Chapter 2
Chapter Two
“You’ve no idea what you’ve done,” Nash ground out the minute Laura left the room.
Algernon laughed heartily.
“This isn’t funny,” Nash growled.
Algernon wiped at his eyes. “Come now, brother. This is best for all of us, especially the children, and Jasper.”
“What has Jasper to do with you giving my wife carte blanch? She can’t be trusted to stay,” he promised, utterly furious with her for coming back now—and looking so damn appealing.
“Sophie would never abandon those children without knowing someone was looking after them,” Algernon warned.
“Like my wife did so easily,” he ground out.
“Come now. I doubt it was easy for her at all. Laura left them with her nursemaid and us, and you could have stopped her going if you’d tried,” Algernon claimed.
Nash shook his head. “How could I have stopped her when she waited until we were all gone from the estate to leave?”
“Well, if Father had been here, she’d have never escaped,” Algernon warned. “You could have gone after her.”
“What good would that have done?” he asked but turned away, stomach still in knots from his first sighting of his runaway wife.
Laura looked remarkably unchanged, but defiant, despite the years he’d been sunk in misery after she’d departed.
Algernon was silent for a few long moments. “Tell me you didn’t want her to go.”
No, he hadn’t wanted that. Not really. Nash turned back slowly to face his brother. “Father was difficult about her.”
Algernon crossed the room to thump him on the shoulder. “You blithering idiot. You did want her to leave? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did not want her to leave me, or the children the way she did.” He sighed and dropped into a chair near the fire, the one Laura had just vacated. “What I wished for then was for Father to keep his nose out of my business with my wife.”
“Well, this is a damn mess we can’t avoid dealing with anymore,” Algernon warned.
“Honestly, it is not all bad. Now that I know my feelings about the marriage are reciprocated, I will continue with my pursuit of a divorce with or without your support. I accepted the responsibility of Laura’s daughter, so she will not fight me on the issue. She obviously hates me.”
“A divorce will only make things ten times worse. Think of the scandal. Think of the money that must be given back.”
“She’ll get the money owed to her somehow, and she’ll be happier,” Nash promised, tilting his head back to look at the plastered ceiling instead of facing his brother’s gaze.
He’d never made Laura happy and probably never could. It had taken today’s events, losing a governess to his brother and learning he’d been cuckolded, to make him understand he did not inspire loyalty from women.
“And what about the children? They need their mother.”
“I never thought she’d stay away from them for so long. I imagined she’d at least try to see them, but…”
“But she didn’t. She had no friends left in the district once Father had finished maligning her character. No one would have dared help her.”
“Yes,” he said uneasily. Laura had not come home, even for the funerals of her last relatives. She’d hidden herself far away from all of them. Despite Algernon’s suggestion, he had tried to find her for a time, but without success.
“Well, some part of her family home must still be livable because I rightly guessed that she had been camped out in the ruins. There was mud on her boots. We must look into that.”
Nash was curious about that, too. The adjoining estate where Laura had grown up had fallen to further ruin after the fire that had destroyed it. Her late brother’s will had not been found, so the matter of who would inherit the estate, and repair it, remained uncertain. “ I will look into it. He was my brother-in-law.”
“Jasper might stand a better chance of finding out something from her about a likely location of her brother’s last will and testament. They were close once upon a time,” Algernon suggested with a smirk. “He’s also had more to do with her while we were gone than he revealed, too.”
“Yes, that seems obvious to me as well,” Nash agreed, grinding his teeth over that betrayal. Being the last to know his wife had borne someone, a stranger, a daughter, burned. “Despite her claim otherwise, Laura forsook her marriage vows. Perhaps Jasper can find out who I can name in the divorce.”
Algernon settled opposite him. “Are you sure the child could not be yours?”
He shook his head, bitterness welling. “I never saw Laura again after she left the estate. The child cannot be mine.”
“But doesn’t she look so much like the other pair at that age?”
