“—Consummated,” Cassian finished, giving him a fleeting look. “I know the law as well as you do. I am a man of voracious appetites, Ben. Two months of celibacy will kill me before the damned period ends.”
“Eh, I don’t know about that…” Ben gave a sidelong glance. “What happened when you took that trip to Italy? You were gone for five months.”
“I had… friends in Italy,” Cassian said.
“Friends…” Ben’s eyes narrowed. “Or aparamour.”
Cassian’s shoulders slumped as he stood. “What difference does it make? I won’t be going that way again.”
“…She asked for a commitment,” Ben threw at his back. “Didn’t she? And you told her you could not give her one.”
“I told you,” Cassian looked over his shoulder. “We rakes have a natural immunity to such things. Now, will you join me for a coffee while we straighten out this marriage agreement?
CHAPTER 4
“Lady Cecilia,” Gabriel’s old butler, Mr. Sumner, bowed, “Welcome. May I help you?”
“I need to see His Grace, please,” she said while undoing her bonnet, “I will not take long.”
The man’s face was unnervingly stoic as he clasped his hands behind his back. “I am afraid His Grace is otherwise engaged, my lady. But, please be free to come another day.”
As he spoke, a maid came out from a corridor behind him, holding a tray with a teapot and three cups.Three? Who was Gabriel hosting?
“Tell me, Mr Sumner, who is he seeing at the moment?” Cecilia asked bluntly. “And please do not lie to me. You have been too good to me to become a liar now.”
The man’s face fell. “…Lady Ophelia Hawthorne and her friend, Lady Henrietta Ashbrook,” he said at last.
Cecilia’s stomach plummeted, but she notched her chin higher. “Well, I’ll make it quick. You do not have to announce me, Mr Sumner. As a matter of fact, I would prefer if you did not.”
The man nearly tripped over his feet as he followed her up the stairs, his tone frantic. “My lady, I would advise against this. Please, let me find another time for you to visit—”
“There is no other time,” she said as she headed down to Gabriel’s study, glad that she had chosen to wear her maize cashmere walking dress. “Because after I leave this house, I will not step foot inside it again.”
“My lady, please—”
“Save your breath, Mr. Sumner,” she said as she reached out for the brass knob on Gabriel’s study. “I am not reconsidering.”
Gabriel’s study, decorated in French baroque, was a substantial chamber that was at least forty feet long. As she stepped in, the light laughter paused, and Gabriel, who was in the middle of reaching for Ophelia’s hand, spotted her. He darted from his seat as if he’d been burned.
“Cecilia,” he announced. “What are you doing here?”
Casting a flickering look at the two on the loveseat, Cecilia said, “Well, I can see that it took you no time to replace me, did it?”
His face hardened. “You are not one to talk—” he moved around to his desk and pulled out a drawer, “—not with your seduction of Tressingham.”
“I did not seduce anyone, but that is beside the point,” Cecilia said as she slipped the diamond from her finger. Dropping it on the table, she slid it to him.
“I am not here to quibble about semantics. I only came here to return this. Clearly, I will not be requiring it anymore. And from the pearl ring, the size of an egg on Lady Ophelia’s finger, I suppose you will not be using it again either.”
Gabriel’s face tightened. “That is your fault, isn’t it? You were clinging to Tressingham like a limpet on a ship.”
“No,” she said calmly. “It’s not. I can stand here and plead my innocence and that the note I’d mistakenly sent to him was supposed to be handed to you from now to Judgement Day, but I’d be wasting my breath.
“You never intended on marrying me. I know that. But what I cannot forgive is myself for allowing you to play me like a marionette on a string. I should have demanded more of you, but I guess that is uncouth of a lady, isn’t it?”
“I hope you have a wonderful life, Gabriel,” she said, turning to Ophelia. “And send me an invitation if hedoestake you down the aisle.”
Spinning on her heels, she walked out, brushing by Mr. Sumner who was spluttering how he had tried to stop her. In the lobby, Cecilia donned her bonnet and coat, then stepped out of the ducal home, feeling an unknown burden tumble from her shoulders.
