“Lady Clara, or should I call you Mrs. Kincaide. How are you?”
A shiver ran down her spine, and she turned to see Dolan standing a few feet away. Her lips pursed together in displeasure. Fear uncoiled in her belly, but she pushed it away. She would not let Dolan see her fear.
“It is Mrs. Kincaide to you.”
He smiled, and it made Clara’s skin crawl. His eyes wandered down her front and she turned to leave. “You made a poor decision choosing Kincaide. Had you chosen me, you would not be an outcast.”
Fury overwhelmed her at Dolan’s remarks. “I chose the better man.”
He stared at her coldly. “He is beneath you.”
“He is far better of a man than you are,” she bit back.
His lips twisted into a smirk. “Do you really think so? A man who has bedded half of London. Who graces the beds of ladies in an attempt to belong.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He stepped closer to her, and Clara held her ground, unwilling to cower before him. “He isn’t who you think he is. Do you know he stole my mistress before he wed you? Yes, his mistress in Liverpool was mine first. He is a social climber, grasping to belong.”
Clara stared at him in confusion before scowling at him. “I do not want to hear your lies.”
“I am not lying to you. He is using you to be like us,” he stated, delighted to share such news with her.
Was Sam using her? Clara thought for a brief moment. She was annoyed that such a thought would even cross her mind. She knew Sam. She glared at Dolan. “Don’t you dare hurl such accusations about my husband. You are not half the man he is.”
Dolan scowled. Clara glared back.
“Clara?” Eleanor said, sticking her head out of the lady’s salon.
She gasped when she saw Dolan and stepped into the hallway. Addie followed her out and her eyes narrowed at the sight of him.
“Clara, would you like to join us?” Addie asked.
Clara turned and started to make her way down the hallway but turned back, her eyes flashing.
“Even if there was no Mr. Kincaide, I wouldn’t choose you.”
His face darkened with anger, and he looked like he wanted to say something else, but Clara walked away.
~
Sam sat in the carriage with Clara. Her eyes kept drifting down, and he watched her, amused. “Sleepy?”
Her blue eyes flew open, and she smiled at him. “It was a long evening.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her over to him.
She fell onto his lap and snuggled into him. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. He adored his wife. Though at times the thought overwhelmed or terrified him, in moments like this when it was just him and Clara, he reveled in it. Delighted in the thought that this woman would be in his life forever and it had nothing to do with her being a lady.
“I ran into Dolan this evening,” she murmured.
He stiffened. “Where?”
“Addie, Eleanor, and I were making our way to the lady’s salon, and I stopped to look at a painting. He appeared while I was studying it.”
Sam immediately felt guilt that she was alone. “I shouldn’t have gone to play cards.”
She scooted back to the other side of the carriage and looked at him puzzled. “You can’t be with me everywhere, Sam. Plus, I don’t want that odious man thinking he scares me.”
