“I needed the day to myself to process everything,” he said, his voice tight. “I’m here now. So, you can accept what I’m saying or not. I’m not going to force you. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Is there something else you need, something you’re afraid to ask me for? Or are you simply saying these things out of a desire to make me pay for the way I have treated you so far?”
“I’m not trying to make you pay for anything.” She frowned. “Why would you think that?”
“I think you’re upset about everything that happened today, and you’re taking it out on me,” he told her. “That’s why you’re acting as if you’re angry with me right now. That’s why you seem frustrated with the fact that I’m trying to be kind to you. Maybe I have that wrong—but I don’t believe I do. I think I have the measure of you, Prudence. When things don’t go your way, you lash out about it. And that’s what’s happening here.”
“If you’re going to speak to me as if I’m some sort of errant child, you can leave my room right now,” she told him firmly.“I can’t make you respect me enough to spend time with me on my very first day in your home, but I will not tolerate being spoken to with disrespect, and if that’s the way you’re going to communicate with me, I will bid you good night.”
To his own surprise, Leonard felt a smile breaking across his face. “You know, I think I’m going to like living with you,” he observed.
“I don’t think I’m going to like it very much,” Prudence shot back.
“Well, you won’t have to tolerate it for very long,” he told her.
She frowned. “Won’t I?”
“No. I have to stay here with you for long enough to make things look good, of course, but not forever. I have a house in the country, and in a few months, I will go there. You will have this house, and the staff you met today, all to yourself. You won’t have to put up with seeing me anymore.”
“You’re saying…” She shook her head as if trying to process what she had heard. “You’re telling me that it’s your intention to move to the country? To leave me here in this house on my own?”
“I know you aren’t going to tell me now that you have a problem with that as well.”
“I don’t have a problem with it,” she said. “But it surprises me. This is your house after all, and it is not my intention to throw you out of it.”
“You aren’t throwing me out of anything. I am choosing to go,” he said. “It’s important that we make sure all of society perceives us as living here together—enjoying a honeymoon phase to our new marriage. But once that is over, we will be free to go our separate ways. This union is legally binding, of course, and neither of us needs the scandal of a failed marriage on top of everything else. But there’s nothing so scandalous about a gentleman living in the country while his wife remains in the city. We’ll come up with a story to explain our separate lives, and people will believe it. And in the meantime, you and I will each be able to live as we’d like, without worrying about the other. Now, how does that sound to you?”
“It… well, it sounds too good to be true to be perfectly honest with you,” Prudence admitted. “Are you sure this is what you want, Leonard? I won’t deny that having that kind of freedom sounds wonderful to me, but I can’t quite see what’s in it for you. Why would you want to leave your home?”
“I like my country house,” Leonard told her. “I will be just as happy there—happier, perhaps.” That was almost certainly true. He had always enjoyed that house, and now more than ever, he liked the idea of being out of the city and away from the pressures he faced here. He didn’t want to deal with the things he knew that society would say about his sudden marriage, even if there was no way that people could know for sure what had happened to warrant it or where Peter had gone. This was London society, and people would begin making guesses soonenough. He didn’t want to listen to all of that. A part of him felt badly about leaving her to deal with it of course, but she had brightened noticeably at the revelation that he would be leaving the city, so he suspected that she was going to be all right with the way things were going, even if it took some time.
“Are you sure about this?” Prudence asked. “It really isn’t my intention to drive you away.”
“You bear no responsibility for my choices,” he told her. “And yes, I am sure.”
“Well… then I suppose we just have these few weeks to get through together,” she said. “And after that…”
“After that, I will be gone, and you will be on your own,” he agreed. “Does that please you?”
“I won’t deny that it does.” Her chin lifted slightly. “I think it will be best for both of us.”
He nodded and rose to his feet. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
CHAPTER 9
“So how are you settling in?” Arabella asked gently, raising her eyebrows at Prudence across her cup of tea.
Prudence sighed. “It hasn’t been easy,” she confessed. “I wish I could say that it had been. I’m trying to make the best of the situation because I know there’s no benefit to anyone in me digging in my heels about it—although I’m sure you know Iwoulddo that if I thought it would make a difference.”
“Of course, I know,” Arabella said with a warm smile. “I’ve known you all your life, Prudence. You’ve never been one to go easily into anything. Even if it was something you wanted, you would resist it, just out of sheer stubbornness. To tell you the truth, I admire the fact that you’ve accepted the situation you’re in as easily as you have—I wouldn’t have expected you to do so, and I think it’s admirable of you.”
“Well, I think you might be giving me a little too much credit,” Prudence admitted. “I went to the Duke’s house willingly enough, yes, and I’m going to be his wife and live up to whatever responsibilities that turns out to include. But I don’t think either of us—Leonard or myself—would say that I’veacceptedit. And neither has he.”
“What do you mean?” Arabella asked, leaning forward. “I hope you don’t mean to say that things have been unpleasant between the two of you.”
“Unpleasant would be putting it mildly. It would be more accurate to say that we can’t stand the sight of each other.”
“Oh, Prudence.” Arabella sighed. “I’m sorry it’s been so difficult. But that won’t last forever! Soon enough, the two of you will grow used to each other, and you’ll find it easier to be in his company. You’ll see. It will be different once you’ve adjusted to living in his house.”
“I don’t think so,” Prudence countered. “That might be true if we were intending to live together for any significant amount of time, but Leonard has made it clear that that isn’t a part of his plan.
