Aaron pinned his sister with a hard stare. “Perhaps Mother was right. You’re twenty-three now, Clara. Long since time to grow up.”
She shook her head. “Do you have a fever? Does your tummy feel bad?”
“Damnation, Clara!”
“And you’re cursing!”
Lord Loughton leaned forward. “He doesn’t curse?”
“He curses all the time,” she returned, “but not at me.” Then she turned to him, her expression softening.
“Tell me what happened with Lilah.”
He exhaled a breath. “Mr. Reuben Bates ended up buying the registry office and has hired Miss Rees to run it.”
Lord Loughton pursed his lips. “A difficult boss there. I’ve heard tales about Mr. Bates.”
So had everyone. “His reputation is darker than the man.”
Loughton took that with a nod, but his sister was the one who leaned back in her seat and regarded him with vague eyes. “Lilah has chosen to step down from the peerage and make a life for herself?”
“Yes,” Aaron said, his throat unexpectedly tight.
“Good for her. Finally, she can find a social circle that will accept her.”
“She’s still…still…”
“Illegitimate?” Clara said. “You’d be surprised how very unimportant that is outside of the peerage.”
“Which is why,” Aaron said, his voice heavy, “she can be known in a gaming hell, and you can’t.” He looked down at his hands knowing how his next words would be received. “I would never stop you from any of your friends, Clara, but it’s high time we both began acting according to our status. You are a lady, a member of the aristocracy, with a name and a status to uphold.” His gaze rose to meet his sister’s. “It’s high time we both accepted that.”
To his surprise, his sister didn’t leap to her feet and scream at him. She didn’t protest that he didn’t understand her or run crying to her bedroom. He had witnessed all of these things whenever their mother had tried to impose proper behavior upon her. Instead, Clara held his gaze and slowly shook her head, no.
“Clara, please try to understand I’m saying this for your own good. For both of us.”
“Do you know,” she said softly, “that whenever I visit a psychic or consult a tarot reading, I ask about you as often as I ask about me.”
He frowned. Honestly, he hadn’t thought about it at all. He’d merely hoped she’d lose her interest in the occult over time.
“It’s one of the ways that I tell if the reading is legitimate,” she continued.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“If I’m told you’re going to have a brilliant career, climb to the heights of respect and power and on and on.” She waved her hand in dismissal. “I know they’re lying to me and there is no true sight there.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that. She obviously thought he’d be a failure at his career.
Lord Loughton was equally surprised. He twisted to regard her directly. “What would be a true reading for your brother, then?”
“He has a choice. They’ve described it different ways, but it’s always a fork in the path.” She looked at Aaron. “One is the wild path, one is the path of bricks and hard stone. One is lush with wild creatures and beautiful forest, the other is proper with coal-dirtied air and the bang of a gavel.”
“Well, I can certainly see which one you’d pick,” Aaron said. As much as she loved London, his sister had always craved unusual things. “You want wild things that completely overflow their boundaries.”
“And you try to tame the wildness.”
“Not true,” he said. “I have allowed you to explore according to your heart’s desire. There is a time and place for untamed forest.”
“For breaking boundaries,” she pressed.