Page 118 of The Matrimonial Advertisement

“What legal documents? Is this about my inheritance?”

“This has nothing to do with money. It has to do with this arrangement between us. This…marriage. It was a mistake. There’s a means to annul it. I’ve signed the necessary papers. Finchley can explain the details.”

He offered her the letter and she took it, too numb with shock to do otherwise.

“I won’t ask anything from you,” he went on in the same businesslike tone. “Indeed, it’s better we cease communication from this day forward. It will make it easier for the both of us to move on from all of this.”

All of this. He meant their lives together. Their friendship. Their marriage.

She looked up at him, searching his face for some sign of emotion. “Why are you doing this?”

“I would think that’s abundantly clear.”

“Not to me, it isn’t.”

Justin gave a low growl of frustration. “Need I lay it out for you? We come from two different worlds. There’s no reconciling them. Not now. Not ever.”

“What does any of that matter? When we’re back in Devon, at the Abbey—”

“You’re not listening to me. I don’t want you with me at the Abbey. As of this moment, you are no longer part of my life. If ever we meet again—an event which I think highly unlikely—it will be as polite and indifferent strangers. Which is exactly as it should be, my lady.”

Helena pressed a hand to her midriff. Her breath hurt. It felt as if he’d struck her. “You said you wanted me.” The mortifying words came out in the veriest whisper. Too faint to even inspire a blush in her cheeks.

His gaze slid away from hers. “As any man with blood in his veins would. You’re a beautiful woman. There’s nothing more to it than that. Had you more experience of men, you’d understand.”

“But you and I are friends, aren’t we? More than friends.” She was beginning to sound desperate. God help her, she was desperate. “It was to be my decision. When the danger was past, when I was free to make a choice.”

“We have nothing at all in common, my lady. A friendship is no more possible between us than any other sort of relationship.” He inclined his head to her. “I wish you happy.”

She caught his sleeve as he moved to leave. “You said you’d go to the ends of the earth for me.”

“I have done. I went to Abbot’s Holcombe. I came to London. Places I had no inclination to visit.”

“Then why did you? Why did you do any of this?”

“Duty,” he said. “But that’s at an end now. Your uncle’s gone. Wolverton’s your ally. You’re safe and free to continue your life as it was before.” He gently removed her hand from his coat. “Goodbye, my lady.”

Helena watched, eyes blurring with tears, as he crossed the parlor. “Wait!” she cried when he reached the door.

Justin stopped but didn’t turn around.

She took a step forward. “What about my brother? Will you still make inquiries?”

He gave a curt nod of acknowledgment. “If I hear any news, I’ll convey it through Finchley.”

And then he was gone.

Helena sank blindly down into a chair. Her heart and lungs contracted in a misery of erratic beats and tortured breaths. It was a physical pain, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

He didn’t love her. He didn’t care for her at all.

A wrenching sob caught in her throat. She felt hot tears spill from her eyes. She bent her head, letting them fall unchecked. Only when she finally raised her hands to dash them away did she realize she was still clutching his letter. She stared at it, uncomprehending.

After a long moment, she wiped her eyes and opened it, but inside was nothing more than legal papers and a terse note from Justin saying only what he’d already said before.

Our marriage was a mistake.

I won’t ask anything from you.