She didn’t believe him. He was too much of a coward to want Dominic to remain alive, destitute or not, not after what Robert had done to warrant those duels.
“D’you really think he’s still going to try to kill you after I marry him? He won’t, you know. He has more honor than that, to kill family—unlike you. Beating you senseless though, now that’s allowed.”
She probably shouldn’t have ended that with a half smirk. Robert flushed with livid color, but when he raised a fist to her, she thrust her chin out and snarled, “Go ahead, I dare you. I’d love to see you in jail for it. If you think I won’t scream murder to see that happen, think again.”
“Bitch,” he snarled as he walked away.
“Defiler of innocents,” she said just loudly enough that only he would hear it.
He didn’t stop. She did see both his hands form fists. And he almost broke the door to the shop he slammed it so hard on his way out. But then she’d never spoken to him like that before. Maybe she should have made clear a long time ago just how much she hated him, instead of going out of her way to avoid him. Did he think she had forgiven or forgotten the pain he’d caused her when she was too young to know how to prevent it?
She didn’t need to sniff what was in the vial he’d given her before she threw it in a rubbish bin. She didn’t doubt it was poison of one kind or another, despite Robert’s denial. He wasn’t going to stop trying to get rid of Dominic for one simple reason—because he wouldn’t feel safe until he did.
Chapter Forty-Four
WHEN BROOKE RETURNED TOthe town house that afternoon, she soon heard about the extra horse his lordship had come home with. But it didn’t occur to her until she was resting in her room that Dominic’s coming home with a new horse could mean only one thing. He either already had a mistress, or he’d found one that quickly today, or maybe even last night after dinner. Either way, she guessed the horse was for her to seal their bargain. She ought to go have a look at it. If she could stop crying, maybe she would.
“It’s that bad, is it?”
“Freda!” Brooke leaped off the bed with a laugh. “You’re early.”
“I made sure of that. Gabriel didn’t like taking turns driving that big coach, but I was persuasive.”
“With a clobbering or...?”
“?‘Or’ worked.” The maid grinned.
They had a lot to catch up on... well, Brooke did. Alfreda’s trip to London was apparently quite uneventful and summed up in just a few words about the unpleasantness of trying to sleep in a moving coach. Brooke’s trip was too eventful, but she glossed over most of it and couldn’t manage to mention the early wedding night she’d had before arriving in London. She would, just maybe after the wedding, when it wouldn’t be so embarrassing and earn her a scolding.
But she did mention her run-in with Robert and Dominic’s exasperating behavior, ending with “He spent last night with some other woman.”
“Did he? But he’s not married yet and you haven’t made him love you yet.”
“Are you really trying to tell me what happens before the wedding doesn’t count?”
“When the wedding wasn’t his idea, when he never proposed? Yes, I am indeed. Now if it happens after the wedding, there’s an herb I’ve never stocked that is reputed to render a man incapable of performing in bed. I’ll see if I can find some here in London. I’ve always wanted to test it on someone to see if it’s true. I’ve just never met a man I dislike enough to try it on.”
“Permanently incapable?”
“No, of course not.” Alfreda winked. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
It took a moment for Brooke to realize that Alfreda was just trying to lighten her mood with nonsense. That statement that Dominic’s unfaithfulness shouldn’t count before the wedding was reasonable, though, particularly since the bargain washeridea.
She helped Alfreda to unpack the trunks when they were brought in. But another soft knock came at her door almost as soon as the footmen filed out. She certainly wasn’t expecting to see Dominic standing in the corridor. He was dressed to go out, or maybe he was just returning? She immediately thought of the woman her suspicions imagined he’d been with last night—and again today? Maybe she should have asked for a horse per copulation, she thought with a mental growl.
He handed her a folded card. “I’ve accepted one of my mother’s invitations that included me. Most of her friends expect me to be in town at this time of year. Be ready by eight tonight. Oh, and dress accordingly. It’s a ball we’ll be attending.”
Brooke immediately stopped thinking about him and other women. “A party when your mother is so sick?”
“She’s improving. Go see for yourself. And it was her suggestion.”
“Do you even dance?”
“With four legs I might be a bit clumsy, but”—he glanced down at his legs—“ah, just two today.”
She grinned at his teasing. “I didn’t mean to imply that.”
“Just that I’m a Yorkshire clod who was never taught?”
