‘Whatever can you mean?’ cried Grace.
Harriet would not look at her as she said, ‘Your place is with your husband, Grace.’ She took a delicate bite of butter cake and wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin as if she had not a care in the world.
‘I cannot. Harriet, please.’
Harriet put her cutlery down with a clatter. ‘Please, Grace. You have to go with him. Do not make a scene.’
Rawden covered the distance between them in a few strides and took Grace’s hand in a grip of iron.
‘What of her things, Earl Voss? said Harriet calmly.
‘Keep them,’ he snapped. ‘She has nothing of value.’
Within moments, Grace found herself out in the rain. Rawden bundled her into a carriage and banged on the roof for the driver to move off. He fixed her with a piercing gaze. ‘Do not dare to run from me again, especially not to those people,’ he snarled.
‘I had every right to run from you.’
‘You are my wife!’ he bellowed, making Grace jump. ‘You have no right to go anywhere without my leave.’
‘I am your wife in name only, it seems.’
‘What does that mean?’
Grace was too angry to speak, so she stared out of the window, shivering in her dress, damp from rain. His black eyes bore into her, and she pressed herself into the carriage door to be as far away from him as possible.
‘Damn it to hell,’ snarled Rawden, tearing off his cloak and flinging it at her.
Grace stared mutely down at it.
‘Put it on before you freeze to death. Obey me in that, at least.’
Grace pulled the jacket on. It still held the warmth of Rawden’s body and his smell. The remembered feel of his hot flesh sliding against her own made her face burn.
He noticed, of course. ‘You may well blush, Grace. Your little escape attempt will be the talk of the ton for the rest of the season. Gilbert will undoubtedly revel in this scandal, and it will cement my reputation as a monstrous man who mistreated his new bride.’
‘I am sorry, Rawden,’ said Grace. Her words came out weakly, almost a sob, for he looked so crestfallen all of a sudden. ‘That was not my intention.’
‘No matter. I care little for the opinion of fools.’ He rubbed his thumb into his palm and met her eye. ‘Did I so mistreat you, Grace?’
‘No. Oh I cannot explain.’
He gave a bitter smile and sighed. ‘But why would you run if I treated you well? Did you hate it when I took you to my bed that last time? Were you too afraid to tell me to stop?’
‘Please, Rawden. I do not wish to speak of it.’ She bit her lip and stared out of the carriage.
He leant back. ‘And there is my answer,’ he sighed
The carriage rattled on, and Grace wanted to say that she had not hated his touch. Indeed, she had found a guilty pleasure in it, and his caresses had sparked a hunger that haunted her still. But how could she own to such a thing? It would only make her his fool. But Grace had to ask. ‘How did you find me?’
‘Gilbert wanted rid of you, and apparently, it was his wife’s idea to send for me.’
Tears welled in Grace’s eyes.
‘I was right about her,’ said Rawden.
‘So you would leave me completely friendless.’
‘She was no friend to you, Grace. Best you let her go and turn your mind to us. We are married and no escaping it. We will go on and make the best of this, for there is no other way.’
