“I am sure his defensiveness made him a joy to live with.”
Her short bark of laughter was bitter. “Anyone would have wanted to be free of him,” she said, as if talking to herself.
“Indubitably. I don’t think you should feel guilty. I only wish you had known someone who could have counseled you on your lack of responsibility for your husband’s debts. Then you wouldn’t have had to run away after his death.”
She nodded but looked unconvinced.
“You don’t understand. I had to leave. Everything was such a mess. My parents were... unhelpful. I was humiliated and scared, too. I thought it a perfect solution to disappear. And it was.”
She started walking again, up the stone steps and onto the back terrace.
“I suppose you did the best you could under the circumstances,” he told her. “Besides, if you hadn’t started your new life in Bath, then I wouldn’t have found you.”
She startled, then glanced at him, her silvery-green eyes alive with thoughts.
“That’s true,” she said.
He opened the door for her to go inside, and she stepped into the brightly lit ballroom. A waltz was playing, and the ladies and gentlemen were twirling like brightly colored toy tops.
His Alice was a honey-haired goddess in vibrant green silk. Heads turned to gawk at her. Far from appearing the least bit cowed by the people who might have once judged her, she was composed, albeit brittle from the encounter with Fairclough.
He wished he could take her in his arms and bring back the warm, laughing Alice who shared his bed. At that moment, watching her survey the ballroom, chin raised, shoulders back, Adam could imagine the intimidating debutante who’d fended for herself. Men probably flocked to her, a little awed while also seeing her as a challenge. Without guidance, she’d navigated the social waters as best she could, if a little choppily.
As if knowing his gaze was upon her, she suddenly turned and looked at him. He would do anything for her, wondering how he could ever have imagined a tryst with her would have been acceptable, whether she was a lady or a governess.
“Do you wish to stay?” he asked, for he was ready to take her home, cherish her in their bed, and show her how much he loved her.
“That’s strange,” she said. “A few years ago, all I wanted was this life, but now, it seems tedious at best. If you are ready, I am happy to go home.”
Chapter Nineteen
Alice hoped Gerald would cease tormenting her now that she was under Adam’s protection, but at his very next chance, the man remained glowering nearby, making her uncomfortable. Moreover, he was reminding everyone of who she used to be.
And everyone who knew her as Lady Fairclough would recall her to be the debutante who had comported herself poorly and was disgraced before having a hasty wedding. Many had thought her with child until that was proved to be untrue.
All she wanted was to be left in peace, to love Adam, and to experience his love in return. Yet as soon as her husband was not by her side, Gerald moved closer.
“I was not surprised by your recent marriage, only that it took you so long, two whole years, to trap another poor sap.”
She couldn’t believe his gall.
“I did not trap anyone,” Alice objected.
“My brother was lured in by your loose lips, and I imagine Diamond was brought into your web with similar enticements.”
At the same moment, even as Richard’s brother spoke his hateful words, Adam returned.
“I thought I told you to stay away from my wife.”
“So territorial,” Gerald said. “A good thing you didn’t know the old Lady Alice —”
“Lady Diamond!” Adam corrected him. “If I have to tell you again to respect my wife, it will be with my fist.”
“Barbaric threats ill-befitting a future earl, but I take your meaning. I shall call her by her correct title when I need to address her at all, but I can tell you this. I do not in any way respect your wife. None of the eligible men from her first Season did. You can ask Dingham, Alton, Nyclyffe, or countless others. They all enjoyed her charms yet married others. I could see through her façade, but I could not stop my brother from pursuing her. And sadly, he was the one who got caught kissing her.”
Adam stepped past her, physically pushing Fairclough back a step. “If you dislike her so, then why do I keep finding you bothering her?”
Fairclough shook his head. “After all she put him through before she drove him to drink and an early grave, she ought to pay off his debts or at least her own. If only my brother had stepped aside a minute or two earlier, then the next man would have taken his turn and been snagged by her noose.”
