Either way, she had been reassured that he would not ever have the opportunity to hurt her again.
But those reassurances had not been delivered by Colin. Her husband had been in the parlor ever since they were attacked, explaining everything to the guard. Maybe even paying them off so this scandal wouldn’t get out.
But then, Colin had always known how to handle a scandal. Even one that hadn’t really happened.
Her stomach turned at what she now knew. That Colin had, for a half a year, believed her capable of betraying him. Without asking her, without confronting her, he had just…turned away.
It broke her heart. And it made her so angry she could hardly breathe.
Emotions she pushed aside when the door opened and Colin stepped out with the two members of the guard behind him. “Thank you, gentlemen, for your assistance,” he said as he shook their hands.
“We’ve a few more things to manage here, my lord, but you and your wife are welcome to go,” one of the men said, inclining his head toward her.
“Please feel free to call on me at any time of night or day if there is anything else you need,” Colin said.
Then he at last turned and looked at her, his face drawn and pained. She felt for him in that moment. She had been hurt by what had happened, but she could recognize just how much he had been as well. And she loved him, despite this turn of events. She wanted to comfort him.
She rose, holding out a hand to him in silence. He took it, his expression filled with surprise, and allowed her to draw him toward the carriage she had ridden over in what felt like a lifetime ago. At the door, she turned back and acknowledged the guard before she and Colin walked out and climbed into the vehicle.
It was a silent ride back to his home. Colin stared out the window at the dark that had fallen during the hours they’d been at Arthur’s. He said nothing. Neither did she, for she feared once they started, it would be a difficult conversation that could last a very long time. She didn’t want to start it where the servants could spy.
They arrived at his home at last, and it was evident that news of what happened at Arthur’s home had already spread. Simmons was sober as he welcomed them and took their things. “Would you like supper, my lord?”
Colin barked out a sound of humorless laughter. “No. I’ll drink my supper in the parlor. Jane?”
She shook her head and smiled at Simmons. “Thank you, you may leave us.” He bowed his head, and Jane looked at Colin. “To the parlor then.”
He sighed and led the way, shutting the door behind them before he crossed to the liquor lined up along the sideboard and opened a bottle. “I’ll begin with scotch. What is the lady’s pleasure?”
“Nothing for me,” she said, watching him as he splashed a hefty dose of alcohol into a glass and slugged half of it in one gulp.
He caught her eye and frowned. “I’m sorry. I know I’m being rude.”
“No,” she said. “I cannot imagine how you feel at present.”
He moved to a chair by the fire and sank into it like he could no longer support his own weight.
“What can I do?” she asked, longing to move to him and rub his shoulders. To kiss him and help him forget. To make love to him and reassure each other they were unharmed after the near-tragedy that had taken place that afternoon.
But she found she couldn’t. There were walls between them, just as there had always been. Only now she was the one who erected them for her protection.
“Nothing,” he said in answer to her question at last. “I am in…shock.”
She sank down in the chair near him and shook her head. “Of course you are. You and Arthur were so close.”
“Were we?” he asked, staring off into space, his expression telling her he was reliving those moments in the parlor with his cousin. “It seems we were not. Not truly.”
His agony was palpable, and even Jane’s own pain couldn’t keep her from reaching out. She touched his cheek with a trembling hand and he leaned into it, his eyes fluttering shut.
“He broke us,” he murmured, his voice cracking.
She pursed her lips, but pushed aside all she wanted to say. “We don’t have to speak of that tonight, Colin.”
He looked at her. “But we do, Jane. I know now that you didn’t betray me.”
Anger began to burn in her chest and Jane lowered her hand from his face. She smoothed her skirts, trying to maintain calm. “You know it because you heard Arthur say it.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
