Gratitude swept over her, along with the rush of another sensation, stronger and more potent than what she had felt before. Warm and unexpected.
Love.
She fell in love with Dominic Winter as they stood before her disapproving father. The realization stole her breath for a heartbeat, but it also gave her strength. Courage. Determination to go on.
A voice with which to speak.
She turned her attention back to her formidable sire. “Mr. Winter is my husband, Father.”
“The devil he is.” Her father surged toward Dom, as if he intended to physically attack him.
Dom sidestepped her father’s advances neatly, a mocking grin on his lips she recognized too well. Here was the mask he donned for strangers. He was the fearsome Dominic Winter, hard and harsh and merciless.
“I would take care if I were you, Linross,” he said. “Doing me harm is a right dangerous proposition. If my men were to discover, you could not run fast enough or hide yourself well enough from their retribution.”
Father stopped. “Do you dare to threaten me, you despicable mongrel?”
Adele had never heard such vitriol from her father before. It was almost as if he were familiar with Dom. But…how could that be?
“I married Mr. Winter, Father,” she repeated. “It is true. I apologize for the haste with which our nuptials occurred, but it was unavoidable, I fear. I was unintentionally compromised at the house party, and we were left with no choice.”
“Compromised? You?” Her father sneered. “A quiet girl such as you has nothing to recommend her save your face, and believe me, a pretty face is not what a bastard like him is seeking.”
She frowned at her father’s cruel, caustic words. “If you think Mr. Winter seeks my dowry, you are wrong. He has more than enough of his own funds.”
Still, whilst she did not believe him to have married her for financial benefit, she remained uncertain of why he had. A man such as he had no need to wed. As he had told her himself, he was not the sort of man who sought societal acceptance orentréeto balls. Rather, he was a law unto his own.
And yet, he had not answered her whenever she had asked him why he had wanted to marry her.
“It is not your dowry he is after, you foolish chit,” her father snapped, his voice echoing in the eerie calm of the chamber with the force of a slap. “You did not truly think he would want to marry you, did you? Evie is a diamond of the first water, with a legion of gentlemen begging to court her. You have no suitors to speak of.”
She flinched. That was not entirely true. She’d had suitors…not many, it was true. She had grown accustomed to living in her beautiful twin’s shadow, to allowing Evie to speak for her.
“Take care how you speak to my wife, Linross,” Dom growled. “I protect what is mine.”
“She is not yours, you spurious cur!” Father’s face went a mottled shade of red. “You have done this to spite me. To force my hand, have you not? I will have this marriage annulled, and you can have what you want. I will sell you the land for your waterworks.”
Everything inside Adele seemed to freeze. And then, like autumn flowers who had suffered the first fatal kiss of frost, shriveled.
She turned to her husband, feeling numb. “You and my father are acquainted?”
Dom inclined his head. “We are. I have been attempting to buy a parcel of land from Linross for the last year. He has thwarted me at every turn.”
“And now, when he could not get what he wanted, he has involved you in his plans.” Her father sneered at Dom. “Leave my daughter out of this, you pathetic weasel. I will sell you the land, and then I hope to never see you again.”
Her mind could scarcely seem to comprehend the scene unfolding before her. Dom had never told her he knew her father, nor that he had been attempting to purchase land from him. What could all this mean?
She searched her husband’s grim countenance. “Is what my father says true? You wish to buy land from him?”
“It is true that I want to buy the land for a waterworks in the East End. It is also true that he refused to sell me the parcel out of spite. He does not deem me suitable enough to acquire the land, even by legal means.”
His acknowledgment only made the cold inside her blossom, overtaking her. “So you decided to marry me so you could force my father’s hand and have your waterworks?”
He reached for her, the harsh lines in his expression softening. “Adele, all is not as it seems. Trust me.”
Trust him?
She stared at his big, outstretched hand, wondering if she dared.
