Page 70 of The Scholar (Emerson Pass Historicals 3)

“I have deep feelings for her.” I shuffled my feet. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have run. But it was no use. Flynn had always been faster than I. “I’m not certain my feelings came back or if they never left.”

Josephine stomped her foot as she uttered the closest to a curse that would ever leave her mouth. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Theo. This is madness. She’s…she’s…”

“She’s after your money,” Flynn said.

“Yes, that,” Jo said.

“She isn’t,” I said. “She cares for me. Perhaps not to the degree I do her, but it’s there. Her feelings will grow in time.”

“What evidence do you have that it’s not the money?” Jo asked in her best librarian voice.

“She’s in financial trouble and is responsible for her mother. Yes, they need me.” I’d been kidding myself that Jo and Flynn wouldn’t be suspicious. “However, that’s not why she’s agreed to marry me.”

“What did you say?” Flynn asked. “Agreed to marry you? Have you lost your mind?”

“You’ve been home a week,” Jo said.

“True,” I said. “But I know what I’m doing.”

My lackadaisical tone further infuriated my sister. “Why would you do this?”

“Yes, why would you marry someone you know doesn’t love you?” Flynn asked.

“Because miracles happen. Look at you, for example.” I lifted my chin to gesture toward Flynn. “Shannon Cassidy changed your bachelor heart into a family man with one toss of those black curls.”

“You’re hoping she falls in love with you?” Josephine asked. “After the marriage?”

“Correct. If she’s not already.”

Josephine placed her hands on her hips. “Do I need to remind you about the man I agreed to marry after only two weeks? How did that turn out?”

“You got Phillip through that mistake,” I said. “Because of an error in judgment, the man of your dreams came to you.”

“It’s not at all the same,” Jo said. “Flynn, tell him why. I’m too mad to speak.”

I almost laughed, as she’d been giving me an earful for at least five minutes now.

“Right, yes, I can explain,” Flynn said. “It’s not the same because we’ve known Louisa almost all our lives. We know she had feelings for the wrong twin. We know the kind of desperate situation she finds herself in for the second time in her life. She’s going to take the safe, secure route because of it. I don’t blame her. People who’ve experienced that kind of deprivation never want to return to it.”

“What do you know about deprivation?” I asked.

“I can imagine.” Flynn tapped his head with his index finger.

“Barneses do not marry out of practicality,” Jo said, sputtering.

“Right. We marry for love,” Flynn said. “You should marry a girl willing to follow you to the ends of the earth simply because she’s in love with you. Not because she needs your pocketbook.”

“Yes, exactly.” Josephine was nodding with such conviction I thought her head might fall off her slender neck.

“I’m in love with her,” I said. “And I’m betting that she will love me after a time. I’m what she needs, not just financially but emotionally. She’s damaged. Like me.”

“You’re not damaged.” Josephine blew a wayward strand of hair out of her eyes. “Did she say that about you?”

“No, of course not,” I said. “If you don’t think I’m damaged, then why are you two always so worried about me?” I looked from my sister to my twin.

“You’ve been troubled,” Flynn said. “Mostly because of me.”

“No, that’s not true,” I said. “The war was not your fault.”