“Yes, there is a similarity.” But then he shook his head firmly. “The child was born when? Last winter? So conception must have taken place the spring before that. I did not see Laura last year at all. I was in London for the season with you.” He gulped. “We had not been intimate since she left me the year before that.”
There’d only been one occasion in that time when he’d shared a bed, a settee really, with a woman, and Algernon did not need to know about that indiscretion. Nash himself had broken his vows, the very night he’d first considered the pursuit of a divorce.
A beguiling woman had singled him out at a London masquerade at the end of the season, and amid the darkness and indulgence of too much wine, he had succumbed to his loneliness with her. It was a night that he was still ashamed of, and he’d been so drunk he could barely remember much of the event, or her, besides the uncontrollable need to kiss her.
He hadn’t been looking for company or a woman to please. But that night, he had been swept away and satisfied in a manner he hadn’t been for a long time. Not since Laura, in fact. The woman disappeared before the unmasking, so he’d never found out who she might have been.
“So you’ve made love to no one since Laura then?”
“Yes,” Nash lied.
But around the time he’d been in bed with a stranger in London, Laura must have been cuckolding him with some other man somewhere else. A man who’d no doubt felt as lucky as he’d always felt when Laura had turned to him in the dark and welcomed him with open arms.
The way his lover had done that night in London.
He shut his eyes, remembering that night with sharper clarity—and then opened them wide in shock. “Devil take it!”
His lover had been determined to keep her mask on at all times and told him to close his eyes…and today Laura had sworn the child was his.
Could the lady who seduced him last year have been Laura?
He raked a hand through his hair, astonished he might not have recognized his wife in the dark.
Algernon drew closer, smirking. “I gather you recall a forgotten rendezvous?”
He sat down, shocked. “My wife seduced me.”
“I imagine she enjoyed that,” Algernon murmured, failing to hide the merriment in his tone.
Nash ground his teeth and snarled, “Oh, she did. She was satisfied beyond the shadow of a doubt, even as drunk as I must have been.”
Laura had made a fool out of him! She’d kept him enthralled beneath her the whole time they’d made love. He also recalled being denied his release, even when he pleaded for it, and there had been such desperation in the end that his control had suffered.
The guilt he’d carried over that indiscretion was slow to ease from his chest. It had been a night of pure, unadulterated wickedness that never would have happened had he had his wits about him.
But the next moment, he thought of all he’d missed because of that one careless, decadent night, and his anger returned full force. “That witch,” he growled.
“Nash, you cannot be angry with a wife who could not keep her hands out of your trousers,” Algernon whispered. “Drunk or not, it took your willing participation to make that child. Congratulations. It will be quite the novelty, having a niece to play with.”
“A daughter I never planned for,” Nash added.
Yes, he was as much to blame for Isabelle’s existence as Laura. He had unbuttoned his own trousers. He would never forgive himself for that. “I would have wanted to know about the pregnancy. To be present for the birth, as I had been for our sons. I would have wanted to have been first to hold my daughter.”
“Given your new clarity and admissions, there is no further debate needed,” Algernon said. “ I will record Isabelle’s name in the family bible, and Laura will be afforded all the rights and privileges as a member of this family as she always should have been. That includes pin money and unrestricted access to her children at all times,” the duke announced. “You cannot play the tyrant.”
“When have I ever?”
“Or play the victim to me instead. You know what you are like. Stomping and glaring when you don’t like what you hear. You always have trouble letting go. You like things neat and on a schedule. Laura has always been more impulsive than you. You will have to start again with her and share the burden of your decisions.”
“So we can divorce?”
“So you can exist with peace in your hearts. A divorce might solve one problem between you, but you will continue to be the parents of three impressionable children. It would not do for them to see you both constantly bickering. You remember how Mother and Father were? I do not wish that childhood on anyone.”
Nash’s heart hurt as he thought of his youth. The anxiety and constant fear of failing to meet high expectations. Trying to please two demanding parents who were constantly at war—even after Mother died.
