“Yes. I found Mr. Pepperdine’s name in your father’s old ledgers.”
“I’m amazed Ross agreed to that. He always considered himself a shrewd businessman. I would have thought he’d claim he didn’t need a solicitor.”
“He didn’t know. I hired Mr. Pepperdine with my own money, and I kept it from Ross. He made some decisions that concerned me, and I was determined that your estates, your legacy would not fade further under bad management. Mr. Pepperdine advised me in investments, and I, in turn, made innocent remarks on them when in Ross’s company so that he would invest as Mr. Pepperdine instructed.”
“You must be very close to my cousin for him to have taken your advice,” he said, trying and failing to keep the jealously out of his voice. Now that Callum was more in control of himself and able to think more logically, he understood why she had almost wed Ross, though emotionally, he still wanted to rip Ross limb from limb.
She stared at him pointedly. “I told you, I merely made innocent remarks. Ross thought the investments were his ideas, not mine. I did grow to consider him a friend, especially given the way he doggedly looked for you and seemed so devastated by your loss.”
“Didconsider him a friend?” Callum struggled to control his mounting rage at Ross, who had taken Callum’s title, his home, and had fully intended to take Callum’s wife with lies and charades.
She caught him off guard when she set her hand on top of his. He had no time to steel himself, to remind himself to feel nothing, and he felteverything. Her silken skin singed him, his heartbeat sped up and his breathing as well. He would always live only for her, but possibly never with her. Good God, the knowledge hurt.
His body jolted and senses that had been dormant roared to life. There was no way he could push her away, keep her at a distance, if he did control his desire for her. He immediately started to slide his hand out from under hers, but she clutched him. “He’s your enemy, Callum, so now he’s my enemy, too. I believe you, all you have told me about Ross and his plot.”
His entire body tensed at her words, and then it was as if a coil inside him started to unwind.Damnation. He’d been fearful.Deep down he’d been fearful she would never believe him, and now that she was saying she did, he was fearful of that, too, because it made him want to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless.
He had hurt her deeply in the past, he knew it. And even though he’d been trying to protect her then and now, she didn’t know that. He’d hurt her, wed her, and let her think it was only for her money, and then he’d returned and told her, in no uncertain terms, that he’d only wed her for her inheritance. Yet here she sat, prepared to take his word. She didn’t deserve to be wed to someone like him, but he was not strong enough to let her go fully, but damn it, he would not drag her into the blackness he now dwelled in, either.
“Callum, I intend to help you prove what Ross did to you, so we can make him pay.”
No, Christ, no. His mind rebelled at her being involved, putting herself in danger. He jerked his hand out from under hers. “So you believe what I told you that easily?” he taunted, hoping to anger her and drive her away from him.
Her gaze flickered to his hand, the one where they had cut off his ring finger.
“Ah,” he said, making his tone derisive. “You pity me.”
“No!” She shook her head. “I’m enraged by what was done to you. By what Ross had done to you.”
“I intend to destroy him,” he said bluntly. “Are you that enraged?” She paled, and he continued, intent on being ruthless so she would go away from him, as he’d instructed, go to the country where she would be safe from him. “I’m going to ruin his good name, take all he has, and then I will prove what he did. And if I cannot prove it, I fully intend to ship him off as he did me.” He had thought he could kill him, but now that his head was clear of the drugs, he knew he could not set out to intentionally murder Ross.
She paled further. Good. It was what he expected. Hell, even saying out loud that he intended to have someone put in an asylum made bile rise in his throat, but Ross would have let Callum rot there until he died. Callum wouldn’t spend his life looking over his shoulder waiting for his cousin to strike again. If proof could not be secured to have Ross put away for what he’d done, Callum could not rule out extreme measures.
“Go to Yorkshire,” he said as the silence stretched.
“No,” she replied, her voice firm. “I’ll help you destroy him and prove it, and if it comes to it, I’ll help you ship him off as he did you.”
He flinched at the thought of her associating with Ross at all. He’d never let her endanger herself like that. “You will not see him.”
“Callum, I must confront him!”
“No,” he said, instilling all the force he could in the word without shouting. Just the thought of her being near his duplicitous cousin left him cold. “I forbid it. I don’t want your help. I could have used it a year ago, six months ago, two months ago even. Where was your help then? Did you have men searching for me then?” He wasn’t being fair, he knew it, and yet, he had felt that way, fair or not. His voice had risen, and he was shaking, damn her. On the voyage from Scotland, he’d vowed to himself he would never let her know how desolate he had felt when no one came for him, how desperate. Nor the lengths he’d gone to for survival.
“Callum.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she brushed them away. “I’m sorry. I did believe Ross too easily, and I didn’t ask questions as I should have. It’s just… Well—” She twisted her hands. “You had gambled away your land and money, and so it was not hard to—That is to say—”
“It was not hard to believe the worst of me,” he said, intentionally sounding harsh, yet God knew he’d given her every damn reason to believe the worst of him. “I wed you for your money,” he forced himself to say, imagining ice, feeling cold seep into his heart and freeze it.
“Callum.” He heard the pleading and guilt in her voice. There was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to comfort her. He had to control that part of him for her. Everything was for her. Every breath. Every action. “I should not have believed Ross so easily, but let me show you now—”
He couldn’t stand to hear what she might offer. He couldn’t stand to hear it when he didn’t know if he could ever accept it, if he’d ever figure out how to fix what was broken in him. All he knew was that vengeance seemed to be his only hope, and until he had it, until he could stop the nightmares, he could not even confess his sins to her and beg her forgiveness. He had to be cruel to keep her protected. “I wed you for your money,” he interrupted again, his voice unfeeling. “I have it, so now I want you to go.”
She pressed her lips together and inhaled a long breath. Then a determined look settled on her beautiful face. “I will go.” His nostrils flared with relief. “But only,” she continued, “once I am with child. And if you break our bargain, then I will find a man who will be happy to service me.”
The idea of any other man ever touching her made him so furious, he could barely speak. But what the bloody hell did he imagine might have happened? That she would allow him to banish her to the country where she would live as a nun? Yes, he realized, shocked at himself. That was precisely what he’d hoped.
“You would not dare,” he pushed out through clenched teeth.
The expression she gave him could only be described as mutinous. “I’ll do what I must if you send me away without getting me with child.”
