“We aren’t in love with each other,” Prudence objected.
“No, we’re not. But should we be condemned to loneliness?” he asked. “When there is hope for us to find an enjoyable future together? Why shouldn’t we have that?”
“Well… because I’m already married,” Prudence pointed out. “If you had approached me this way from the start, I might have agreed to it. You’re right that it doesn’t sound bad at all.” She gave him a smile. “But how could I possibly agree to this now, given that I’ve already taken vows? I’m married to Leonard, for better or worse.”
“But if Leonard was willing to annul your marriage,” Peter suggested. “Wouldn’t that be better? Just think, Prudence. You could be married to someone who was willing to build a life withyou. You could marry someone who would spend his days with you instead of fleeing to the country. And wouldn’t that make you happier?”
Prudence felt cold. “Why are you asking me this?” she wanted to know. “It’s all an imaginary idea, isn’t it? All made up. Why are you coming up with this story now?”
“Because it isn’t imaginary,” Peter said, leaning forward across the table to look her in the eye. “I’ve spoken to Leonard about it, and he has agreed.”
Prudence was shocked to her core.
He agreed?
Leaving her for the country was one thing. Even refusing to grow close to her she could understand. But telling his brother that he would annul their marriage?
Why would Leonard do such a thing?”
“You…y ou must really want this to have asked him to annul our marriage,” she managed, feeling like the words were gravel in her throat.
“My brother has always gone to such lengths to provide for my happiness,” Peter explained. “I want him to be as happy as he wants me to be. It’s my priority in this life.”
And marriage to me makes him unhappy. That couldn’t have been stated any more clearly.She closed her eyes briefly.
She’d believed that a distance from Leonard might actually be a good thing for the both of them. She had told herself that there was a possibility she could find happiness once he was gone. But this—this was more than she could face.
After everything, he wants to cut the bond we have to one another. He wants to end our marriage.
She couldn’t deny him. He had tried as hard as she had to make things work. It was an unfortunate truth that they had simply gone beyond help. And Prudence was far too proud to remain where she knew she wasn’t wanted.
“Very well,” she said. “I want Leonard to be happy too. I’ll agree to the annulment if that’s what will make him happy. You’re right, Peter, and so is he. Leonard and I should never have married.” She swallowed hard. “But once our marriage is dissolved, I won’t marry you.”
“Do you still think so little of me?”
“It isn’t that at all,” she said quietly. “You seem to be a good man, in spite of my initial misconceptions about you, and I would like to see you find happiness. You are in love with someone else. You believe today that she’ll never love you, but you might be wrong. You can’t give up. You can’t marry me because things don’t appear right now to be going the way you want them to. You have to keep trying. And as for me—I will never againmarry out of necessity or out of hope of avoiding something unpleasant. I doubt I will marry again at all. Perhaps, one day I will find love, and if that happens, I will say my vows. But unless that day should come, I’ll never accept another husband. She rose to her feet. “Once this marriage has been annulled, I will either marry for love or not at all.”
CHAPTER 37
“The solicitor is here with the annulment papers,” Peter said. “You have only to sign them, Leonard, and you will be free of this mess I’ve gotten you into. And you will have my most profound apologies for having ever done this to you in the first place, brother. I know how thoughtless I was. It has been an awakening for me, I assure you, to see you marry on my behalf. You should never have had to do it.”
The solicitor came into the room, papers in hand, and set them down on the desk. He retreated and stood with his back against the wall. “Your Grace, if you would like to review these now, I can certainly take them away with me when I go,” he said. “If you need more time with them, I can come back tomorrow. Either way, these proceedings will not take long, now that we’ve begun. The whole thing can be finished in a matter of days. I’m sure you are more than eager to see it come to a close.”
Leonard looked up from the glass of scotch in his hand at the papers on the desk, but he made no move to touch them. “She signed the papers, then?” he asked, ignoring the solicitor andlooking instead at his brother, who had taken the empty seat in the room.
“Oh, yes, she was happy to do it,” Peter said. “It was easy to persuade her.”
The smile on Peter’s face was kind, but it was hardly the jubilant expression Leonard would have expected from a man who was about to marry. An unpleasant bitterness stirred within him. Peter was going to take Prudence away, and he wasn’t even excited about it. He didn’t even appreciate what he was going to have.
I have no right to be bitter. I’m the one who left Prudence, not the other way around.
“It’s not uncommon for ladies to agree quickly to annulments in situations like these,” the solicitor put in though he had not been asked for his opinion. “When a lady knows what awaits her, it’s common for her to embrace it and to want to move ahead quickly. It’s no great shock that she was ready to go ahead without delay, Your Grace. Though if you need more time, again, you ought to feel free to take it. From a practical standpoint, there is no rush here.”
Leonard felt nauseous. “I suppose, then, that she never cared who she was married to,” he said. “She never cared that it was me. She will be more than happy to be married to you in my stead, Peter. It’s for the best, then.” At least he was discovering all this now. At least he was learning now that he had meant nothing to her before he’d had the chance to fall any deeper inlove with her. He had to admit that he had not expected her to agree to the annulment so quickly. He had thought she might delay or even argue. She was no stranger to argument.
Apparently not. Apparently she couldn’t sign the papers fast enough. She was ready to be rid of him. That was obvious. He reached for the papers.
But Peter was shaking his head. “No,” he said. “She isn’t going to be married to me.”
