The Ugly Duchess

Page 45

There was a flash of emotion deep in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly that she wasn’t sure she saw it.
“My answer to that question would be the opposite,” he said, as casually as if he were discussing the weather. “Two days of marriage failed to impress itself on me. I am fairly certain that most men would understand my lapse.”
“Not everyone gives the same weight to marital vows,” she replied.
“Our marriage was over, to quote your own words.” His voice did not rise, but it took on a severe, rather chilling undertone. “You threw me out of this house and told me not to come back. I hardly see your command as honoring our mutual vow to stay together as long as we both shall live.”
“Am I to understand that my anger at being tricked into the marriage, the better to disguise the embezzlement of my dowry, became your excuse for committing adultery?”
The atmosphere in the library was so charged that she felt as if a dry spark might ignite the very air. Interestingly enough, James remained in obvious control of his temper. He truly had grown up.
“We have a great deal of hostility between us,” he said, finally. “I had not thought that you would still hold a grudge. Frankly, our marriage feels like a different lifetime to me. I can hardly remember our last conversation—other than your insistence that our marriage was over—but in case I did not offer my apologies at the time, I am happy to do so now.”
Theo felt a sudden wave of longing, not for the hard-faced man in front of her, but for the young man whose eyes fell when she screamed at him, who had loved her.
James apparently took her silence as encouragement. “I am truly sorry for having acceded to my father’s request and married you under false pretenses. In years after, I realized that while the marriage may well have taken place anyway, our closeness undoubtedly made the sting of my betrayal more keen.”
“Be that as it may, we scarcely know each other now,” she said.
“The boy in me will always love you,” he said, disarming her with a smile. “The man I am doesn’t know you yet.” And now there was a look in his eyes that she recognized, that resonated deep within her.
Instantly Theo quashed the feeling. She’d jump off a church steeple before she’d bed a man who cared so little for her that he had waited seven years to inform her whether he was alive. That was one lesson she had taken from her experience as an “ugly duchess”: if she didn’t value herself, no one would.
Except perhaps that boy whom James no longer resembled.
“You haven’t been to bed with a man in seven years,” he said softly. His eyes were frankly hungry now.
“That’s true,” she responded. “But that was before I realized that our vows had been dissolved, in practice, if not in the courts. Now I shall have to make up for lost time.” And with that, she rose.
The desire in his face was instantly replaced by an unmistakable wave of fierce possessiveness.
Theo responded instinctively. “I am no longer your wife, James, and it seems you were my husband only as the Earl, for a matter of two or three years before you became Jack Hawk.”
“How in the hell did you know that?”
“It’s amazing what a good Bow Street Runner can discover. I take it that the Earl was mine, while Jack belonged to half the ladies of the West Indies and beyond.”
“Rather an exaggeration,” he murmured.
“Truly? Mr. Badger thought that you had illegitimate children sprinkled throughout the islands.”
James’s laugh was as rasping and deep as his voice. “I would rather father my first child on my wife.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option,” she said coolly. “I am confident that our marriage can be dissolved, and I would certainly hope that you have a thriving flock of children with your next wife.”
“My next wife?”
“Our situation is clearly untenable.” Theo didn’t want to leave him with the least ambiguity. “I will petition for dissolution of the marriage as soon as possible; I’ve already contacted my solicitor. I have confidence that the Regent will accede to my request.”
“No, you damn well won’t.” He bit the words out.
“I think we would both prefer to dispel the hostility between us,” she said, ignoring his response.
“I see no reason for unpleasantness,” he agreed.
But there was something about his tone—no matter how agreeable—that set her every nerve on edge. “My jointure is more than able to support my needs, and we own a house in Hennessey Street that the estate acquired five years ago for investment purposes. If you are agreeable, I will set up housekeeping there. I would be happy to buy the house from the estate, as it is, obviously, unentailed.”
“I’ll be damned if my wife will move out of my house, let alone buy another house from me!” His courteous tone slipped and his voice sounded more like a snarl.
It was unexpectedly attractive, which was absurd. Obviously, it was a tragedy that James had lost his exquisite tenor voice. It was absurd to think that the rumble that seemed to come straight from his chest was attractive. Though it was dark and deep and . . .
Theo pulled herself together. She hadn’t even an iota of ambivalence about this decision, deep voice or no deep voice. James had enthralled her when she was a girl, but she was facing a stranger now, not her young husband. She could not live with a man like this.
“I’m afraid it is not a subject for negotiation,” she said, smiling at him just as she had when a Wedgwood designer accused her of stealing customers. “I cannot imagine that you have any particular reason to keep me here, given your stated conviction that our marriage is over. If you prefer, I could live abroad.”
“The marriage was over. But now I’m back.”
“A marriage is not an object that you can throw away and retrieve whenever you wish.” She paused, but he seemed to have nothing to say to that. “Do you intend to remain in London, or will you return to the sea?”
“I plan to remain in England.”
He seemed to be utterly unmoved by the possibility of a charge of piracy. “I’m sure your continued presence will sway the ton in your favor,” Theo said. “Of course there will be a scandal when our marriage is dissolved, but the title is such that you will obtain a new duchess in time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to attend the theater this evening.”
James took a step toward her. “Perhaps I will accompany you.”
“There’s no need.” She glanced at his attire. He looked like a laborer, brown neck emerging from a white shirt, its sleeves rolled up to show arms solid with muscle. It was remarkable how civilizing clothes could be. “You will have to visit a tailor before you return to society. If you would join me for a moment, James, I’d like to introduce you to my butler.”
He followed silently as she moved into the entry, talking faster than usual in an attempt to fill the charged silence. “Maydrop is an absolute treasure; he has done an inestimable job maintaining the household since Cramble’s retirement. Maydrop, I know that you spoke to the duke earlier today, but I wanted to make sure that the two of you are properly introduced.”
The butler bowed. James nodded.