Page 143 of His Forsaken Bride

Oswald’s jaw clenched. “What other reason would there be?”

Mason gave him a level look. “Because you’re not feeling happy with the way you left things with your wife.” he suggested. “Be honest. For once.”

“Trust me,” said Oswald. “You don’t want to know how I honestly feel right now.” He closed his eyes.

Mason gave a short uneasy laugh. “It can’t be that bad, surely?”

The worst thing was, when Oswald closed his eyes, he kept seeing her face from when he tore into her about that ridiculous play. She looked traumatized and for some godsdamn reason, that bothered him too. He was the wronged party here! But that did not seem to matter to his conscience, which was tearing him to shreds. Oswald massaged his temples. “I’ve already decided to send her down to Vawdrey Keep,” he said in a tired voice. “There’s nothing more to be said.”

“Oh really?” asked Mason scathingly.

“That was the original plan. I leave her at the Keep, while I carried on at court.”

“That was your plan?” his brother asked. “Then what changed?”

Oswald ignored him. “I’ll resolve things with her on my return,” he said firmly.

Mason snorted. “If she’s still there when we get back.”

Oswald looked up in surprise. “Where else would she be?”

“You rejected her,” pointed out Mason. “Publicly humiliated her – and mind, you’re not the first husband to have done that to her. And made it widely known that you don’t give a damn about her. Would it be outside the realm of expectations that she might take herself off? There was property in her dowry, I assume? People she could go to – her brother.”

Oswald stared at him. “I did not reject her,” he said forcefully. “I merely told you that I planned to send her to Vawdrey Keep on my return.”

Mason shook his head. “And you think she would have been unaware of this decision?”

“I never said one word to her about it,” insisted Oswald.

“She’d know,” said Mason. “If we could all tell you’d gone cold on her, then you can your life bet she would have.”

Gone cold on her? “I never said I didn’t give a damn.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “You may as well have.”

“Fenella’s more straightforward than most women,” he said obstinately. “She doesn’t misunderstand every little gesture or remark.”

“You mean she’s used to being treated like shit,” said Mason.

Oswald stopped in his tracks. “What?”

“That’s what you said, wasn’t it? By Thane and her brother.”

Oswald narrowed his eyes at his brother. “What are you doing?” he asked softly.

“I’m pointing out the blatantly obvious.”

“And, what is that exactly?” asked Oswald in a dangerous voice.

“You need to treat your wife better.”

Oswald exhaled noisily. “Mason, you’d better watch your step. You know nothing about my wife.”

“I know she was humiliated, and on the verge of tears watching that bloody play you made her sit through.”

“And how would you know that?” asked Oswald sharply.

“Because unlike you, I was actually looking at her.”