Dickie sighed. “But if we restore the balance that has been upset, then forgiveness will quickly follow. Trust me on this, Caro. There is nary a scandal I do not know how to lessen.”
“And Max is… in favor of this?” She could barely get the words out, her heart clenching as her chest squeezed tight, making it hard to breathe.
Dickie leaned forward, his expression sympathetic. “He knows it is inyourfavor.”
What does that mean?Caroline concentrated on Powder Puff, distracting herself to hold off the tears that pricked at her eyes. But with every stroke of her palm across the soft, white fur, more questions bombarded her mind. Did that mean Maxdidcare but wanted what was best for her, yet again? Did that mean Max didnotcare and had jumped at the first excuse for an annulment? Was his agreement reluctant or insistent? Had he tried to protest? Had he been waiting for an opportunity?
She thought back to the awful day thatshehad suggested an annulment. Max had not seemed keen then, choosing to ignore the fact that she had said it all. She had been grateful for that, but now she wondered if she had planted a seed in his head that had finally bloomed into this.
Perhaps, I am looking at this the wrong way.Her heart twinged.Perhaps, this is the kindest thing thatIcan do forhim.She had caused him enough trouble, had she not? He had been so generous, so noble, so righteous, and so determined to be responsible for her.
Maybe, it was her turn to return the favor—to set him free before she fell in love completely. For she could think of no fate worse than loving someone, getting close to someone, and having themdistance themselves because of something she had done. And Maxwouldpull away again, further than before this time.
She knew because he already had.
“Very well,” she said quietly. “Tell him that… I agree. Let us undo what I did.”
But I will take sole responsibility for this. I will do this my way.She did not yet know how, but if she had to separate from Max, then that would be it. Her dream would be over, once and for all. She would make sure of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
As fate would have it, gaining an annulment was easier said than done. It had been three days since Max had petitioned the archbishop, who had more or less told him not to expect a swift response or the response that he sought.
“Annulment is not something to be taken lightly,”the white-haired man had said with a haughty look in his eyes. “I do not take it lightly, considering it means the severance of the sanctity of marriage. I will read your petition, of course, but I can make no promises. You have no notion of how many of these I receive, and very few are granted.”
What the archbishop did not understand was that Max did not take it lightly at all. It had taken all the willpower he possessed to go into the meeting with the old man and to hand over the letter of reasons why an annulment should be granted. He had hated writing every word, hated seeing Dickie and Caroline’s names together, hated that he had to paint her in any other way but wonderful.
The only thing that had held his resolve steady was the memory of seeing her shine at every ball and party they had attended when they arrived in London. According to Dickie, if Max did not pass her into Dickie’s care, she would lose all of that. There would be no invitations to gatherings, no new friends to be made, and fewer gentlemen would be eager to do business with Max—she would be a pariah, and that was the last thing Max wanted for the woman he cherished.
“Let me bear this for you,”Dickie had said in earnest.“I have caused you no end of trouble, but I will not watch everything you have built come crashing down because of me. The truth cannot be put back in its box, but what has happened can be remedied.”
How losing the only woman he had ever pictured a future with was a remedy, Max did not know, but he trusted Dickie on matters of scandal. If Dickie promised it could help Caroline, then Max’s own feelings did not matter. He would simply return to Harewood Court, throw himself into his work, and buy three or four dogs to help him forget what had been. Whatmighthave been.
Picking at a luncheon of fresh white bread and sharp yellow cheese, accompanied by apple slices that tasted like bitter regret in his mouth, Max looked up as a knock sounded on the parlor door.
“Come in,” he said, knowing there was only one person who could be calling upon him. Max had not told anyone else wherehe was temporarily residing until the annulment business had been taken care of.
Dickie breezed in, eyeing the plate on the table. “Struggling without a full complement of staff, are we?”
“I have no appetite,” Max replied gruffly.
The apartments in Marylebone belonged to the former Duke of Harewood, though Max had never used them. He had been meaning to sell them ever since he inherited but he was grateful that he had hesitated. Although he would have been lying if he had said they were not in rough shape, and with his own staff at the townhouse and Harewood Court respectively, he had been fending for himself.
“Well then, let me put you out of your misery.” Dickie strolled forward and dropped a letter onto the table in front of his brother. “Your freedom has arrived.”
Max shot a dark look up at his brother. “You read it?”
“No, but it has the archbishop’s seal,” Dickie replied, scraping back a rickety chair and perching on it.
Expelling an anxious breath, Max tiptoed his fingers across the stained tablecloth and took up the letter. It felt heavy and important, the wax making a satisfyingcrackas he broke the seal. But as the minutes ticked on, he sat frozen, unable to open it.
I do not want this.The words rang as clear as a bell in his head.
“It will not bite you, Max,” Dickie teased. “What are you waiting for?”
Max suspected he was waiting to wake up and find himself back at Cedar House after the storm, with Caroline safely wrapped up in his embrace, curled into his side, realizing that this was all a nightmare.
“Let me.” Dickie grabbed the letter and began reading before Max could stop him, his eyes glancing from left to right at a rapid pace. “Well… that is disappointing.”
