“Sit down, and let me explain.”
“Explain how that slimy toad was right?!” She took a step back, toward the door. “If he was right, then what need have I for explanations?”
Fine. If she wouldn’t sit to listen, he would do his best to give his side of things before she left the room.
“I never wished to have another wife, Aurelia. Even when I married you. It was out of necessity—and you were made aware of this at the time. So yes, I intended to send you away once I had what I wanted from you, because I thought it would be best for us both. That way, I could go on living my life, and you could be—”
“Themalignedwife?” she demanded, eyes glinting. No tears today—this Aurelia was angry and fearsome with it. “The source of gossip and pity for the rest of my days?”
“Plenty of husbands and wives live separately,” he said impatiently. “And with my reputation, I thought it would be a relief not to have to share a life with me. I found distant family members of yours, and I thought you could live with them. Before—when I was still considering this as an option—I thought that would make you the happiest.”
She made a choked sound of outrage. “You investigated my family behind myback?”
“Did you think I would have you live alone?”
“Iknowof no family members—you would have been sending me to live with strangers! What on earth made you think that was a preferable option?”
He clenched his fists so hard his nails bit skin. “Because the world has condemned me as a murderer!”
“And I made it plain thatInever did.” She raised her chin, facing him suddenly with such quiet calm. This was a different type of woman from the one who had first come to his house.Then, she had not been a duchess—but she had become one now, both in authority and bearing. “So you intend to throw me away with that as an excuse?”
“—No, Aurelia.” His jaw snapped together with frustration. “It has been some time since I seriously considered that as an option.” He circled the escritoire and took hold of her arm so she couldn’t storm away from him before he finished saying what he had to get off his chest.
“Yes, I confess to that being my intention when we first married, but that has changed. I no longer want to send you away—I discovered you have family members in Manchester, but I have not written to them to inform them about your existence and your good fortune.”
She snorted. “Good fortune?”
“Regardless of your feelings about my original intent, I am a duke, and by the title’s very nature, I have elevated you.”
The moment the words left his mouth, and he saw her face as they registered, he knew he had made a fatal mistake. She wrenched her arm free from his. “I see. So I should be grateful, then. For all you’ve done for me. For how you intended to use me as a breeding mare and then toss me aside when I had served your almighty purpose.”
Sebastian pinched his nose. The servants were probably listening to every word, and although he trusted them, he disliked how this was making him look. More than anything, he wished he could reach back into time and prevent her from going to this ludicrous dinner in the first place.
Redwood would pay for this, one way or another.
“You are blowing this out of proportion, darling,” he assuaged. “Yes, I had those intentions once, but they have changed. There is no reason to be so upset—that was before I knew you.”
Her eyes flashed as she crossed her arms. “Oh, so planning to send your wife away and have your child live without their parent is nothing to you?”
“It is certainly not something worth holding a grudge over.” He closed the distance between them, despising that Redwood had planted this poison when everything had been fine. Whenthey’dbeen fine. “I don’t want you to go. Do you understand me? Iwantyou to stay.”
Hurt glittered in her eyes. “You say that now, when I have pleased you—but what of when I displease you? I ought to have known you did not take our marriage vows seriously when you neglected to so much as turn up to our wedding. You sent Mr. Arnold as a proxy in your place!
“If that were not insult enough, all of London knows I am only here with you as long as you deem it necessary. I am a laughingstock, Sebastian! It is no wonder no one took me seriously. What do you want to happen now? For me to forget about it and move on?”
There was this awful pain in his chest that fractured wider with her every word.
“No—” he pressed, and his voice grated with the effort of it. “I never intended to make you a laughingstock, Aurelia. I evenattended that damn recital for your sake, because I wanted to see you happy. Do you think I did such a thing lightly? Before you came along, I was content to live in this blasted salt-exhumed house and never aspire to anything more!”
The words scraped his throat raw, urgency clawing at his chest, but she was looking at him like he disgusted her. Like he was exactly the cold, unfeeling bastard everyone believed him to be. “Yes, I intended not to live as husband and wife when I was a stranger—but given the circumstances, is that so surprising? Are you telling me that before you arrived, you had no doubts about whether we would do well together?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Then what is? Did you expect me to agree to sharing a life with a stranger?”
“Isthatall you think this is about? I can’t do this anymore.” She leaned against the wall, as though her legs had given way from under her. “All this time, I thought we were building something. Making a life for ourselves. For our future family. Confronting the rumors and proving them wrong.
“But all the while, you knew that you never had any intention of keeping me, or our family here! How am I to know that you will not change your mind about having me live here with you if you tire of me? Or if the rumors grow too steep for you to ignore?”
