Chapter One
Six Months Later
All London is abuzz with news that a certain banished Viscountess is rumored to be returning to London this very day to celebrate some recent good news with her family. While no one knows exactly why Lord W. sent Lady W. away—and almost immediately after their marriage, no less—but that she is back may indicate a thaw in his wintery heart. We will all have to watch and see what happens in this salacious tale of marital discord.
Jane shifted in her seat as the carriage came to a smooth stop at the doorstep of her beloved older sister, Alicia. Although she was thrilled she would get to see her family, she couldn’t help but be nervous. After all, she had not been in London for half a year. Not since her husband had cruelly sent her to his country estate without so much as an explanation about why he didn’t want her anymore. There had been none since her departure either, and any letter she wrote to the man went unanswered.
She shook her head as if that motion could clear the sting in her very soul. The carriage door opened and one of Alicia’s servants helped her down.
“Welcome, Lady Wharton,” the butler said as he opened the door and motioned her inside. “Your arrival has been most anticipated.”
“Thank you,” she said as she stripped off her gloves and handed over her hat.
“Would you like a moment to gather yourself, or—”
She laughed. “Cookson, I have not seen my sister in six months. I cannot wait another moment!”
The butler smiled. “Mrs. Beckford said you might feel that way. Come, they’re waiting for you in her chamber.”
Jane followed him up the winding stairs and down a twisting hall until they came to a tall door. Cookson knocked and said a few soft words into the chamber. When he moved aside, Jane took a long breath and stepped in.
Alicia sat in her bed with her husband, Charles, at her side. And in her arms, she held a little bundle, swaddled up in blankets that covered the precious face of their child.
“Darling!” Jane said as she moved forward. Alicia passed the baby to Charles, and Jane leaned down to embrace her as he stepped away. “You look wonderful!”
“I look like I had a baby two days ago,” Alicia laughed.
Jane frowned. “I’m sorry I missed the birth. That trip from Applegate Castle is awful in a carriage and there was mud on the road. These autumn storms have made everything more difficult.”
The estate where she had been banished was an isolated one. And yes, it was beautiful, overlooking cliffs and a violent ocean below it, but it was also very lonely. It had taken her months to adjust, though now it was better. She had developed relationships with her husband’s tenants and ran the estate as best she could.
She had no choice, for Colin did not make any effort to do so himself. It was like she and the estate were being punished together.
“You are here now,” Alicia said, motioning to Charles. “And this is Matthew.”
Charles smiled at Jane. “Hello, Jane.”
She laughed as she realized she hadn’t even acknowledged her brother-in-law. “Oh, Charles, I’m sorry.”
He moved forward and set the baby in her arms. “You had more important things to think about.”
He brushed the blanket aside and Jane caught her breath in wonder at the beautiful, perfect, pinched and pink little face before her. “Alicia, he’s…”
“Wonderful,” her sister said with an emotional sniffle. “Isn’t he?”
Jane nodded, unable to form any other words as she stared at the baby. She was so very happy for her sister, but deep in her heart, she felt something else, too. Pain. She had always wanted to be a mother. She’d prayed her one night of passion with her husband might result in a baby, but it hadn’t. And Colin’s cruel rejection of her made her believe that would never happen.
“You are crying,” Alicia said, reaching to touch her arm.
Charles sent the sisters a quick look, then said, “I have a bit of correspondence to catch up on after the excitement of the past few days. Why don’t I leave you to catch up?”
Jane smiled at his kindness and at the way he leaned in to gently kiss her sister before he left the room. Once they were alone, she shook her head.
“I’m being silly, of course. Babies make me emotional—who knew?”
Alicia speared her with a sharp look. “Why wouldn’t they? After all, you are being denied your right to be a mother by that bastard you married.”
Jane caught her breath. “Such language in front of your child.”
“Don’t tease,” Alicia said, her frown deepening. “You have been sequestered in that estate for half a year, and it’s ridiculous. What did you ever do to deserve such cruelty?”
Jane handed over her nephew and then got up, pacing away from mother and son as she tried to regain her breath. “I have no idea. I have reached out to Colin over and over, but he refuses to respond to me. I don’t even know if he realizes I’m in Town.”
