Page 73 of So Wild A Heart

“I am sorry,” he said inadequately. “But I cannot lie to you. You would not want that.”

“I do not want this!” Anger contorted Leona’s face, turning the soft, sensual lines into something harsh, and she made a sweeping gesture with her arm. “You are throwing me over for that—that—stupid, whey-faced American trollop?”

“She is not a trollop!” Devin’s temper flared.

“How dare you.” Leona shrieked. “I am Leona Vesey! Half the gentlemen of the Ton want me! You should be honored that I let you into my bed. I cannot believe—after all the years I spent on you! I could have had anyone, you know, and I chose you. There are scores of men who wanted to displace you over the years. All I have to do is snap my fingers, and they will come running.”

“I am sure you are right,” Devin said, reining in his temper. “Any man would want you.”

“Don’t patronize me!” Leona’s lip curled, and the words dripped from her mouth like acid. “You are such a fool, Dev. I don’t know why it should surprise me. Men are always fools. You’ve found a new toy. She’s shaken her hips at you and rolled those eyes, all the while acting as if she thinks your silly little paintings are great works of art. Now you think you will be a good husband and stay up here in Derbyshire, drawing and fornicating with that American ninny. Hah! In two months you will be dying with boredom. You will wake up one morning and realize what you’ve done. And you’ll want me back again. You can’t ever get me out of your blood. I own you, Dev. I have since you were eighteen and a flat straight from countryside.”

Devin looked at her, his eyes cold and flat. “You never owned me, Leona. I loved you. There is a difference.”

“Oh, please. You would have done anything I asked you to, and you know it. Because you wanted to be in my bed.”

“Is that all you think it was?”

Leona shot him a speaking look. “The only reason you married her, if you will remember, is because I wanted you to. I teased and enticed you until you would have done anything I said. Think about it, Devin. Your little milk-and-water miss won’t be able to satisfy you as I can. You’ll miss it. You know you will. And you’ll regret it. You will come crawling back to me. But you know what? I won’t be here. You will have missed your chance.”

Devin looked at her levelly. “No, Leona. I won’t be back.”

He turned and strode out of the house. Mounting his horse, he rode home to Miranda.

17

Miranda did not see Devin when he returned to the house that afternoon. She was still in Elizabeth’s room, watching over her stepmother. To her surprise, Elizabeth had not yet awakened by late afternoon, so Miranda continued to stay beside the bed. Her anxiety grew as the afternoon turned into evening and Elizabeth was still deeply asleep.

Veronica relieved Miranda for a couple of hours, but she was only fourteen, and it was hard for her to sit still, so Miranda returned to take up her vigil. She didn’t understand why Elizabeth still had not awakened, but it did not seem like a good sign. She told herself that it was only that the vomiting had simply worn her out. It was good to sleep when one was sick; it gave the body a chance to heal itself. But she could not suppress the feeling that there was something unnatural about Elizabeth’s long nap.

She rang and told the maid to bring her supper to Elizabeth’s room. To her surprise later, when there was a knock on the door and it swung open, it was her husband who carried in the tray containing her supper, not a maid.

“Devin!” Miranda exclaimed with delight, rising and going to him. “What are you doing here?”

“When they told me you would not be down to dinner, I decided to bring the tray to you myself. I haven’t seen you since this morning.”

He set the tray down on a low table and glanced over at the bed where Elizabeth lay motionless. “Is Mrs. Upshaw very ill?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Still, it concerns me that she has not awakened yet. I thought I would stay until she does.” She smiled up at Devin and reached out to take his hand. “I will miss seeing you at dinner, however.”

He smiled and brought her hand up to his lips. “I, too.”

Miranda wondered whether Leona had visited him at the abbey, but she could not bring herself to ask him straight out. “How did your work go today?” she asked instead, hoping that would lead naturally to his mentioning Leona’s visit.

“It went well, once I got started.” Devin started to say something more, then hesitated and glanced across the room at her sleeping stepmother. He raised her hand to his mouth again and kissed it, saying, “I will not disturb you. I only wanted to see you. I will talk to you later.”

“Of course.”

He left the room, and Miranda sighed in frustration. She wished she knew what he had been about to say. She wished she knew whether she had won the challenge she had thrown at Leona, or lost it—and Dev—in the process.

Around ten o’clock, her stepmother woke up, mumbling incoherently, then opened her eyes and glanced around in a confused way. Miranda got up and went to her side.

“Elizabeth? How are you feeling?”

Elizabeth blinked at her groggily. “I—where—why are you here? Oh, I remember. I was ill, wasn’t I?”

“Yes, and you have been asleep all afternoon. Are you feeling better?”

“I’m not sure.” Elizabeth closed her eyes again as if was too much effort to keep them open. “I’m so tired.”