“Freddy, stop this interrogation at once!”
The resolve in Amelia’s voice turned the room quiet. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She balled her trembling hands in her lap, confused and betrayed by her brother’s demeanor. Her body shook, and she felt both men tense.
I will not fall now.
She needed answers from her brother.
Answers she would not get while Nicholas was nearby.
Looking up at her husband, he seemed to understand what she wanted before she had the chance to ask.
“You cannot ask me to leave you with him,” Nicholas grated. “He will bind and gag you and drag you out of the nearest open window.”
“Please, Your Grace. Nothing will be resolved until I am allowed to speak with my brother alone.”
“I shall not be cast out.”
Amelia’s heart clenched with guilt. She wanted him to stay, and yet…
“I am sorry, she whispered. “But this will be for the best. A few minutes of privacy is all I require.”
It took a moment for Nicholas to make up his mind before he left her side. He lingered a second in the doorway, looking hurt, before he closed it behind him. Amelia missed him immediately and glared at her brother.
In the moments that followed, Freddy crossed the room. He sat on the armrest of her chair and took her hands. His palms were rough with calluses. Far removed from the genteel lord who lived in her memory.
“He is right,” Freddy declared. “I do not know what Avon has said to convince you to remain here, but I must free you from him at once.”
“You have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I know you better than anyone.”
“You have been gone two years.”
Freddy’s mouth fell open in shock. “For your sake!”
He squeezed her hands, trying to shake some sense into her.
“Amelia, please. You must listen to me—”
“No,youmust listen tome. His Grace is not the monster you want to believe him to be. He has been good and kind to me. I chose to become his wife of my own volition.”
“We both know you are not capable of making that choice for yourself.”
“How can you say that in one breath while claiming I was perfectly sane not a moment ago?”
“Because whileImay know the truth of your condition, I refuse to believe that there is anyone in the world who would consider your case with equal reason. We have never met anyone—not even in the days of our mother and father—who saw you for what you really are. Just a woman, not a madwoman. Forgive me for believing that a man with a reputation as dark as night would be the one to change that.”
A terrible thought passed through Amelia’s mind.
Freddy’s return would be the perfect catalyst for their annulment. He would force the issue, pretend to bear witness to Amelia’s madness just to get her away from Nicholas. Within days, Amelia and Nicholas would be free of each other. Exactly as they had planned all along.
Except Amelia did not want to leave Nicholas.
That realization terrified her.
For years, she had dreamt about her brother’s return to England. Now that he was back, sitting so close to her she could see the specks of gold in his eyes, things were different. All she wantedwas for this farce of a marriage to Nicholas to become something real.
Whatever she felt for Nicholas wasreal.
