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Calliope shook her head slowly. “We will never be happy, Nathaniel, will we?”
He glared at her, angular jaw muscles working.
“We’re opposite,” she said. “I need freedom and independence. You need to know your family is safe. I will never be able to give that to you, no matter how much I might try.”
He swallowed hard. “What are you talking about? This will all be over once we find Spencer. I’ll keep you safe until then if you just hold on and stay put a little longer.”
It was time to tell him the whole truth.
She slowly shook her head, nausea rising in her stomach. “It won’t, Nathaniel.”
The concern on his face was so sharp it looked like horror. “Why not?”
“Because I have always dreamed of running my own sleuth agency. And once I find Spencer, I will start one.”
He crossed the distance between them in three long strides and grabbed her by the shoulders. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“When we agreed to marry, I asked you for freedom. Once I give you an heir or an heiress, you promised me I would be able to do whatever I wanted.”
“Within reason.”
“Reason being, I won’t have other men in my life.”
“Yes. Reason is also not putting yourself in constant danger!” he roared.
She freed herself and stepped back. “I am prepared for danger. I’m smart enough to avoid it, if I can, because I take calculated risks. I can protect myself. And men underestimate women. I will also hire other sleuths who will help. But this is my dream, Nathaniel. I’ve wanted this for years. And very soon, finally, I will have the freedom to do it.”
He shook his head. “I never agreed to this. You should have told me. Had I known, I’d never have married you.”
There they were, the words that could not be unsaid, the discussion that could not be forgotten. He had stabbed a knife straight into her heart.
She nodded. She was so stupid. Had she not fallen in love with him, this wouldn’t have hurt so much.
Fallen in love… The sensation, the realization was as crystal clear as a mirror. She loved her husband. She loved him enough to go against her instincts and sacrifice her true, independent nature for him. Try to make herself someone she’d never be.
An obedient wife.
“I agree,” she said, holding her neck straight. “We should have never married. I will never be a woman sitting behind four walls, hiding. And you can never support me in my dream.”
He glared at her, his breath accelerating with every second. He looked like he was a cauldron of water coming closer and closer to the boiling point.
She saw the moment something within him snapped. He darted to the bellpull and tugged at it.
“That’s it,” he barked. “You are forbidden to go anywhere near the docks, do you hear me?”
“Not this again, Nathaniel. We agreed.”
He pulled at the cord again several times and looked at her like he was in pain. “Will you obey me or not?”
“Of course not. We’re so close to finding out what happened to Spencer. We’ll meet that man on Wednesday, in two days—”
“That’s it.” He threw her chemise into her hands. Panic seemed to be radiating from him like body heat. “Dress. We’re leaving.”
Calliope clutched the chemise to her stomach. “Leaving? Leaving to where?”
He charged out of the room and into the hallway and yelled, “Abigail! Joshua!” so that the walls shook.
There were footsteps pounding from downstairs. Joshua appeared at first, rumpled and barely able to open his eyes. “Your Grace, is everything all right?”
