“Love?” Leonard repeated, feeling as though he couldn’t quite keep up with the conversation they were having.
“Love means a great deal to Prudence. Well, I’m sure you know that,” Peter said quickly. “I’m sure the two of you have discussed it.”
“I do know,” Leonard said. “Go on.”
“She said I shouldn’t give up hope that I might find love someday in the future with Lady Rosamund”
“Lady Rosamund?”
“The lady I love,” Peter said.
“This is the first I’m hearing of any love of yours!”
“That’s where I was the whole time I was gone,” Peter explained. “After your wedding—well, slightly before—I went into seclusion, and I realized that I was in love. I’ve spent the past few months writing letters to Lady Rosamund, trying to win her affections to no avail. I’m afraid she can only see me as the rake I once was. I meant to stop pursuing her and take refuge in an alliance with Prudence, but Prudence feels I shouldn’t give up. She seems to think one should never give up on love.”
She does think that.A pang of guilt hit Leonard. Prudence would never have given up on the two of them. She would never have allowed Leonard to walk away if the choice had been hers.
Perhaps the choice should have been hers. Perhaps we would still be together.
She had signed this annulment paper—but she had done so believing that it was what Leonard wanted. She had done itbelieving that she was doing him a kindness, giving him a chance at happiness when it had been taken from him.
And suddenly Leonard knew that the most important message Prudence had given him was not the annulment. It was the words she had spoken to him through his brother.
We can never give up on love.
“I have to go and speak to her,” he said, picking up the papers at last. “I won’t sign this document. Not yet. Not until I’m sure that it’s what she wants from me.”
“I had a feeling you might say that,” Peter replied. “My carriage is still ready. We can go now if you’d like.”
Leonard grabbed his cloak. “Then what are we waiting for?” he asked. “Take me to Desford Manor. I have to win my wife back.”
CHAPTER 38
Prudence leapt to her feet as Leonard burst into the sitting room. “Leonard! What are you doing here?”
“It is still my house, isn’t it?” Leonard asked her. “Or do you intend to take my home from me when this marriage is annulled?”
It was such an unfair thing to say that for a moment Prudence simply froze, unable to answer it. When she found her voice, it felt as brittle as ice. “No, of course not,” she said. “You won’t have to worry about that. I’ll be out of your house and out of your hair in no time at all. Of course, that’s what you wanted all along, I’m sure—to have me gone. You thought you’d be happy to go and live in the country and let me have this place, but you’ve discovered you’re not willing to giveanythingup. You must keep your country house, and you must keep this house, and the only thing you can stand to let go of is the wife you never really wanted. Isn’t that so?”
“I’m surprised to hear you speak like that.” He moved slowly into the room and took a seat by the fire. Not in the chair he usually liked best but in one that tended to be reserved for guests. Prudence wondered whether his intent was to hurt her, sitting in that chair. Then again, what could she do if it was?
“I don’t know why you’re surprised,” she managed eventually. “Did you think that wasn’t how I felt about all this? Did you think you would be able to waltz back into this house and that I would be sweet and humble about all you’ve put me through?”
The truth was that she’d had every intention of being sweet and humble about it. She had signed the papers meaning nothing more than to give him exactly what he wanted. She didn’t relish the thought of seeing him trapped in a marriage that clearly made him unhappy. That was what both of them had dreaded. If there was a way for him to have his freedom, she wanted to give him that, both out of kindness and because she genuinely cared for him.
But seeing him had done something to her, had sparked an anger she hadn’t been ready to deal with. How could he march back in here and act as if she had been the one to do something wrong when she meant nothing more than to help him find his happiness? Had he always thought so little of her?
“Why are you back?” she asked, taking her own seat. Unlike him, she did choose her favorite chair, and she was perfectly willing to concede that she was trying to send a message in doing so.This is my home. The comforts here are my comforts.
Was he really going to try to take the house from her? Surely, he didn’t dislike her enough to do that, did he? This was about reclaiming his freedom, not punishing her. But maybe he wouldn’t feel truly free until he was able to return to the life he’d had before knowing her. She would have to move back in with her mother and father and begin her life anew.
And this will be one scandal too many. Even if I did want to marry again, which I’m not at all sure that I do, I doubt anyone would have me now. There can be no recovery for my life.
“I came back because I needed to speak to you,” Leonard told her.
“About what?”
“About the annulment papers. These things do require conversation between the relevant parties.”
