“What did you say?” he warned, hoping he would retract his statement.
“I said, if you are happy to have a wife that wants every man she sees, then I will not stop you, but I have certainly lost respect for you.”
In an instant, though he believed his wife, jealousy took over. She was his, whether he had made her feel that way or not, and it was not for Walter to decide her character, not when he was so dreadfully wrong about her.
“Stop talking,” he warned.
“Why? Because you do not want to hear the truth? Your wife wants me, and they all want me to take your title from you. You will have to live with that, and I will live with your wife.”
Spencer’s fist connected with Walter’s jaw before he could think. The smaller man staggered back, tumbling into the side of his settee, gasping. Blood spattered over the velvet as Walter scrambled to his feet, and Spencer took that as his sign to leave. Walter was spitting obscenities at him, but he did not listen.
As he returned home, he wondered if he had done the right thing or made a terrible mistake. He did not regret punching the man; he had warned him not to be disrespectful about his wife, and he had continued. What else was a proper husband to do?
If he could ever be considered a proper husband at all.
CHAPTER 11
“Ido notwantto read romance this time!”
Anna was surprised that she had not been the one to say it. Instead, at that week’s meeting, it had been Theodora protesting that she did not want to read what Evelina had suggested.
“But it is a lovely story,” Evelina argued. “It is about a young widow who falls for a ruffian. It is all so wonderful!”
“As was the last one you chose,” Theodora replied. “And that was last week. The week before, you also chose what you wanted. Meanwhile, I have had an article that I have wanted to share with you for months, and I am ignored.”
It was unlike them to argue, and Anna did not like it. They were all good friends, and she did not want to quarrel with them. When Spencer was absent, they were all that she had, and she depended on them, whether he had returned or not.
“Perhaps we might leave your story for the time being, Evelina?” Maria suggested. “Theodora has a point; we have been reading a lot of romance of late, which is hardly fair considering two of the four of us do not enjoy it.”
“It is not that I do not enjoy it,” Anna said quickly. “I was simply tired of reading about all of those wonderful exploits without having truly experienced any of it for myself. Now, however…”
Her friends all turned to look at her at once, wide-eyed. Granted, Anna had not done anything as they had read, but she had had a taste of it, and it made all the difference.
“Anna,” Maria smiled cheekily, “what have you been doing?”
“Nothing much!” she protested, but her friends had already latched on to it.
“You have to have done something,” Evelina argued. “You would not have said so otherwise. What is it?”
“Truly, it is nothing like the exploits we read about. It is only that, well… I may have misjudged the Wuthering Duke.”
The argument was abandoned, and the three ladies huddled together, watching Anna intently as they waited for her to continue. Suddenly, the romance of the kiss they shared came back to her, and she was swept up in it every bit as much as she had been at the time.
“He—I—he kissed me.”
The ladies squealed, grinning and embracing her in their excitement.
“Was it not the most wonderful thing?” Maria asked. “At last, I am not alone in my enjoyment of marriage!”
“It was… oh, it was everything I had always hoped for. I cannot believe that I have read of such a thing so many times without ever truly experiencing it, and now it is all that I can think about. Last night, when we were talking, he had his knee between my thighs, and I thought I might collapse!”
All talk of books was abandoned, and they huddled together with their tea and cake to discuss what Anna had been doing. It was a change to be the one describing everything, and a welcome one at that. Maria did not seem to miss it either, listening as intently as Evelina was.
Theodora, on the other hand, was sitting with them but did not seem as interested. Anna knew that her friend was happy for her, but there was something in her eye that told Anna that there was something else happening that she did not quite understand.
“But how did it happen?” Maria asked. “Surely he did not simply walk up to you, kiss you, and then walk away?”
“Well, in truth, it was rather in the heat of the moment. We were having… Well, not quite an argument, but a disagreement, andthen he kissed me. It was most passionate, with him touching me in places I never once thought would be.”
