“I told you again and again that I don’t get caught when I do this.”
“You said you never have. No one ever has been caught at something until the one time when they are. And personally, Iam not willing to sit around and wait for that day to come. I’m putting a stop to this now. You will never dress yourself as a man and go out like that again. I forbid it.”
She had expected that. She would have been shocked if he hadn’t said it. Still, she couldn’t take it without a fight. “You can’t forbid me to do things,” she protested. “I am not a member of the household staff. I am the Duchess of Desford.”
“And I am the Duke of Desford,” he countered, his voice dark and dangerous. “Do you truly believe I have no power to forbid you from doing things I don’t want you to do? Would you like to test that theory? You may rest assured that Iwillstop you from going out like that again. The whole household will be informed of your activities and instructed to keep constant watch on you and to stop you if they see you doing anything you shouldn’t.”
“You’re confident that everyone will take your side in this?”
His eyes widened. “Is that why you raised their pay? Has this all been part of a long plan to buy their favor, to ensure that they would side with you when you eventually challenged me?”
She had to laugh, even though she felt no humor in her current situation. “I haven’t been scheming like that,” she said. “You flatter me, thinking me that clever. No, I was never trying to buy the favor of your staff.”
“Well, that’s good,” Leonard said. “Because you may have thrown a few extra coins their way, but I wouldn’t want you to have the wrong idea. They work here at my pleasure, and I candismiss them any time I choose. They know that. They know their positions are only available as long as they respect the orders I give them. And if anyone under my employ allows you to sneak out of the house, if any of them gives you assistance in doing so, theywillbe sent off.” He met her eyes. “That would be on your conscience. You would have deprived them of their work. So I would think long and hard before asking anyone to conspire with you in this.”
Prudence pressed her lips together and said nothing. He had hit upon the perfect tactic whether he knew it or not. There was no way she could ask any of the members of staff here to put themselves at risk just to help her sneak out. He must have realized it.
She wouldn’t give up hope. She could still find another way. But now she would have to make sure that, whatever she did, it was obvious that nobody had helped her.
He held out his hands. “Give me the clothes.”
She held onto them. “These are special to me.”
“Why?”
“I… Well, I’ve had them for a long time. I have good memories associated with them. I don’t want to give them up.”
He met her gaze. “I can understand why you might feel that way,” he said. “And it’s no pleasure to me to take awaysomething that has meaning for you, Prudence. But I can’t trust that you won’t try to sneak out again if I leave you with the means to do it. I can’t have my wife behaving in that manner.” He held out his hands again.
Prudence gritted her teeth, but she knew there was no avoiding this. If she tried to resist giving him the clothes, he would only take them from her, and he was sure to be successful since he was bigger and stronger than she was. Prudence was clever enough to know that it made more sense to wait for a fight that she might be able to win.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t hard. Handing over the clothes felt like allowing herself to be shackled. She closed her eyes briefly, expecting that he would throw them into the fire behind him, but he didn’t. Instead, he tucked them into a drawer and then turned back to face her.
“You must promise me that you will never do such a thing again,” he said.
Prudence took a deep breath. “I wish I understood why it matters so much to you,” she said softly.
“I have a hard time comprehending the fact that youdon’tunderstand. Have I been unclear in some way? Do you need me to explain in more detail the things I fear might happen if society were to catch on to these little escapades of yours? Do you want me to tell you the things I believe they would say about you? I don’t think you would enjoy hearing them very much, but if it would help, I can do it.”
She shook her head. “I’m not concerned with what society has to say. I know you are. I don’t fault you for it. But what I want to know is, how can you be so confident anyone would ever find out? I tell you I have done this for years. I have never even been noticed before. No one remembers me from one visit to the next. I don’t stand out.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
“I’ve seenyouat that club before,” she said. She leaned toward him across the desk, cocking her head to one side, and it felt like a challenge. “Do you remember that?”
“No,” he was forced to admit. “When was this?”
“Before we were married—before we met—I saw you there once with Peter. He had been in a fight with someone, and you were breaking it up. You don’t remember that?”
“I remember plenty of nights like that. You might be talking about any of them.” He ran a hand over his face. “And you don’t see why your behavior is dangerous, Prudence? Why it isn’t a good idea for you to be in places like that? You don’t see how you run the risk of putting yourself in danger?”
“I thought this was about reputation, not putting myself in danger,” she said.
“It’s absolutely both. If you were seen, you might be talked about, but you might also come to harm. And I don’t carehow unlikely you think it is. I’m not going to take a chance that something horrible might happen—either to you or to your reputation. I want you to promise me here and now that you’ll never do that again?”
“And what if I don’t promise?”
“Then I’ll have to instruct my staff to post a guard at your bedroom door at all hours of every day,” he told her. “Like I said, I have no intention of taking chances, Prudence. Promise me.”
