Edith took a step toward Nancy. “What if I became Duchess and they fell into my care?”
CHAPTER 37
“The role would never suit you,” Nancy defended, standing her ground even as the governess took more steps toward her. “Not because of your station in society but because of your treachery.”
Edith glanced at Adrian. “Lord Eastmere did offer to make me a duchess if I helped him dismantle the order in Scarfield Manor.”
“I did not know you had your sights on my husband.”
“On the title,” she corrected, once more proving Nancy right for suspecting her from the start. She had no time to entertain Edith’s nonsense; thus, she turned to Adrian.
“What did you hope to get out of all this?”
He gave a mocking little bow. "My darling Nancy.You, of course." He took a step closer, lowering his voice to aconfidante's murmur. "Where do you suppose all those flowers and poems have been coming from?"
She gaped at him. "You?"
"Very clever," he said, hands loose at his sides, as if he were about to break into a waltz. "You never noticed, did you? Too busy with your precious Scarfield. Too busy pretending you did not know how much better you could have had it." He let out a brittle, sharp laugh. "I always said you were too clever for theton. But it seems you have a blind spot for the obvious."
Nancy's shock ebbed, replaced by disgust. "How dare you? What have I ever done to you?"
Adrian's expression darkened. "You see, that is the whole of it. You never saw me. Not once in all these years. Not at your debut, when I danced every dance propriety would allow me. Not in the drawing rooms, or at the lectures, or even at your own mother's salon. And then, to make it perfect, you go and marry the one man in London I cannot outplay. Scarfield." He grimaced at Oscar's title as if it were a physical blight on his tongue. "You never even recognized me when Scarfield reintroduced us. I suppose you've danced with so many gentlemen, I faded into the shadows along with your inconsequential memories of them."
"That is not true," Nancy spat. "You are not forgettable. You are—" She stopped, at a loss.
"A disappointment? A ghost?" Adrian suggested, stepping nearer. "I would have taken a ghost, Nancy. Instead, you mademe a joke." His hand shot out, and before Nancy could react, he had her wrist in a grip that cut straight to the bone.
She gasped. "Let go of me."
"Is this what you wanted?" Adrian hissed. "To watch men crawl for you, only to toss them away?"
"You know nothing about me," she managed, her voice shaking.
He loomed in, breath hot and sour. "I know you chose Scarfield. I know you would always choose him, even if he were a monster. Even if I offered you the world."
"I would," Nancy said, clear as a bell. "And I have no regrets. In every lifetime, I would choose him. You are nothing to me."
For a split second, she saw the raw wound in Adrian's eyes. Then his face twisted. "You belittle love with your actions, Nancy. You make it a thing of shame."
"You disgrace it," she shot back, "with your cowardice and betrayal."
Adrian's hand found her jaw and forced her face up to his. "What happened to you calling me Adrian, eh? Why so formal now, love? I will show you what true love is."
He bent his head, mouth a snarl, and Nancy recoiled. She tried to scream, but he crushed her jaw between his fingers. She thought she might break.
And then Adrian was gone. Yanked backwards with such force he struck the tiled floor, sending a potted fern flying. Oscar stood above him, his eyes wild, fist cocked.
"Do not touch my wife," Oscar said, and with an efficiency that bordered on artistry, punched Adrian in the mouth.
Nancy sagged, fear evacuating her limbs. Oscar turned, catching her before she could slide to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her, checking her face, her wrists, her ribs. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, unable to speak.
Edith was already backing toward the door, her mask of composure gone. As she reached the threshold, a tall man blocked her path. "Going somewhere, Miss Mercer?" he said, and Nancy recognized Harvey, Oscar's solicitor.
A constable—Nancy guessed by the uniform, though she had never seen one up close—entered behind Harvey and promptly hauled Adrian off the floor, pinning his arms with casual disdain.
Oscar kneeled in front of Nancy. "Are you sure you are not hurt?"