Alicia made a little sound of distress and Jane turned to face her, finding her sister pale. “I-I don’t know how to tell you this…have you heard of the Scandal Sheet?”
Jane nodded slowly. “I’ve had wind of it in letters from friends. It’s some little weekly gossip rag that only circulates in London, isn’t it?”
Alicia pursed her lips. “No one knows who publishes it. It just shows up on the doorstep every Tuesday morning. Well, today is Tuesday and…you are featured in it.”
“What?” Jane gasped.
Alicia nodded at the table by the window and Jane rushed over to grab at the paper that had been left there. She read through it, finding the item about herself splashed across the front page.
“The gossip is supposed to be blind,” Alicia said. “But it isn’t as if that’s a difficult code to decipher. You are obviously the Lady W. to whom it refers.”
“How would someone know I was coming to London, down to the date of my arrival?” Jane asked, blinking as she read the item over and over again, like she could somehow erase it by staring at it hard enough.
Alicia shrugged. “It wasn’t a secret. I told people about it. I’m sure you told friends, too so that you may make calls upon your arrival. Someone might have mentioned it off hand or a servant could have told someone else’s servant. Who knows how the publisher of this rag gets his information?”
Jane set the paper down with a scowl. “I’m sure it’s not the first time I’ve been gossiped about since my exile. And I assume Colin gets this paper, too?”
“Everyone in Society gets a copy,” Alicia said. “So I assume his lordship does, as well. Even if he doesn’t, we would be fools to think someone wouldn’t give him the news even if he didn’t bother to read it himself.”
“Bollocks,” Jane said under her breath, then turned with an apologetic blush for her sister. “I suppose I shouldn’t scold you for language when I come in here like a sailor.”
“Matthew is a baby—he has no idea what you’re saying,” Alicia said with a reassuring smile. “But what will you do?”
“I don’t know that there’s anything to do,” Jane said with a sigh. “About this unexpected and very public humiliation or about my circumstances in general.”
Alicia reached for her, and Jane allowed her sister to take her hand. She sat on the edge of the bed, feeling Alicia’s gaze search hers.
“You’ve not seemed entirely unhappy in Applegate,” Alicia said slowly, like she was being careful to feel out the situation. “But you don’t…talk about…him. Has he truly made no effort to contact you?”
Jane covered her face for a moment. It seemed it was easier to remain distant and strong when she didn’t have to look a most beloved sister in the face. Now she felt the truth bubbling up in her. Straining to be released.
“At first I was in such shock at what happened,” she began with a long sigh. “It was like a dream…a nightmare. And I kept waiting to wake up or have him come to his senses. And then I got into a proper rage at him.”
“He deserves no less,” Alicia said with a deep frown.
“And yet I cannot forget the good times we shared,” Jane whispered. “During our courtship he was…good. Oh, he was often formal, but I saw glimpses, here and there, of a man with deep principles. With kindness. I came to care for him, very deeply. I have no idea what happened to turn that man away, but I am married to him. I still want a future and he is my only path to one, isn’t he?”
“I wish it weren’t true, but yes.”
“So I gathered myself and began to write to him. I have written the man thirteen times in the past three months. A letter a week.”
Alicia’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “And what does he say?”
Jane bent her head and tried to ignore the pain that rushed through her. “Nothing. He has not responded even once. It seems he doesn’t care what I do. So why would he care about my being here…except that I went against his decree that I would go to the country and stay there?”
Alicia’s eyes narrowed. “Someone ought to have a word with the viscount! He cannot treat you this way. I feel well enough to get up for a bit. I should march over there and—”
“Oh no, please don’t!” Jane cried. “You are hardly recovered enough for that, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Whatever affection Colin once showed for me was obviously false. He pretended to care for me before we wed and he certainly pretended it on that day. For some unknown reason, his heart is hardened toward me. There is no fighting that.”
She sighed as her mind traitorously took her to a sunny afternoon just after her wedding when Colin had been anything but cut off from her. He had made love to her and shattered her with pleasure unlike anything she’d ever imagined. She shivered at the memory.
“And what will you do while you’re here?” Alicia asked softly.
Jane shrugged. “I know where I stand, don’t I? He’s made it very clear. I plan to stay out of his way. And hope he stays out of mine.”
