brown eyes round. A shadow flickered over her features. “Well, not anymore.”
    “Ah—is that honesty? How refreshing.” His shoulders stiffened as he loosened his grip on her waist. “Tell me.”
    “There has always been a certain fondness between us over the years.” Justine cleared her throat.
    “A certain fondness?” Icy stabs raced down his spine. Dear God, what now? Had they been secretly engaged? That prickling over his skin intensified. “Did he ever ask you to marry him?” He tried to restrain the thoughts rioting in his brain.
    “No.”
    “I don’t believe you. Why the hell not?”
    She shifted her weight on her other foot. “Well, not formally, no.”
    Brandon winced. “Not formally?”
    “We had once or twice discussed the possibility, in the most indirect of terms, but…”
    “But?” His breath came in shallow now, a cold sweat beading on his brow. His pulse raced in his temple. He knew Andrew and Justine had always been close as children, but dammit they hadn’t been children for quite some time, now had they?
    “William wouldn’t allow it,” she said.
    His cold fingers were on her chin and drew her face towards his. Her eyes widened. “William?” he asked. “But such a match would have been ideal, would it not?”
    “So I thought. But he wanted Amanda, you see.”
    “And so?”
    “He didn’t want me connected to her family in any way. We would have been brother and sister yet again.”
    “He refused Andrew?”
    Justine shook her head. “No, he found another way.”
    His brow snapped together. “What other way?”
    “He made me tell Andrew no without any explanation and forbade me to ever see him again.”
    Brandon cursed. William had forced Justine into rejecting Andrew for seemingly no reason, putting her into the role of the capricious, flighty girl, which she was not. The poor boy must have been gutted by it. And Justine?
    Oh, sod it all!
    “Did you love him?” Her gaze shot up at him. He took in her clouded eyes, her stiff jaw. An ache tore through his bad leg. “Or is the better question do you love him still?”
    “I had a great affection for him, Brandon,” she replied. “He was a source of light, of joy for me in all this.” Her fingers gesticulated around her as she tossed her head. “He was my only constant and a dear friend for quite some time.”
    Brandon’s rioting thoughts broke free from any restraint and made him dizzy. He was not the only one confused by this marriage. What an arrogant, egotistical ass he was assuming Justine had gladly and willingly agreed to their marriage as if she were desperate to hang onto him for his money or his title or simply desperate for a husband. Her thoughts and feelings lay elsewhere all this time.
    Of course, he was no longer the great catch he used to be, and his present looks and behavior left much to be desired. God, he was a pathetic fool, wasn’t he? Justine didn’t want this either. She was a casualty of William’s war against him as well. What she really wanted had been denied her, taken away from her.
    His head pounded and a scraping feeling gnawed over his skin, his lungs constricted. He needed a fix.
    Right the hell now.
    “I didn’t let it go on, Brandon. After William insisted it end, I stopped