“Have you lost your mind?” Iris wrenched free from his grip. “We can’t just disappear. What will people think?”
“I don’t give a damn what people think.”
“Well, I do!” She moved to the door, but he stepped in front of her. “Your Grace, move.”
“Not until we talk.”
“Talk?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Now you want to talk? After you just humiliated me in front of half theton?”
“I didn’t humiliate you.”
“No? What would you call dragging me away from a perfectly innocent dance like I was some wayward possession you needed to collect?”
“Innocent?” The word tasted bitter. “There was nothing innocent about the way Richmond was looking at you.”
“And how was he looking at me?”
“Like he wanted to devour you.” Owen stepped closer. He was unable to help himself. “Like he was imagining what you’d look like without that dress. Like he had any right to even think about touching you.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“Am I? Because from where I stood, it looked like he was doing his damnedest to seduce my wife right in front of me.”
“Seduce me?” She shook her head in disbelief. “He was asking about Evie. About you and Nicholas. He wasn’t trying to seduce anyone.”
His face fell. “What did he say about Nicholas?”
The sudden sharpness in his tone made her eyes narrow. “Why? What are you hiding now?”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“Aren’t you? Because Richmond seems to think you and his brother were quite the pair. All those travels, all those women.” She stepped closer and stared at him down the length of her nose in challenge. “Is that what this is about? You don’t want him to tell me about your sordid past?”
“My past isn’t sordid.”
“No? Then why won’t you tell me about it? Why all the secrets and deflection?” Her voice rose. “What are you so afraid I’ll find out?”
“You want to know about my past? Fine.” He closed the distance between them. “Nicholas and I traveled. Yes, we drank too much and gambled too much and often acted like idiots. But I never touched another woman after I married you. Never even looked at one. So, whatever Jasper implied?—”
“He said Evie looks exactly like you.” The words burst out of her. “That she has nothing of me in her at all. He said blood will tell.”
Owen went still. “He said that?”
“Is it true?” Her eyes searched his face. “Is she yours? Have you been lying to me this whole time?”
“You think I’m lying?” Disbelief battled with hurt inside his mind. “After everything, you still think?—”
“I don’t know what to think!” She threw her hands up. “You keep me in the dark about everything. You disappear for days at a time. You have secret meetings with God knows who. How am I supposed to trust you when you give me nothing?”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“From what? From the Duke of Richmond? From the truth?” She laughed bitterly. “Or from finding out that our entire marriage was built on lies?”
“Evie is not mine.” Each word came out hard and precise. “I have never betrayed our vows. I have never?—”
“Then why won’t you tell me the truth?”
“Because the truth is dangerous!” he snapped. “Because Nicholas was murdered, and I think Jasper did it. Because Evie is evidence of something Jasper wants to keep hidden. Because every time you get close to this mess, you put yourself at risk.”
