Chapter Fifteen
He stood in the aperture, stripping off his gloves, dangerous under the broad-brimmed hat, the greatcoat emphasising his height. He was pale, and his features were set, the scar standing out white.
His eyes found Rosina. “I thought so,” he said, his tone grim, and threw aside his gloves on a chair by the door. The hat joined them.
Rosina’s pulses were rioting, but she faced him squarely. “It — it is of no use to t-try to stop me, Anton.”
“Rosy, I can’t let you do this!” He took a few hasty paces towards her, but checked as Rosina backed away. Hurt entered his eyes. “What, has nothing changed? Rosina!”
“One moment, my lord,” interrupted the lawyer, moving quickly to the door, which Raith had left open behind him.
Raith swung round and saw it, shifting away to one of the windows. Rosina had come up against a bookcase, and she stood with her back to it, her hands grasping at the edge of a shelf behind. That Anton had come after her both warmed her heart, and filled her with dismay. That he would fight her going she could not doubt. It was difficult enough without that. The very sight of him brought back a too strong recollection of the previous night, undermining her determination.
Ottery spoke a word of dismissal to the clerks within the other room, and then closed the outer door. He went across to Raith, addressing him with all his habitual calm.
“Allow me to take your coat, my lord.”
With impatience, Raith turned and allowed Ottery to help him out of the enveloping greatcoat, his eyes on Rosina. The lawyer laid aside the garment on a convenient side table, and returned to his desk.
“Lady Raith has asked me to arrange to release her from this marriage, my lord.”
Raith’s heart jarred painfully, and he saw the flooding consciousness enter his wife’s face. His voice was barely steady. “So I had guessed. Did you agree?”
“How could I, sir, without knowing your mind?”
A long sigh left Raith’s lips. “You might be pardoned for supposing it to be other than it is.” He looked again at Rosina, and found his waif in residence. Hell and the devil, but this demanded privacy!
He crossed to the inner door, and opened it. “You will permit us to make use of your room?”
Ottery bowed. “Lady Raith, will you not go apart with his lordship?”
Rosina stood her ground, her eyes full on Anton’s, her voice a trifle shaky. “No, Mr Ottery, I will not. You know so much there can be nothing said between us that you may not hear.”
Raith winced and saw his lawyer’s gaze move from him to his wife and back again.
“I believe matters ought better to be resolved between you, ma’am, without a witness.”
“No!”
“Rosy!”
With pain, Raith saw his wife fling away to the position he had just vacated by the window. Unable to help himself, he let go the door handle, and came towards her. She threw up her hands, and the dark orbs showed panic. “No, you must not. Don’t come near me!”
He stopped, but his eyes were despairing. “Not come near you? You cannot be afraid of me, Rosy. Not now.”
“It — it is not that.” She looked down and he saw her unquiet fingers. “You have too much power to affect me. My resolution will fail, Anton, if I am alone with you.”
His heart melted, and he moved to her, cupping her cheek. “I want it to fail, Rosy. I cannot let you go.”
She looked up at him. “I knew you would say that.”
“Yet you took clothes from your dressing-room. You meant to escape me. What, was Ottery to conceal you somewhere? Surely you know he would not aid you.”
Rosina glanced across at the lawyer. “No, but he would do it for you, if I can convince him of the rightness of my request.”
“I beg to differ, ma’am,” came from Ottery himself, bringing Raith’s head round. “His lordship best knows how much I am against separation.”
Rosina wrenched away from her spouse’s hold. “Then you did mean to set me aside!” She paced away from him, pulling at her fingers. “Oh, I knew it. Last night, when I came to find you, that is why you had been drinking.”
