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Ainsley practically shot up from the chaise. “No!”
Royal blinked.
“I appreciate that you want to protect me,” she said. “But I’m not afraid of him.”
“She’s afraid for you to hear the truth, though,” the marquess said as he snapped shut his snuffbox and stowed it away.
Ainsley tried to ignore him, focusing on her husband. “Could we please do this without an audience?”
The marquess let out a soft laugh that made her want to shove him off a very high cliff.
Royal drew Angus aside and quietly issued some terse orders. Although his grandfather objected, Royal steered him from the room and firmly closed the door. Then he urged Ainsley to return to the chaise, standing behind her and resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“All right,” he said to Cringlewood. “Say your piece quickly and then get the hell out of my house before I throttle you.”
The marquess sized Royal up with a faint smile. Ainsley recognized that canny expression—he was looking for a chink in her husband’s armor.
“I take it that Ainsley failed to admit how she was more than willing to have relations with me,” the marquess finally said.
She again shot to her feet. “That’s a lie.”
Royal gently pressed her back down. “Cringlewood, I’m on a very short leash. If you value your life, never again refer to the outrage you perpetrated on my wife.”
The marquess looked briefly disconcerted, but then shrugged. “Fine. I have advised Ainsley that she must end this ridiculous marriage and return to London. It is in everyone’s best interest that she do so.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Royal snapped. “That’s in no one’s interest but yours.”
“You’re wrong, Kendrick, because I will sue her family and your family for breach of contract. My lawyers tell me I have an excellent case. And given the size of the marriage settlements previously agreed upon, I assure you I intend to pursue very large judgments. Then there’s the scandal, of course. Extremely embarrassing for everyone.”
Royal’s hands tightened on her shoulders. “Marriage settlements?”
“Oh, didn’t she tell you? The contracts for our marriage were negotiated, witnessed by lawyers, and signed before Ainsley foolishly broke our engagement.”
Ainsley had to struggle to hold back the rising tide of panic. She twisted in her seat to look at her husband, who was clearly taken about by Cringlewood’s declaration.
“It . . . things might be a bit more complicated than I originally suggested,” she stammered.
He stared down at her. “The contracts were actually signed?”
“I’m afraid so,” she weakly replied.
His reaction was understandable. Marriage contracts were legally binding documents, almost as binding as the marriage ceremony itself. Once the papers were signed, some couples didn’t even wait for the wedding day to consummate their relationship, seeing themselves as already bound. The marquess had certainly made that assumption, even though Ainsley had not.
Breaking such a negotiated settlement made one vulnerable to a breach of contract lawsuit. In the eyes of the law—and of the polite world—Ainsley and her family would be perceived as the guilty party, deserving of whatever legal and social sanctions were imposed on them.
Breach of promise suits, while rare, could be ruinous.
“Why didn’t you tell me the contracts had been signed?” Royal asked her. Frustration seethed beneath the quiet tone of his voice.
“I thought it unlikely . . . I hoped he would never do something this insane,” she said. “Especially not once you and I were married.”
Her husband clamped his lips together and shot an angry look at the marquess.
“So you see, Kendrick,” Cringlewood said with a smirk, “I can and will make your lives a misery, if you do not comply. But there is a simple solution. Ainsley departs this house today, and in six weeks one of you sues the other for adultery. Given that your marriage is obviously a sham, it should be an easy decision to make.”
“Our marriage is not a sham,” Ainsley snapped. “It’s a true marriage in every way, I assure you.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Royal flinch. When she glanced up at him, his gaze flicked away from her.
