“Don’t even think of it.” Quint stepped closer, but Madeleine jumped between them. He spoke over her head. “Your place is here with me.”
Catie gave a bitter laugh. “There’s nothing for me here.”
Quint wanted to reach out, grab her, and shake her until she saw sense. “What are you blathering about? I’m here.”
“No, you’re not.” She thrust her hands on her hips. “You’re never home. Why, it’s taken you two days to realize that I’m leaving you!”
Quint opened his mouth to protest, but he was speechless. She’d been planning this for two days? As he watched, she pushed past her cousin to stand nose to nose with him. She was proud and strong and brave, no trace of the fearful Catherine he had first known.
“And now you’ve come home.” She poked his chest. “And you expect me to jump to do your bidding. Well, I won’t. I’m leaving.”
Quint narrowed his eyes and restrained himself from gripping the finger she poked at him and hauling her away with it. “Are you saying you want a divorce?”
“I don’t care. I’m leaving. I’m going to—” She glanced at her cousin.
“The Americas,” Lady Madeleine provided.
“That’s right. I’ll leave for the Americas and start over.”
Quint leaned close to her, not touching her, but his face only inches away. “You are not going to the Americas. You’re staying here with me.”
She glared at him. “Make me.”
He growled, prepared to do just that.
“If I go, you can have your divorce and then marry Elizabeth. It’s what you’ve wanted all along anyway.”
Quint’s brain felt twisted and hazy. “What the devil are you talking about?” Why didn’t women ever argue logically?
Suddenly Lady Madeleine was pushing them apart. “Now, just a moment.” She put her hands up. “Let’s not say or do anything we’ll regret later.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” Quint said, and Lady Madeleine rounded on him. Quint took a surprised step back.
“That’s right, sir. Keep stepping back.”
“I think it’s time for you to go home, Lady Madeleine.”
“Not until Catie is happy. No one does anything until everyone is happy. We must fix this mess.”
“But I don’t want anything fixed,” Catherine protested. “I have a long trip ahead of me. I want to get some sleep.”
“Then you’ll go to sleep in my bed,” Quint said. “You’re my wife.”
“Not for long,” she shot back.
“Goddamn it!” Quint started for her, but Madeleine was between them again.
“Why don’t we all sit down and talk this through,” Madeleine suggested. “Catie, you sit there at the dressing table. Lord Valentine, you take that blue armchair.”
Quint watched as Catherine took a seat at her dressing table, and he grudgingly moved toward the armchair. He sat slowly, and then Madeleine said, “Good. Now, the most important thing is finding a way to bring the two of you back together.”
Catherine glared at her. “Why would we want to do that?”
Maddie glared back. “Because it’s obvious you’re miserable without one another.”
Quint straightened. “I am not miserable.”
“Oh, hush,” Madeleine said. “You are miserable, and Catie is too. She hasn’t slept for crying so much.”
