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“What happens next is this: I deal with Lord and Lady B. You go back to Warwickshire. Everything goes back to normal.”
Disappointment flooded her and she smiled on. “But Joshua—”
“It’s not your concern.”
“Itismy concern.”
She took a step toward him, and another. But an invisible wall between them stopped her from taking a third.
“I must go out into society with everyone believing that my husband committed adultery with the wife of my former betrothed.”
“So don’t go out into society. Go back to Warwickshire. Problem solved.”
“That will not do,” she said. “We must stand united before society and discredit them in everyone’s eyes. With society and public opinion on our side, they may feel pressure to drop this.”
“You believe me.”
“Yes. I do. And a wife stands by her husband.”
He regarded her for a long moment, then he was moving again, prowling around the small space, poking and prodding things for no apparent reason at all.
“Others will too,” she went on. “Lord and Lady Hardbury, of course, as well as Lord and Lady Luxborough. My aunt and uncle Lord and Lady Morecambe, and even my grandparents. We can also count on the support of the Duke of Dammerton. Of course, for the legal aspects, you will need a lawyer.”
“I have a dozen lawyers.”
“They are commercial lawyers. I suggest Sir Gordon Bell, whom I trust implicitly, as he had a long career as solicitor to many members of the aristocracy and is not without influence. Although I propose that our first step is to confront Lord and Lady Bolderwood ourselves and put an end to this today.”
He regarded her a moment. “You sound as if you’re planning a battle.”
“They attacked my family.”
“No, they attackedme.”
“And youaremy family.”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“Actually, it does.”
He threw up his hands. “This has gotten completely out of control. Ours is a marriage in name only, remember.”
“Last night—”
“Changed nothing. In name only!”
His roar was answered by the squawks of seagulls outside, and her own cries rose up inside her. Good heavens, what did this man do to her? He made her moods as wild as his own.
“Precisely,” she snapped. “I now carry your name, which means my sisters do too and so your name affects my sisters’ future.”
“Your bloody sisters.”
“And if you don’t want my sisters to be your problem, then help me get them accepted by society and ultimately married, and the best way for you to do that is to agree to my plan.”
He banged his forehead lightly against a map of London and then turned and lounged against the wall.
“You’re talking sense again,” he said. “Can’t stand it when you talk sense.”
As fast as her fury had come, it was gone, and she worked to keep herself from smiling. He had the most terrible effect on her equilibrium, and she would never understand why she found his beastly manner so charming.
