“You’ve brought the evidence home wi’ you, mon. It speaks for itself.”
His eyes closed in exasperation for a moment. “Even if that were true, which it isn’t, you’re not allowing me to speak in my own defense. Unfair, by any means.”
“Unfair?” she retorted, eyes frying him. “I’m only saving you the trouble, because no matter what you say, I’d no’ believe it now.”
Again she tried to turn away. Again he jerked her back. “Confound you, woman, I was looking for Cameron!”
“Maybe you were, but you made a wee detour too. So be it. I gave you leave.”
He was ready to pull hairs at this point. “Then why are you raising bloody hell about it?”
“You lied to me! You tried to make me believe it’d be otherwise, and for that I’ll no’ forgive you!”
She turned away in a huff. His voice stopped herthis time, deliberately taunting. “Go ahead, and I’ll turn you over my knee.”
“You wouldna dare!”
His eyes had narrowed to mere slits. “At the moment, sweetheart, I assure you it would be a pleasure. Now, I’m going to tell you this only once. Whether you believe it or not, I frankly no longer care. The little wench who crawled all over me was just doing her job. She made the offer, I refused it. There was no more to it than that.”
With icy control, Roslynn demanded haughtily, “Are you finished?”
After her repeated attempts to do so, it was Anthony who turned and walked away.
Chapter Twenty-six
Roslynn cried herself to sleep that night, the first time she had done so since she was a little girl. That Anthony didn’t even try to disturb her in the new room she had moved to was a relief, and yet for some reason she cried the harder. She hated him, never wanted to see him again, but she was stuck with him.
If only she wasn’t such a naive little fool. But she had let him convince her that they could have a normal marriage, and now she was paying for her gullibility, with resentment she couldn’t seem to help feeling and with a bitterness that was wholly unfamiliar to her. For a few hours that morning she had been in heavenly bliss, which made coming back down to earth so much harder to bear. She wouldn’t forgive him for that, for her lost chance at happiness.
Why couldn’t he just leave things as they were? Why did he have to give her hope, then turn right around and dash it to bits?
Nettie, not having to be told what happened, since the whole household couldn’t help but hear the loud argument, had wisely kept her mouth shut while helping Roslynn change rooms. The next morning, she had cold compresses ready to apply to swollen eyes, again without comment, bless her. And Roslynn’s eyes were rather puffy. Chalk up another point against the cur. He was ruining her appearance.
But Nettie’s herbal solution erased all evidence of the miserable night her mistress had spent. Too badshe didn’t have a magic tonic for what ailed Roslynn inside. Yet when she came downstairs in a sunny yellow dress to counteract her mood, it was virtually impossible to tell that she was still a boiling pot of emotions, none of them good, which was fortunate, since she walked unawares into a parlor full of Malorys, by the looks of them, minus her husband, thank God.
So it had started. Gad, at what a time, when she didn’t know if she could bear the sight of Anthony today. And she had no idea what sort of mood he would be in when he came down. He could very well give their troubles away, but she wasn’t going to.
She formed a welcoming smile. Just because she wasn’t able to get on well with her husband didn’t mean she had to be at odds with the rest of the family.
James was the first to notice her entrance and rose immediately to make the introductions. “Good morning, dear girl. As you can see, the elders have arrived to look you over. My brothers Jason and Edward—the blushing bride.”
Jason was scowling already, but at James’ choice of words. Both men were big, blond, and green-eyed, with Edward the stockier of the two. Jason appeared an older version of James, serious, even to having that aura of ruthlessness about him. Edward was the exact opposite, as she was to learn, good-humored, easy-going, certainly jolly, but staid where business was concerned.
Both men rose, Edward to give Roslynn a hearty hug; Jason, more reserved, bringing her hand to his lips. Jeremy, who didn’t need another introduction, simply winked at her. Thank goodness he and Jameshadn’t been home last night to overhear that embarrassing scene in the hall.
“You can’t know what a pleasure this is, my dear,” Jason was saying, giving her a warm smile as he led her to the sofa to sit next to him. “I had despaired of Tony ever marrying.”
“Didn’t think the lad had it in him to settle down,” Edward added jovially. “Delighted to be proved wrong, though. Simply delighted.”
Roslynn didn’t know what to say to that, under the circumstances, because Anthony was anything but ready to settle down. But they wanted to believe he was, obviously, so she wouldn’t set the record straight on that score. However, she couldn’t let them think this was some sort of love match either. It certainly wasn’t that by any means.
She began to speak hesitantly. “There were reasons why we married that you should be aware of—”
“Already know, my dear,” Edward interrupted. “Reggie’s filled us in about your cousin. Doesn’t matter, you know. If Tony wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t have taken the plunge.”
“He did it to help me,” Roslynn said, only to get three doubting-Thomas smiles, making her insist, “Well, he did.”
“Rubbish,” Jason replied. “Tony’s not the sort to play hero, saving damsels and all that.”
