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“He’s scum,” Miles said contemptuously.

Lord Wharton might be scum, but he was her scum. Besides, it didn’t matter. Her husband thought she was scum as well, so why bother defending her actions? All the same, she couldn’t stop herself from trying to explain again.

“When Regina entered and saw you with the baby, I wasn’t manipulating the situation, as you seem to think. I just … I just spoke from the heart. Belle is my baby.”

“You spoke impulsively? What a surprise.” He narrowed his eyes.

“I think you’ve made your point as regards my lack of forethought,” Daisy said, her jaw set. She wasn’t infatuated anymore; in fact, she hated him.

“How angry are you?”

“Very,” she stated.

He sighed.

“Oh, did you want me to lie to you?” she asked sweetly. “I’m sorry, I’m clean out of falsehoods at the moment.”

“We can talk tonight,” Miles repeated. He was at the door, but turned and walked back. “After we consummate our marriage.”

Daisy looked at him in disbelief.

He shocked her by pulling her into an urgent, hungry kiss. Despite herself, Daisy opened her mouth, loving the taste and the smell of him.

It was probably their last kiss, so she tried to memorize every sensation: the slight prickle of his beard under her fingers, the hungry heat of his mouth, the way his big hands cupped the back of her head.

He smelled like safety and home.

Yet it would break her heart and her spirit to stay in a broken marriage, one in which the husband felt like a prisoner, trapped by his wife’s falsehoods. In which he looked at her with such scorn and distaste.

The mortifying truth was that she deserved his distaste. She had lied. Her mother had been right. Her virginity wasn’t enough to make up for what she did to Miles, and now his rage would be between them forever, especially after his interest in bedding her waned. She could already feel him fighting the desire that flared between them.

She pulled back, looking at his broad jaw, the blade of his nose, his distrustful eyes. Her heart felt as if a skewer had gone through it.

“This is exactly what I asked you not to do,” she whispered.

“Kiss you? More the opposite, as I recall,” he drawled. He straightened, pulling his hands through his hair.

“I asked you not to make me feel despised and unlovable.”

“Surely you didn’t think that I would happily accept the news that you had lied to me?”

She was such a fool.

He agreed with her assessment: she saw it in his eyes. She could not stay here, loving a man who despised her …

Perhaps especially because he had every right to.

EPISODE ONE HUNDRED AND TEN

ESCAPE

Twenty minutes after Miles left her bedchamber, Daisy made her way down to the entry of Devin House. Belle was wrapped in her satin-trimmed blanket and tucked in the crook of her arm. Ada followed, carrying Belle’s basket, which now held a jewelry box and a bag of rusks.

Hobbs was wringing his hands. “The master’s had no sleep, my lady. He’s got a tiger’s snarl when he’s exhausted, but he didn’t mean whatever he said.”

Daisy managed a smile. “Our marriage was a mistake, Hobbs. A rash, impulsive blunder, but one easily solved by an annulment. I’d be grateful if you’d have my clothing sent back from the country. Please tell Lord Devin that I left a letter for him on my dressing table.”

“Shall we return to your mother?” Ada asked, as Mrs. Bretton handed her a satchel containing nappies and baby clothing.