She folded his coat, keeping it squarely between them, and searched her mind for anything else to accomplish her hated goal. Nothing came. “While you were gone, I realized…What are you doing?”
“Doing? Why, listening to you, of course.” His nimble fingers had, in no time flat, unworked the tie of his cravat. “Oh, you mean this? Removing my neck tie?” He left the white silk hanging loose around his neck.
Eyeing his bared neck, she watched his Adam’s apple bob and wondered if his skin would taste salty. Would the stubble there be rough against her tongue? Not so much as blinking, she draped his folded jacket, still warm from his body, over her forearm and took a mind-clearing step back.
She had to think of Teddy. What was best for Teddy was all that mattered.
“I filed for an annulment,” she blurted.
The room went silent save for the harsh sound of her own breathing.
Teddy cocked his head. “I beg your pardon?”
“You were gone so long, you see, and then you stopped writing and I realized your feelings for me must have changed.”
“Oh, aye?Myfeelings? And yetyoufiled for annulment.”
She swallowed, or rather, she tried to. She found the attempt stymied by the hard lump that had formed in her throat. “A-and then, mine changed. So you see, I really do not think we should…er…”
He gazed at her with narrowing eyes. “Yes, I think I see exactly where you’re going with this. I’m no longer the prize you thought you’d married so you thought you’dun-marry me. No need for any of that.” He waggled his fingers at her with one hand and nicked his jacket from her with the other.
“No need for what?” Feeling cold air on her cheeks, she realized that several tears had leaked from her eyes. She scrubbed them away, mortified.
“You’ve made your position eminently clear. I must apologize. I completely misread the situation. However, I do have one remaining question.”
She nodded for him to continue, unable to speak. He had it all wrong. He thought she was rejecting him—and she couldn’t risk correcting him without undermining her goal.
“Why did you come for me? You could have simply left me to rot.”
“Because I love you,” she answered honestly, unable or unwilling to keep her feelings inside. Then she uttered words that turned the truth she’d spoken into the biggest lie of her life. “Just…not like that. Not anymore.”
“I see. I suppose that explains the separate bed chambers.” He jammed a hand through his hair. The thick brown waves, alreadyslightly mussed thanks to being badly in need of a proper cut, stuck out in wild disorder. “Well, then, I s’pose you’d better run along.”
She hastened to the door, then turned to face him, certain he would not receive her next words well. “Teddy, about your medicine…”
He cursed under his breath. “Mustn’t forget that. Best go fetch it.”
She opted to ignore his snarky tone and hurried from the room. When she returned with the tea tray a short while later, he had opened the French doors to the balcony, shared between her chamber and his, and now stood at the railing, looking out.
She took in the scene, fear exploding in her chest. “T-Teddy,” she cried, the teacup rattling on the tray she held.
He turned to face her and whatever he saw had him stalking back into the chamber toward her. “For God’s sake, Georgina, I’m not going to jump.”
“I never said—”
“You didn’t have to. Leave the damned tray. I will drink it.”
She pondered addressing his sharp tone, then settled for sending him a speaking frown before setting the tray on the small inlaid table situated in the corner beside the open French doors. When she straightened, he had moved to stand, sentinel, at his chamber door.
Holding the brass lever, he sent her an icy smile and gestured in a wide sweep toward the corridor. “Good night, dear wife.”
She hesitated. She’d imagined staying to watch him drink a cup. That would probably be asking too much, at this juncture. Crossing to the door, she considered what she might say to lessen the tension between them.
As it happened, she need not have bothered. She’d barely stepped into the corridor when the door closed behind her with a decisive thunk.
With no hesitation—hewouldn’t put it past the infernal woman on the other side of the door to spy on him—Teddy picked up the teapot, poured a generous portion of its contents into the sole cup, then carried both to the balcony and emptied them over the side. He was through taking the mind fogging tea.
The doctor said it helped calm him and aided his sleep, but as far as he could tell, it addled his brain, making him sleep like the dead and wake in a cloud of cobwebs.
