“And what do you suppose that I should do?” she snapped. “Whatever I may be now, I was not willful nor insufferable nor any of the other things I am believed to be on my wedding day. I was an obedient young lady doing as instructed, andthatwas who he ran from.”
“Gentlemen are always seen as the wronged party by their peers, especially when said gentleman is thought to be deceased. I know that this was not your doing, but surely you see why they might…”
Evelina’s voice trailed off, and Anna knew precisely why. It was not the time to criticize her, though Anna knew what her friend meant. She was always going to receive backlash for what she had done, and she knew that even when she wrote the invitations. She could not be angry now that it was actually happening.
Not only that, but her friend did not know the real reason why the party was taking place. Anna had not had the stomach to tell her friends that she needed to bring her husband back, or risk losing everything. They thought it was merely some pettyrevenge and had not asked anything further. She was grateful to have friends who did not pry, but part of her wished that someone was there for her to weep to.
“I shall go and collect myself,” she explained. “Have Damien and Maria open the ball, and invite the guests to dance, and I shall return promptly.”
“Of course,” her friend replied. “Will you be alright alone?”
“It is how I spend every day,” she laughed, and the two went their separate ways.
She made her way to her room, using the servants’ quarters as a passageway so that she could avoid her guests. Then again, she considered, if she was seen to be crying, perhaps they might all have taken pity on her at last. It simply was not fair that she had to be the guilty party when all that she had done was treat her husband as he so terribly wished to be treated.
But thetonhad no pity, and she’d learned that by now.
She pushed the door open and entered her unlit bedroom. It was dark, and as her eyes adjusted, she saw a figure standing by her bed, silhouetted against the window.
It was a man. She recognized his shape in an instant, his musk filling her mind. She had not expected to remember such small aspects, but he had always had an effect on her that she could not overcome.
For a brief moment, she was his blushing bride again, and she wondered if he saw her that way, too, but then he took a step toward her, and she remembered what she had done.
“Tell me, Duchess,” he said in a low voice, “am I to lie in my coffin now, or would you like to dance first?”
CHAPTER 3
Anna could not think of something to say. She was too busy drawing a breath to scream.
As she opened her mouth, she felt a hand clamp over it, silencing her. Her eyes were wide in both shock and fear, but as her ability to think returned to her, she realized just who had come for her.
It was the same man she had been hoping to see. The same man she had tried to lure to his abandoned home.
Spencer’s eyes burned into hers, and she quivered beneath his touch. His palm lay flat against her back, burning through the fabric of her dress and holding her in place. It was not that she was fearful of him, but she had not expected to see him, and certainly not in her bedroom while their guests were in the ballroom tens of feet away.
“Did you truly think that I was dead?” he asked, half-smiling.
He released her, and she staggered back, feeling a sudden chill as he lifted his hand from a patch of the small of her back. He had been holding her in place, and though it had been a surprise, it had been rather pleasant in spite of everything.
“What are you–”
“What am I doing here?” he interrupted. “Well, I heard a rumor that the Duke of Wutherton had passed away. A hunting accident in Africa, yes? I thought that, given that I was rather close to the gentleman, it might be best that I pay my respects. Tell me, Your Grace, did they find a way to return the body, or did the lions do away with him entirely?”
“I do not find you amusing.”
“Nor do I enjoy any of this– thisspectacle. Truly, Anna, what were you thinking?”
“Do you want to know what I was thinking?” she snapped. “Do you want to know my only thought for the past year? It was of you, and how you abandoned me after saying perhaps ten words to me. You did not tell me where you were going, nor if you were ever going to return. What else was I to do?”
“Not this! As you can see, I am alive. How do you suppose that we explain this?”
“What difference does it make? You and I both know that you will be gone again the moment you can leave.”
His shoulders lowered, and with a rough sigh, he lit a candle. In the soft light, Anna could see that he was quite different from before. His black hair was much less neat, and he was broader than before, but there was no mistaking the deep blue eyes that were searching hers.
But he was stronger than before, larger, as though wherever he had been, he had been doing something greatly physical. There was a tiredness in his face, too, and in spite of her fury, she could not help but picture him going to bed right there in her room, with her crawling into it beside him.
She shook the thought from her mind.
