Her cheeks flushed as she shook her head. “No, I suffered melancholy for several months.”
His mind scrambled as he put the pieces together, then his stomach plummeted.“Christ, that man isdespicable, Marigold. He’s trying to confuse you. You never would never knowingly send him into another woman’s arms.”
“Then why would he say that?” A tear raced down her cheek, and he reached up to catch it with his thumb.
The gesture was far too intimate for their circumstances, but he couldn’t help it. It was either catch the tear or ride to Harrow Hall and knock the marquess’ teeth out.
“He doesn’t want the divorce because he’ll look like a fool. If you doubt your account, perhaps you won’t pursue it.”
Her eyes fell shut. “He said he’d allow Reggie to stay home for schooling if we remain married.”
His brain turned to porridge again, but this time it terrified him. “He what?”
“If I end all this,” she said, “if I agree to remain married, Reggie won’t go to Felton.”
His lips parted, words escaping him as this new information attempted to penetrate the veil of hurt clouding his thoughts.
Mari wouldn’t have to suffer the scandal of a divorce. She would keep her children safe.
But she’d lose her freedom.
And he would lose her.
“Mari,” he whispered, “what about you?”
Her brows furrowed. “What about me?”
He stood, pulled her with him. “You want to stay married to him?”
“No!” Her hands fluttered at her waist. “B-b-but I want my children to be safe.”
“So do I, but how long will it be before he makes another ridiculous demand? Or belittles you and questions your intelligence?”
She recoiled as though he’d struck her, but panic was boiling over his skin. His rational side argued that losing this case would mean the end of his financial security, losing the farm, a continued existence in legal obscurity.
But his heart screamed louder.If I lose this case, I’ll lose her.
“Your children are worth fighting for, but so are you.” His voice trembled on the last part, and he wasn’t ashamed of it. He’d throw himself on the floor and beg if he had to, anything to keep her from walking away from him. “I’ll fight for you, Marigold. I’ll do anything within my power to keep you and your children safe from that man, but if you accept this offer, I can’t do anything. You’ll be back under his control again.”
She shook her head. “What if we lose?”
We. That question haunted his nightmares, but that one word,we, gave him hope. He wasn’t fighting alone, and neither was she. “I won’t lose, I swear it.”
She sniffed. “You can’t p-promise that.”
“No, I can’t.” He squeezed her hands, even though he had no right to touch her like this. No right to crave her presence so desperately he’d ask her to take this chance on him, to trust him when he couldn’t control the outcome. “But I can promise I’ll stop at nothing to win. That I will fight until my last breath leaves my body.”
Her lips parted, and he wondered when he’d stopped talking about the case, when he’d let his mind slip into thinking of her, of the woman he’d met at the party, the woman he dreamed of sharing a life with.
She bit her lower lip, then took her hands away. “I t-t-told him I’d think on it.”
“Good.” He had more time, another chance to convince her to trust him. Though, lord, was he the man who should be responsible for her entire future, the safety of her children?
He could hardly remember to eat a sandwich. He focused on a raised red welt on her throat. “What’s that?”
Her fingertips grazed the mark as she stood. “Oh, I was stung yesterday.”
“Your bees did this?” He pushed her hair away to examine the wound swelling where her jaw met her neck. “It must have hurt like the devil.”
