Favoring his stronger leg, he gathered up the ledgers and accounts, carrying them in a heavy pile toward the stone fireplace that stood behind his chair. To one side was a false wall panel, revealing an ancient priest hole. Within the space, walled in stone and fronted with its secret door, Lionel had placed the safe, which previously had been resident at the old mill, his secret study. The need for secrecy had been borne of his initial distrust of Cecilia, but that bridge was well and truly crossed. He had no qualms about Cecilia knowing his work and had, with the help of a servant, moved the safe back to the house. Now he locked the work away and went in search of his wife.
It took Lionel an hour to find Cecilia, eventually seeing her sitting beneath the tree in the Fairy Garden. As he approached her, a chill ran through him. She sat on the ground with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. He could see from the redness of her eyes that she had been crying. That fact alone was enough to sharpen his attention and spark fear within him. The idea of Cecilia suffering was utterly anathema to him.
“Cecilia? Darling, whatever is the matter? I have been looking for you,” he said, falling to his knees beside her.
He made to embrace her but she shrank away from him, leaving him with empty arms and outstretched hands. Slowly, they fell to his side.
“You have not been looking for me much in the last weeks,” she said, scrubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand.
Lionel frowned. It could not have been as much as a week. He tried to think back to the last time they had dined together in the evening. Not the previous evening. It must have been the night before though… No, not then either.
“I’m sorry, Cece. I have lost track of time. It has slipped through my fingers…”
“So obsessed have you been with one man that you neglect your wife,” Cecilia muttered accusingly.
Lionel felt stung by that. It did not strike him as entirely fair. His mission to bring down Thorpe was important. Forbothof them.
“Thorpe must face justice for what he has done,” he frowned, brows furrowing.
“Must he? And what justice is there if it comes at the cost of your life?”
“I’ve already told you I will not do anything as foolish as challenge him to a duel. I will not risk my life for his. I cannot speak for him. He has already challenged my life once—”
“I don’t mean that!” Cecilia interrupted, looking at him with tear-filled eyes, “I meanourlife together. I once made it my mission to convince you that I was here out of love for you, out of a desire to be your wife in truth as well as name. Now I feel like we are going backward. As if you are letting this obsession push aside all else in your life.”
“I am sorry. I do not want to let anything become more important to me than you. But, this is as much for Arthur, and therefore, you, as it is me. Do you not think that Thorpe has to pay for what he’s done?”
Lionel could not understand how there could be any part of Cecilia that could not see the truth of the matter. She looked away and Lionel took her by the chin and gently turned her head to face him.
“He cannot be allowed to get away with it, right?”
“And what will be the final cost of your revenge? What good is Thorpe ending up in disgrace or even prison if it has cost you your marriage? Our marriage!” Cecilia cried, seizing his hands in hers, looking into his eyes earnestly.
“Do you remember what today is?” she asked.
Lionel frowned. “No, today was of no particular significance, I don’t think. Ah, although, Thorpe did intend to host a—”
“Today was the first of the luncheons I had arranged. Today we were to host Lord and Lady Westchurch, the Dowager Countess Purfleet, and Lord and Lady Aldermarsh.”
Lionel’s stomach dropped at the laxity of his memory. He had known it deep down but it had been lost in a fog of numbers, information, and dreams of revenge. He hung his head, feeling shame as a physical pain with him.
“You had forgotten, hadn’t you!”
“Forgive me, Cece. You’re right, I have been remiss. I have allowed myself to become obsessed once more, as I was before we met. Come, we must get ready. When are they invited for?”
Cecilia laughed bitterly and picked up a handful of scrunched papers that had been lying on the ground beside her.
“They will not be. These are their refusals. Those who actually did me the courtesy of replying. Lord and Lady Aldermarsh did not. Neither to accept or decline. But the Dowager Countess mentioned them in her reply. Telling me that she could not bring herself to associate with two people making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage. That she knew of my scandalous behavior from my aunt and uncle and could not endorse it. And her good friends the Aldermarshs were in agreement. I have been snubbed!”
Lionel’s eyes widened in fury. Without thinking, he took the papers from her hand and ripped them across, then again. He tossed the pieces into the air. “To hell with those blackguards! Ido not care what those people think of us or our marriage. If they will not accept our hospitality, then I care not. All I care about—”
“Is your revenge,” Cecilia interjected bitterly. “This is not about a desire to be part of the county set for its own sake. But I will not be the reason the Grisham name falls into disgrace. As Duchess, I must protect the Thornhill legacy. For the sake of our children and theirs. They do not deserve the pain of living as social pariahs because of our choices.”
“Nor will they…” Lionel coaxed.
“But how are we to prevent it?” Cecilia demanded. “The only way is to convince the ton that we are a respectable married couple, that there is nothing of scandal about us. But they will not let us get close enough to do that! Nor will you! We have not attended a single social since being married!”
Lionel sighed as the truth of her words dawned on him. He was so content with being isolated at Thornhill—so far from civilization, he had never even considered the world beyond for his wife. “You are… you are right. Then we will bypass the county gentry and go straight to the summit of Mount Olympus,” he decided. “To court. I will have you introduced to the Regent as my wife. Our first outing into high society together. And with the Regent on our side, everyone else will fall into step. I will have Blackwood schedule us a carriage to London in a week from now so our arrival is prepared for in advance.”
