“You are going to resign?”
He turned fully to her then, an angry god bathed in golden light.
“What do you expect me to do?” he said. “Let them rip your reputation to pieces and label me an accomplice? Invite them to excavate your past and see how much dirt they can dig up?”
His words sliced into her, sharper than any blade.
She swallowed. “But…but the campaign means everything to you?—”
“The campaign, as my cronies so succinctly put it, is done. And so am I.”
“Surely there is something that can be done?—”
“What, precisely, would you have me do, Evie?” he gritted out. “Can’t you see I am out of options? Contrary to what you seem to believe, I am not some damned deity. I do not possess divine powers that allow me to solve all problems.”
“I never said you had such a power,” she said with stunned hurt.
“Your actions have implied it,” he snapped. “Why else would you come to me with your troubles and expect me to manage them?”
The unfairness of his accusations ignited her temper.
“I didn’t want you to have to deal with my troubles,” she said in a shaking voice. “That is why I kept them a secret all these years.”
He clenched his jaw. “Now is not the time to remind me of your lies.”
“No? Then let us talk about yours.”
His eyes flashed ominously. “I have never lied to you.”
“I beg to differ. You said I was not to blame for what happened, yet you do blame me, don’t you? It is only logical, and you are nothing if not that. Things in your campaign were going swimmingly, then—voilà. My past raises its ugly head. Disaster and devastation ensue.”
He scowled. “That is hardly fair?—”
“You are thinking to yourself that if you had married someone else, you would not be in this predicament.”
“Don’t presume to know what I bloody think.”
“A proper lady is a credit to her husband and helps him to achieve his ambitions. I, on the other hand, have lied to you, lost your babe, made you hunt a blackmailer, traumatized your brother…oh, and destroyed your good name. Am I missing anything?”
“What do you want me to say?” James’s voice went frighteningly soft, the way it did when he was pushed past his limits. “This isn’t all about you, Evie. Not everything is—although you seem to forget that.”
“I beg your pardon?” she said coldly.
“Your self-pity grows tedious. Everything I have been working for—that I wanted—lies in shambles, and all you can talk about is you. About your past, your shame, your guilt. So yes,” he said scathingly. “Perhaps you have the right of it. Perhaps I did have the thought that it would be nice to be married to someone who didn’t just come to me with problems but also supported me in my time of need.”
There it was: the truth lay bare. She’d known it all along, yet hearing him say it, feeling his anger and resentment, was more painful than she could have imagined. Every breath hurt, as if she had razor blades in her chest. As if her emotional calluses had been shaved off, her husband’s disdain pressed upon her every tender shortcoming.
A rapping sounded on the door.
“What is it?” James snarled.
Ethan edged inside, his gaze darting warily between them.
“I am sorry to interrupt.” He cleared his throat. “You have a visitor, brother.”
“Tell them I am indisposed?—”
“It is Lady Vernon. She says she wishes to help.”
