Michael settled into the chair. "You are looking better than I expected. Liz made it sound as though you were at death's door. But here you are, sitting up, colour returning to your face. Quite a remarkable recovery."
"I have had excellent care."
"Yes. My sister-in-law is nothing if not dedicated." Michael's pleasant smile took on an edge. "Even when caring for someone who perhaps does not deserve such dedication."
Aubrey felt that like a blade between the ribs. "You are right, of course."
"At least you are honest about your shortcomings. That is more than many men manage." Michael crossed his legs. "I have been hearing some interesting things, Madeley. About your marriage. Your... absence from it. Your recent forced proximity with the wife you have been studiously ignoring for two years."
"May I—"
"No, let me finish." The smile remained, but Aubrey could see steel beneath it now. "You see, I am rather fond of Eleanor. She is kind, intelligent, remarkably competent, and possessed of a dry sense of humour she hides from most people. In short, she is exactly the sort of woman any man should be proud to call his wife."
Aubrey's throat tightened. "I know."
"Do you?" Michael leaned forward slightly. "Because from where I sit, it appears you have spent two years treating her as an inconvenience. A burden foisted upon you by circumstance rather than choice."
"I was a fool."
"Yes, you were. The question is whether you still are."
Aubrey met Michael's gaze directly. "I admire her. I know you have no reason to believe me, but it's true. And I intend to spend the rest of my life proving it to her."
"Pretty words."
"Notjust words. I've been—" Aubrey struggled to find the right phrasing. "These past weeks have forced me to see what I've been too blind and stupid to recognise before. Eleanor is... everything. And I nearly lost her through my own negligence."
Michael studied him for a long moment. "You did lose her, in many ways. The question is whether she'll give you the opportunity to find her again."
"I know I don't deserve it."
"No, you don't. But Eleanor has a generous heart, far more generous than you've earned the right to." Michael's voice hardened. "Which brings me to why I'm really here. If you hurt her again, Madeley—if you revert to your old ways once this forced proximity ends—I will make it my personal mission to ensure you regret it."
"I won't—"
"Let me be clear." Michael's smile had vanished entirely. "I am a patient man. A civilised man. But I would not hesitate to use my cultivated relationships to ruin you if you hurt her again."
The threat hung in the air between them.
"I understand," Aubrey said quietly.
"Good." Michael leaned back, his pleasant expression returning like a mask being replaced. "Eleanor deserves happiness, Madeley. Real happiness, not the scraps of attention you deign to toss her way when it's convenient."
"She'll have it. I swear to you."
Michael studied him again, then stood. "I suppose time will tell. Though I must say, you do seem... different. Perhaps your injury knocked some sense into you."
"Perhaps it did."
Michael nodded slowly and left without further comment, closing the door behind him with a soft click that somehow felt more ominous than if he'd slammed it.
Aubrey sank back against his pillows, his earlier arousal forgotten entirely, replaced by a cold knot of dread in his stomach. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Midleton’s threats. It was that he didn’t know how he would possibly gain her trust and stop her from leaving because… The realisation gripped his chest in a tight knot: he did not want to lose her. As soon as his pain had dulled enough to allow him to think clearly, he’d known she was worth more than what he could ever give her.
But he was a selfish rascal. He wanted her for himself. And he had two years of her suffering to make up for.
Aubrey looked down at his hands, thinking of how they had gripped Eleanor's wrist hard enough to bruise. How he had never once held her gently. Never touched her with kindness. Never given her any reason to believe he could be a real husband.
And he had absolutely no idea how to win his wife's heart. But he was going to try.
