Her expression was pinched, but he did not think he espied hatred there as Devil had been so certain he would. Instead, it was something worse. She appeared…wounded.
He hated her pain. Hated being the cause of it. This was what happened each day, was it not? Darkness surpassed the light, and the sun was extinguished. Still, it did not feel right. Hurting Adele felt as if he had swallowed a rock, and it was lodged uncomfortably in his stomach.
“I have returned some of your brother’s debts,” he allowed. “But not all.”
“Then you lied to me.”
Her voice was like a lash. Shame accompanied it, stinging, burning.
“I did not lie about the debts,” he countered, for it was truth. “All his debts, up until the time we wed, have been returned to him. Unfortunately, Sundenbury has not ceased tempting fortune. His debts continue to mount.”
“And you have been buying them all.”
Once again, his wife was observant. Intelligent.
He nodded. “Indirectly, yes.”
“To strongarm my father into selling you the land you require,” she finished for him.
“My initial plan was to use you both,” he admitted, hating himself for the way it sounded.
Then wondering why. Dominic Winter showed no mercy. He possessed no compunction. He did what he had to do, and he never made apologies for it. It was what had kept him alive and made him one of the most powerful men in the East End.
“That is why you married me,” she guessed. “You intended to trade me for the land.”
He wished for a trap door to spring open in the floor of his carriage so he could fall into it. “Yes. Eventually.”
Her hand crept to her abdomen in a protective gesture. “You changed your mind when you discovered I am carrying your child, however.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I changed my mind as soon as I saw you again in Oxfordshire. I had been looking for you everywhere, searching all London. I told myself the entire journey that I would hold true to my plan. That it was a boon the gorgeous angel I had not been capable of forgetting all these months was also the daughter to the man who would not sell me the land I needed.”
“You ought to have told me then, when you arrived in Oxfordshire.”
“A gentleman would have,” he acknowledged. “But as we have already established, I am no gentleman. And if I had told you the truth, you never would have married me.”
“I do not know what I would have done, but you stole the choice from me, Dom,” she said, her tone enough to slay him.
“I am sorry.”
How those three words emerged from his own lips was a mystery. Dom did not make apologies.
Adele’s lips parted, revealing her surprise as well. “You are sorry.”
“I am sorry for…manipulating you,” he elaborated with painstaking precision. “I was wrong. I am a man who is accustomed to taking what he wants and not giving a damn about the consequences. But that does not make what I did right.”
She nodded, her lips compressing to a fine, grim line once more. “Go on.”
She wanted to know everything, his curious wife. Of course she did. Fair enough.
He passed a hand over his jaw, finding the place to begin. “Jasper Sutton owns Sutton Waterworks, which provides water to a large portion of the area surrounding The Devil’s Spawn. The bastard has a monopoly, but his rates are high and the quality of water he provides is poor. I am aiming to create a rival waterworks that will have cleaner water and fairer prices. The water at The Devil’s Spawn will no longer come from a suspect source. However, the land I need, where I must build reservoirs surrounding the River Lea, is owned by the Duke of Linross, a man who has refused to sell for the last year.”
Her brows drew together. “Were you truly responsible for my brother’s beating? Was that a lie as well?”
“That was Sutton, just as I told you. Your brother was in deep at Sutton’s tables, and Suttons are notoriously merciless. They would as soon cut a nib as one of their own. After you came to me and disappeared, I began buying up your brother’s vowels. At first, it was to find you. Then, when I discovered who you truly were, my plan became twofold.”
“Will you truly ruin my brother if my father will not sell you the land?” she wanted to know next.
He sighed. The Dominic Winter he had been before would have done so, without a modicum of guilt. The man he had become, however, was not so certain.
