Nathanielstareddownatthe scattered cipher sheets that lay untouched on his desk. Morning light flooded his east-facing study, dust motes dancing in the rays of sunshine. He was indeed in bad shape if even the dust motes floating in the air distracted his attention. He had been trying to work on the documents for an hour, or perhaps three, desperate to break the code, to deliver his findings to Dalton and be done with this mission. But the coded words refused to yield to him. His mind could not master the intense focus required for the delicate task. It circled instead like a restless animal, gnawing and pacing, always returning to the same topic.
Alice.
God help him, he loved her still. Loved her and could not fathom how she could offer him so little, when once they had shared everything. A sham of a marriage—an affair dressed in marital clothes—was what she had proposed. She had actually had the affrontery of suggesting a relationship that would belittle more than that of a protector and his mistress. Maybe he was a romantic fool; many men would be ecstatic that their wives could be so accommodating. Hell, half thetonmarriages were little better than that. But he didn’t want that with Alice. Couldn’t settle for that after having had a real marriage. How could she prefer such an arrangement?
Perhaps she had grown hard, too enamored of her independence to relinquish it. Or perhaps… perhaps Ardmore had given her a taste of what it was to live unbound, without vows, without permanence. Passion without ties or commitment. The thought scalded him. Since the moment he met her, Alice had been the only woman who could move him, body and soul. The idea that she had given herself to another man sickened him.
Another explanation whispered: had his mother’s icy disdain, his family’s barbed rejection, chipped away at her spirit until Alice had believed herself unwanted, unworthy of his name? He had failed her in that, grievously. Failed to shield her, failed to stand at her side. And then, like a proud blind fool, he had failed her again by not going after her when she left.
Maybe he had driven her into Ardmore’s arms. The idea settled like acid in his stomach. If he dwelled much longer on it, he would track the man down and demand satisfaction, law or no law. It almost made him wish they lived in the previous century so he could challenge Ardmore to a duel.
At that very instant, as though conjured by the violence of his thoughts, a commotion rose in the entrance hall. Nathaniel pushed back his chair and strode out. The butler was protesting stiffly, but over his shoulder Nathaniel saw Lord Ardmore himself. Their gazes clashed, full of challenge, and then Ardmore was bearing down the length of the corridor with the look of a man spoiling for a fight.
The edges of his vision darkened. Alice’s lover—her supposed lover—under his roof.
“I will see him,” Nathaniel bit out, fists clenching, already already envisioning the punches he would deliver, composing the words with which he would banish Ardmore from Alice’s life for good.
But he had no time to deliver any of them. Ardmore stormed forward and seized him by the lapels, slamming him against the wall so hard the breath left his lungs.
“You bloody blackguard!” the man spat, his face thunderous. “You are divorcing Alice?
Nathaniel shoved him off and returned the grapple with equal fury, the two men straining against each other like wild stags. “You’ve a damned lot of nerve, confronting me. It isIwho should be callingyouout! And perhaps I will!”
Ardmore brandished a crumpled paper in his fist, thrusting it inches from Nathaniel’s nose. “You petitioned for divorce. And you named me—me—as co-respondent in your vile petition?”
Nathaniel bared his teeth in a snarl. “Why shouldn’t I? Will you deny you’ve been her lover? I saw you with my own two eyes spending the night at her house. My house! And not two days ago, I know she left London at your side. Do you expect me to believe—”
“Yes, she traveled with me,” Ardmore snapped. “Because our father was dying. I wanted him to meet his daughter before he passed. I wanted him to acknowledge her.”
The words struck Nathaniel like a fist. Breaking through the haze of fury. “His…daughter?”
“Alice is my sister, you fool.”
“Sister?” The shock left him numb.
“Are you going to parrot everything I say like a halfwit?”
He felt like a halfwit, his brain unable to grasp the information his ears perceived. The truth battered against him, overturningall the certainties he had clung to for a year. Alice had not been unfaithful. She had not betrayed him. His knees threatened to buckle, and he staggered back, collapsing into the nearest chair. Relief poured through him in a tidal wave, sweet and almost unbearable. She was innocent.
But the relief was short-lived. It curdled swiftly into shame. Shame that he had doubted her, accused her, even dragged her name through the courts.
“I didn’t know,” he muttered hoarsely. “She never told me she had a brother. We have been married for a decade, and she never told me you were her brother.”
“To be fair, she didn’t know about our relationship when you first married her. We only found out about the connection after you had already separated.”
“But…now, since we got back together. She knew I was jealous of you. Knew it was the reason I petitioned for divorce. She could have cleared the misunderstanding with one word. And she didn’t.”
Ardmore’s glare sharpened. “Did you ask her about our relationship? Or did you just assume and accuse her?”
“No…” Nathaniel closed his eyes briefly, thinking about their exchanges. “I might have been a bit hasty in jumping to the wrong conclusion. But what else was I supposed to think? She should have told me.”
Shame was now swirling with hurt in his heart. Why would she let him believe the worst? Why would she let the divorce proceed when she could have stopped it? Did she really want to be rid of him?
“I find it hard to believe Alice wouldn’t tell you if you had mentioned your suspicions outright. Did you ever discuss me with her?”
They had, but they had not been talking about their love life. They were discussing Ardmore as a possible suspect. Right now,the idea seemed preposterous, but at the time, it had incensed him that Alice had defended Ardmore. He took it as further proof of her involvement with the man. God, he had been such a idiot. Of course, he wasn’t about to disclose all that to Ardmore.
“No, I didn’t. But she must have seen your name on the papers. She received a copy.”
