‘Gilbert is not here for me to ask him. He is away. Oh, Grace, what has happened?’
‘I cannot stay with Rawden. He is a bad man, marriage is awful, and I think I have made a terrible mistake.’
At that point, the dam of feeling broke and tears came. Harriet rushed over and folded Grace into her arms. ‘Hush now. Hush.’ She rubbed Grace’s back repeatedly and gasped, ‘Did I not warn you that Rawden Voss was a monster?’
***
Rawden woke late with a pounding headache. Self-loathing had led him to consume far too much port in search of oblivion. The light streaming in his open window seared his eyes as he considered whether to go to Grace. She had clearly wanted him out of her sight last night after their passionate and somewhat angry coupling. He should have restrained himself, but he wanted her badly, and when they had come together, he sensed a passion which matched his own.
He sighed and flung back his head. He had not been gentle, and she was only recently an innocent. Their wedding night had taught him that much, at least. A wiser man would have gently wooed and seduced Grace until she was putty in his hands. But he was not a wise man, and she had just been confronted with the spite of his mistress’s revelations. Her anger had sparked his lust in a way that soft innocence did not. Rawden could still feel her smooth curves under his hands, hear the little moans she gave against his kisses and feel the surge of her hips to his when she had reached a peak. It had been real - that surrender to passion - as absolute as his own. How could such a woman tangle his good sense? He was all pity one moment, lust the next. He wanted to protect and ravage in equal measure. He was not a good husband, and he never would be.
Rawden leapt out of bed. He would not wait like a patient dog to gain entry to his wife’s bedchamber. Grace would hear him out. He would apologise again. He was forever apologising to her, it seemed. There must be some way to put this right and start again. But when he reached her bedroom, Grace was not there. He cast about the room. Drawers were flung open, and dresses and possessions lay across the bed in disarray.
Damn her to hell. Wherever she had gone, he should just let her rot.
***
By mid-afternoon, Grace had shed all her tears and sat in Harriet’s pretty parlour, sipping tea and sweet cakes as though her life were ordered and normal and not a hopeless tangle of disappointed hopes. Harriet’s face bore a look of desperate worry. She had been watching Grace like a hawk all day. She sighed and placed her tea cup down, sending a little clink into the silence between them.
‘Well, this a fine mess, Grace,’ she said.
‘I am sorry for bringing it to your door, Harriet.’
‘Well, it is all very vexing, but then, what civilised woman could handle Rawden Voss? You do not have to tell me all the particulars, but is your current distress to do with him consummating the marriage?’ Harriet gave a delicate shudder. ‘Unfortunate as that might be, I would hope it did occur, for if you did not seal your union, then you are not safe. He can declare the marriage void, throw you over, and you will be penniless.’
Grace swallowed hard and looked down at her tea. Rawden’s hands, hot and eager, all over every inch of her body, his mouth merging sinfully with her own, her fingers sinking into the hard muscle of his back, feeling it ripple and move as he filled her with his manhood. Yes, she had let him have her, and she had liked it far too much.
‘You need have no fear on that score. We are legally married, in all respects,’ she said.
‘I see.’ Harriet bore a look of utter distaste. ‘How horrid an ordeal for you,’ she declared.
‘Ordeal?’ said a hard voice.
They both jumped. Gilbert Routledge stood behind them, sending a glare in Harriet’s direction. Why had he not declared himself? Grace was mortified. He must have heard everything.
Harriet leapt up. ‘Gilbert...I….’
‘Do continue, Harriet,’ drawled Gilbert.
Harriet stood, wringing her hands. ‘Rawden Voss is no gentleman like you, Gilbert,’ she said, with a shake in her voice. ‘Have you not often declared the man to be a savage?’
‘Indeed, I have. When military men are without honour, they become little better than animals.’
‘Gilbert, Grace is here because….’
‘I know full well why she is here,’ he snapped, cutting Harriet off. ‘She is running from her husband, as the duties of a married woman do not suit her.’ His voice dripped with disapproval. ‘The servants enlightened me of the situation as soon as I returned. As mistress, you must chastise them again for listening at doorways, Harriet. And unhappy or not, the marriage stands in a legal sense, so there is no escape from it.’ Gilbert directed his comments to Harriet as though Grace was invisible.
‘What do you mean, dearest?’ said Harriet.
He waved a hand at Grace. ‘She belongs to Voss now. This cannot be undone. But if the marriage has been consummated, he also has an obligation to care for her financially, and no matter what kind of brute he is, she must rely on his charity.’
Though her face burned at Gilbert speaking of such intimate subjects in front of her and so brutally, Grace spoke up. ‘Gilbert, you misunderstand. Rawden is not a brute, and he has not been violent to me in any way.’
‘Then run back to him and beg forgiveness,’ he snapped. ‘I cannot concern myself with women’s petty grievances, and I cannot harbour a runaway bride in my home.’
‘But we are not suited, and I fear the marriage is a mistake,’ cried Grace.
‘Too bad for you. Rawden Voss is your husband. You are his, to do with as he wishes.’
