“No.” He paused. “They stayed at Bonhomie.”
She caught the note of hesitation. She grasped on to it in an attempt to redirect her thoughts from the prickly uneasiness she seemed to be experiencing to something,anything, else. In a flash of intuition, she hazarded a question, “Do theyknowyou are married?”
Roman debated lying. Then decided against it.
“I posted a letter to them several days ago,” he said.
“Oh,” was her response.
He didn’t know if hers was a good “oh” or a bad one. “They will be happy for us.”
“Or their feelings might be hurt.”
Roman could tell her about his stepfather, David, but why? The news wouldn’t mean anything to her and David would not thank him for his honesty. He would prefer to make his own impressions.
Leonie considered him with her solemn brown eyes. “You don’t believe they will wish us happy?”
“They know that years ago I fought a duel over a woman. They are... protective. I wanted them to meet you first and then they can put together the story of how we first met.”
“Oh,” she said again, the word with more awareness. “I think I see.”
And then, because he might as well have it all out, because surely someone in his family might mention it to her, he said, “They know I was demoted because of the duel.”
Leonie sat quietly as if digesting his words. A small line of worry appeared between her brows. “I did not know about the demotion.”
“Didn’t you wonder what had become of me after you left?” He tried to keep his voice light. He wasn’t entirely successful.
She pushed herself back into her corner of the coach. “I assume my father took care of smoothing matters.”
“Just a snap of his fingers, eh?”
“No, of his purse.” She turned away from him, staring out the window as if she could imagine him gone, and he wanted to laugh at the cruel jest of his life.
He’d married her because he wanted her, plain and simple. His stepfather had always warned him against thinking with his little head instead of his big one. Only a fool would do such a thing.
Well, Roman Gilchrist was a fool. But a rich one now. He didn’t mention that his family would be upset that he had married for money. They believed in love. His mother had married twice for love. Beth and her husband, Lawrence, had been a love match, and Dora was still looking.
However, love could not have paid the old Rochdale’s gambling debts to Erzy and Malcolm or make the repairs necessary to build Bonhomie into the estate he had described to Leonie.
Furthermore, he had the woman who had haunted his dreams. She sat next to him in these close quarters, the faint scent to her perfume on her skin in danger of driving him to madness... becauseshewas hiswife. This woman he’d sacrificed so much for was finally his.
And then she surprised him.
She looked to him, her expressive eyes shiny with unshed tears. “I should not have let you be blamed for what I did. I believe we must tell the truth.” Her face had gone very pale.
“Tell the truth?” Roman didn’t exactly understand what she was saying.
“Yes, we should tell people you were innocent of Arthur’s death. We should go to your commanding officer or the officers at the Company”—she referred to the East India Company—“and explain that I killed him.”
“We will not do any such a thing,” Roman assured her, astounded she’d even offered.
“Why not? It isn’t right that they believe a lie about you.” She looked down at her hands. They seemed to tremble slightly. She clasped them tightly.
Roman placed his hand over hers. It had not been his imagination. Her hands did tremble. However, at his touch, her fingers curled tightly as if resisting him.
He could have pulled away. He did not.
Instead, he spoke words that, during the ruin of his military career, he had never believed he would say. “It doesn’t matter. We both made choices that night. What’s done is done and the two of us have managed fairly well, have we not?”