Colin tossed aside the little rag of a paper and clenched his hand on the table next to his plate. “She’s here,” he growled out loud.
His butler, Simmons, was standing by, checking on the food left on the sideboard, and he looked up at those words. “I beg your pardon, sir?”
“Nothing,” Colin ground out as he pushed back from the table and the food he would certainly not eat now.
He stared out the window at the sunny autumn day that seemed to have been created to taunt him. Jane was in London. It was like a shot echoing in his mind.
“Is there anything I can do for you, my lord?” Simmons pressed.
Colin glared into the window. “What is on my schedule for today?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Simmons straightened. “A meeting with Lord Grimley about the legislation you want to propose to the House of Lords, and then a lunch at your club with your cousin. You are also to meet with your solicitor this afternoon about the autumn maintenance at your estates.”
Colin frowned. All those things were important, indeed, and normally he would not let anything sway him from performing his duties and obligations. But right now he could think of nothing but that Jane was here.
And he needed to see her. No, not see her. Confront her.
“Cancel it all,” he said, spinning away from the window. “And have my horse prepared. I have a call to make and I doubt I’ll be in any mood for company once it has been completed.”
If Simmons was surprised by this sudden change of plans, he didn’t show it on his stern face. He merely nodded and exited the room with swift efficiency.
Leaving Colin to ponder what in the hell he was doing. Jane had sent him no word she was coming to London. She obviously had no interest in seeing him. He should have had equally little interest in seeing her, and yet he felt a pulsing drive to go to her. To hear her voice and smell her scent and look her in the eye as he hadn’t for six long, tortuous months.
A foolish notion, but as a husband, it was his right. And that is what he would tell her when she faced him. That and nothing more.
“Sir?”
Colin jumped as Simmons reappeared at the door. “Yes?”
“Your horse is ready.”
Colin nodded to the butler, collected his gloves and exited the house, his chin lifted and his shoulders back. He swung up on the mount and urged him forward, turning him toward the house of Jane’s sister and her husband. He had not seen either of them since the day of the wedding either. He could not imagine he would receive a warm reception.
Currently he didn’t give a damn. Jane was his only thought now. Jane and her bright eyes. Jane and her gentle smile. Jane and her easy lies.
He couldn’t forget that last bit. Not if he wanted to come out of this encounter unscathed.
It took him a quarter of an hour to ride to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Beckford, but his heart rate never slowed the entire ride. It still throbbed as he mounted the steps to their modest home and straightened his jacket before he knocked.
A butler appeared in a moment and looked him up and down slowly. “May I help you?”
Colin sniffed. “I’m aware that Lady Wharton arrived today from Applegate. I am here to see her.”
The butler shifted slightly, guard entering his expression. “And who may I say is calling when I ascertain if Lady Wharton is in residence?”
Colin held out a card. “Her husband.”
The butler caught his breath almost imperceptibly and took the card being held out to him. He cleared his throat and then stepped back, allowing Colin entrance. “Let me inquire as to the lady’s whereabouts, sir. Follow me to the parlor to wait, if you will.”
Colin shook his head as he followed the man. “You may let the lady know that if she sends you back with a claim that she is not in house, I will know she is lying and come to find her myself.”
The butler was now bug-eyed, but he nodded just the same. “Certainly, sir. I will pass along the message.”
He hustled from the room, leaving Colin to pace the chamber slowly. He had been here once, over a year ago, when he and Jane had celebrated an engagement luncheon at her sister’s home. He recalled sitting beside her at a long table, smiling as they were toasted by all in attendance. She had slid her hand into his under the table, and in that moment he had felt two powerful reactions. The first was a sense of peace unlike any he’d ever known. The second was desire that tore all propriety to shreds and made his body throb.
He blinked away the images that danced through his mind and turned to pace in the opposite direction. When he did, he came to a full stop, for there at the parlor door was Jane. She was dressed in a pretty pink gown that brought out the porcelain perfection of her skin and the honey-blonde brightness of her hair. Her blue eyes were locked on him, and she took a shuddering breath before she stepped inside the chamber and firmly shut the door behind herself.
Leaving them alone together for the first time in six long and lonely months.