Regency Vows: A Gentleman 'Til Midnight / The Trouble with Honour / An Improper Arrangement / A Wedding By Dawn / The Devil Takes a Bride / A Promise by Daylight

He looked up at her.

“Oh, do forgive me. That was much too strong a word.” He recognized that look in her eye too well. “I only meant that Katherine is enjoying the Season, which is as it should be. I’m certain that despite your absence so soon after the wedding, Katherine is confident of your continued love and affection, and would never do anything to cause you a moment’s alarm.”

From the moment he’d landed in a sodden mass on the deck of her ship, she’d caused him nothing but alarm. “Don’t be coy with me, Honoria. Have out with it.”

She assessed him shrewdly. “I’m certain, for example, that her new friendship with the Duke of Winston is exactly that—friendship.”

“Winston.” His blood ran cold.

“People are forming all kinds of acquaintances these days,” she said with a careless wave of her hand, and smiled. “Perhaps she is teaching him how to defend himself more effectively against a sword. Oh, now, don’t look like that, James. Murder isn’t the answer. Besides,” she added, growing serious, “this is all your fault.”

“What,” he said slowly, “is happening between Katherine and Winston?” Merely saying those names in the same sentence made him feel sick.

“Likely nothing. But one can never be sure. You must return to London and fix it.”

“Fix it,” he bit out. “As though I can simply charge into London and wave a wand and force her to love me.”

“Love you! Is that what this is about? You have a fine way of showing it, lying to her about the vote. Why in heaven’s name— Never mind. I know why. James, you are blinder than a mole. She would have accepted you if you had but asked.”

“You speak where you are not informed.”

“Pooh. I’ve never seen a woman more heartbroken than Katherine. She loves you—of that you may be sure.”

“Has she told you as much?” he demanded. “Do you have proof?”

Honoria huffed in exasperation. “Thank goodness you haven’t called for tea—most rudely, I might add—because I shall certainly need something stronger before this conversation is finished. Of course she hasn’t told me. This is Katherine we’re talking about. But it’s true. She hasn’t been pleasant company at all.”

“Irrefutable proof indeed.”

“Sarcasm is so ugly, James.” She perched on the arm of his chair. “She has one of those awful trinkets—the very one you teased me about, with your likeness.”

That awful brooch?

“She doesn’t know I saw it,” Honoria confided. “There was a drawer ajar on her dressing table, and I spotted it inside.”

“Along with myriad other odds and ends, I’m sure.”

“Why would she have it if not to possess a likeness of the man she loves?”

“Why indeed. To think how your talent for scientific reasoning has been wasted all these years.” It could have been a gift. Or a memento of her own heroic act of saving his life. “Perhaps she plans a ceremonial desecration.”

Honoria snorted. “You are an ass, James. A blind ass. It’s your choice, of course, whether to come to London and set things right, or leave Katherine and the duke to their devices. I don’t think I shall stay for any refreshment, after all—thank you for offering,” she added dryly. “The masquerade is tomorrow night, and if I leave immediately I can still get a decent night’s rest tonight. Katherine is planning to attend as a pirate, by the way. I haven’t seen her costume, but I’m told it is positively scandalous. I’m sure I shall envy it more than anything.” She reached for his hand, her expression darkening. “James, it frightens me to see you like this.”

He didn’t want her frightened. He just wanted her to leave him alone. “After years of exacting discipline, you can hardly begrudge me a few days of sloth.”

“Sloth, James? Really?” She searched him deeply, and he looked away. “You’ve slunk away to Croston the way an animal goes off on its own to die.” She was quiet for an uncharacteristically long moment.

“Go back to London, Ree. I’m fine.”

“You aren’t.”

He looked her in the eye and called up all the clarity he could muster. “I am. I’ve been looking forward to this for months and now, finally, I’m home.”

She pursed her lips. “Very well,” she finally said. Impulsively she reached for his arm. “Anything can be fixed, dearest. Have you tried everything? And I do mean everything, James.”

