‘As you like. One visitor in particular, stands out, came just yesterday. Handsome, he was, a finely-dressed gentleman. One of her richer admirers, I would say. Is that who you came to enquire about? I can tell you everything, for he was here just this morning – early for him. He usually comes after midnight.’
Could Romola have lied? Could Rawden still be visiting her? The loathsome man was after coin and baiting her to get it. He was relishing her discomfort, her desperation to know.
‘What did he look like, this gentleman?’ Grace asked, her heart hammering in her chest.
The man grinned, enjoying his triumph. ‘Light-haired, and he had pale eyes - grey, like stormy skies. The chorus girls were all sighing over him, to be sure. But Romola will chew him up and spit him out just like the rest.’
‘Stop,’ said Grace. ‘I don’t need you to point me in the right direction. I am sure I can find my way by myself.’
Somehow, Grace made her way outside, thankful to be out of the rank air. Caville Sharp had been the man visiting Romola, not her husband. Suddenly, it dawned on her that Caville’s obsession might not be with her but with Rawden. He coveted everything Rawden had, be it mistress, wife, friends, or anyone on whom Rawden relied. Caville’s pursuit of her and his professed regard were no more real than Romola’s affection for her admirers, but it might have ruined her in Rawden’s eyes just the same.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Grace rushed back to Oak Park House, urging her carriage driver to go as fast as he could. On arrival, she was informed that her husband had returned, so she hurried through the house, eager to see Rawden. She found him in her bedroom, standing before the window which gave the most panoramic view of the park, a dark shadow silhouetted against the blinding afternoon sun.
‘So you have returned from today’s adventure,’ he said. She would have gone to him, but something in his tone stopped Grace in her tracks.
Rawden turned and fixed her with a steely look. ‘Well? I am waiting,’ he snarled.
‘For what?’ said Grace.
‘An explanation of your behaviour last night.’
Her chest tightened, and her heart picked up its beat. ‘I have nothing to reproach myself for, Rawden.’
‘Have I been dishonoured because of you?’ he said so quietly it was almost a whisper. Rawden’s whole being seemed taut and set to snap at any moment. A wise woman would have appeased his anger, but the unfairness of his accusation sparked Grace’s ire.
‘I was dishonoured, not you, Rawden. Your pride and vanity may have been wounded, but Caville accused me of loose morals, a charge which you seem all too eager to embrace.’
‘And why not? You were hand in hand in a dark corridor, going, God knows where with a man who has tried to seduce you in the past.’
‘Rawden, he cut in while I was dancing with Mr. Hardy, and when the dance ended, he pulled me outside the ballroom. I did not know what to do. It all happened so quickly, and I did not want to cause a scene.’
His lip curled into a sneer. ‘Since when did you ever care about the opinion of the ton. Grace, tell the truth. Have you always secretly favoured Caville, no matter that you protest otherwise?’
‘I have loathed Caville Sharp almost from the first moment I met him, Rawden. You must know this.’
‘Yet appearances would suggest otherwise,’ he said. Rawden took a step towards her, his hands fisted at his sides. The wounds on his knuckles, evidencing recent violence, were still raw. ‘Time and again, I find you in his presence as if you seek him out.’
‘No. It is the other way around. Oh, why can you not believe me?’
His anger deflated and turned to something worse – bitterness. ‘I suppose I should not care. This marriage was an arrangement, nothing more. I told you at the start that you would not come to love me, nor I you. But I must insist on one thing. I will have no bastards brought up in my name.’
‘How can you say such a thing to me?’
‘I say it because I will not stain any child with that reputation. And we should save this conversation for another day when my temper does not hang by a thread. Whatever you think of me, Grace, I ask that you comport yourself in a respectable manner.
‘While you parade your mistresses and spread your affections all over London,’ she countered.
‘What is it to you if I do? You neither love nor desire me.’ Rawden flung back his head and sighed. ‘No matter the truth of it, or otherwise, here is my truth, Grace. I will not let anyone take what is mine.’
‘I am not yours, Rawden.’
He gave her such a bleak stare that she gasped. ‘No, you are not, and maybe you never will be.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘That Caville Sharp has always been there between us.’