There was one thing he hadn’t tried. I love you. He imagined saying those words to Katherine, but could only imagine her scorn if he did.

* * *

HIS HEAD POUNDED like the devil after Honoria left. Winston! Bloody hell. He needed to return to London now. Today.

But what good would it do? It was far too late to fix anything. He’d acted with complete disregard for Katherine’s feelings—there was no way to change that now. And in the process, he’d robbed himself of ever knowing whether she might have chosen him of her own free will.

Yes! Her sharp answer shot through his head. He set his glass down and sat forward, cradling his head in his hands. If he’d just renewed his proposal instead of assuming he knew what she was thinking...

Perhaps he would return to London. God only knew what he’d do when he got there, but he would think of something. He was her husband. And he’d spent years issuing commands. If nothing else, he could order her never to see Winston again.

There were footsteps outside the library, so he called out. “Hodges! Have Finley pack my bag. I ride for London in twenty minutes.”

“Don’t know who Hodges is,” came a voice he recognized too well, “but if he was supposed to be at the door, he’s abandoned his post. Let myself in—hope you won’t hold it against me.” Winston ambled into the library as if he owned it.

James was across the room in two seconds with Winston shoved against the wall by his shirt. “Bastard! Is Katherine with you?”

“God, no,” Winston choked out. “And if you tell Lady Croston of this visit, I shall deny it. I have ten men prepared to swear I’ve been in the country inspecting a prime piece of horseflesh.”

From the sound of things, the only prime piece Winston had been inspecting was Katherine. James tightened his grip on Winston’s throat. “If you’ve touched her, I shall kill you. Honoria has told me everything.”

“Clearly not,” Winston said, shoving back at James powerfully enough to break his hold. “I had to run my horse into the brush to avoid being seen by your sister not ten minutes ago. Now listen here—” He held up a hand when James took a step forward. “Damned unsporting of you, not telling Lady Dunscore about the vote. I don’t know what you were thinking—and I don’t care—but I intend to see that you fix things immediately. This business of pretending to have an affair with your wife is playing hell with my ability to pursue legitimate amorous liaisons.”

“Pretending to have an affair with my wife?”

“I never should have agreed to such a ridiculous plan.” Winston tugged at his sleeves and stalked into the room. “Tried to tell her no, but she was so clearly aggrieved I thought it was the least I could do. Had no idea it would drag on close to a week without you turning up to call me out. And now we’ve got that bloody masquerade tomorrow evening, and I’ve been hearing talk of a pirate costume that is rumored to be de trop—and I doubt they’re referring to the volume of fabric—and quite frankly, Croston, it is indeed too much. I’m a man, not a saint, though God knows for your sake I’ve been trying. I demand to know whether you plan to come to London and call me out, or whether my sacrifices have been in vain.”

“Are you asking me to believe,” James said quietly, stalking toward him, “that Katherine suggested that the two of you pretend to have an affair?”

“God, Croston, you’re a slow one. Is that cognac over there? I could use a slosh.”

James grabbed him again. “You have no idea how satisfying it would be to obliterate you once and for all,” he said between clenched teeth.

“I’m half tempted to oblige you,” Winston drawled, “as it would extract me from my current misery. But I daresay all this enthusiasm would be much better spent between your wife’s legs. Although at the moment, one would be hard-pressed to determine that you have a wife at all.”

The temptation to bloody that curled lip was overwhelming. “Have you touched her?” James demanded.

“Only to hand her in and out of my curricle. Ride back from the park—perfectly innocent.”

“Nothing with you is innocent.” The idea of Katherine riding anywhere with Winston in anything curdled his stomach.

“The memory of my humiliation at her hand is ever with me. You’re more of a man than I am, taking that virago to wife. Good God.” Winston curled a hand around James’s arm. “If you’re going to take a swing at me, then do it. Otherwise, release me before I decide to take the initiative myself.”