History had already repeated itself with him and Laura. His impossible wife. In arm’s reach for only a short time and still so far beyond him. She hadn’t changed. She possessed the same curves that had always appealed to him, even when he could not see her face, apparently. Same unruly brown hair, always ready to escape its confinement. He had loved to toy with her locks as she slept after the rush of lovemaking was over. To feel the tension leave them both at the end of a long and trying day.
Her eyes were the same dark shade of brown, but flinty and distrustful when she regarded him now.
She used to smile more.
He met his older brother’s gaze and shook his head. “You’re wrong to keep her here.”
“Thirty days is not a lifetime sentence.” The smile fell from Algernon’s face. “Would you rather I drive her away immediately instead? To be as cruel as Father and keep you so out of things so that we never know what was going on here? That would solve everything for you, wouldn’t it, if she’d have just slunk away or even died?”
Nash’s eyes widened. “I never said I want her dead.”
“If looks could kill, she’d be done for today. I did not think it possible for you to act as cold and unfeeling as Father was, but damn it, brother, it is a day of celebration and damned if I will be as miserable as you.” Algernon shook his head. “Who could imagine Jasper and your governess would fall in love? She’s perfect for him, though. And Laura coming back is perfectly timed, since they seem to want to run off together. My heart is infinitely lighter for seeing Laura again. How can you not feel more?”
“I don’t know what I feel,” he admitted, unaccustomed to revealing so much. Laura was a subject that only led to an argument between them.
“No matter what I said today in front of Laura, I will not support this divorce. The resulting scandal would destroy us.”
“You mean destroy you ,” Nash murmured.
“Me, us, what difference does it make?” Algernon said. “We are a family. Our successes and failures reflect on each other. People whisper about the sorry state of your marriage already and a divorce will ensure the gossips’ tongues will never lie still. Think of how the women of the family will fare, too. Win, Amity, Sophie and our other female cousins. Instead of having the favor of society, they will be drawn into a scandal with you and Laura. Laura will be the only one spared, because if you divorce her, I can almost guarantee she will disdain society.”
Nash nodded, agreeing with him.
“And you, the man I have depended on my entire life, will become a pariah. Wanted nowhere when I need you most of all. Any match I might want to make will be indelibly tainted by talk of your divorce. I cannot imagine Lady Stephanie Kent wanting anything to do with me, should you go through with your plan. And as you have so often pointed out, we need her money rather desperately.”
Nash ground his teeth, annoyed that he agreed with all of his brother’s assessments of what a divorce might do to their standing in society and attempts to fix their financial woes. The latter was why Nash had chosen Sophie to be his next bride.
Sophie would have inherited some funds one day, and he’d thought she would not want to take part in the London season to be whispered about. But it seems he never really knew Sophie, either. Her heart had been claimed by Jasper while Nash’s back was turned.
“Perhaps you should have wed Lady Stephanie when you had the chance.”
Algernon threw his arms wide. “How was I to know what you intended? I’m not a mind reader. Nor is your wife, thank God.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Hadn’t you just finished telling us you wished to marry Sophie? Seeing your wife standing side by side with the woman meant to replace her can only be described as bloody awkward for me.”
Nash winced. For himself, as well. He’d been rather stunned and had not known what to say to Jasper. “I was unaware of Jasper’s interest in Sophie when I unwisely spoke of my plans earlier. Did you know about them?”
“No, but it makes sense she would be the one to turn his head. He’s always liked a challenge, and he found fault with the governess almost since the day she arrived. Your talk of marrying her upset him when we returned, and at the time, I thought it was only on Laura’s behalf.”
“Yes, he was unusually opinionated today,” Nash mused. In fact, Jasper had never once spoken his mind so clearly before. He had changed while Nash hadn’t been paying attention.
“Jasper has made his choice. You’ll have to accept the match graciously, though it’s obviously not what you hoped for.”
Nash nodded. He had to let the idea of a second marriage go for now, too, most likely. He should wait until Algernon was finally wed before proceeding. Nothing was turning out the way he’d expected.
“Take a moment to get your bearings. It’s clear to see that Laura’s return has upset you, so get over that as soon as you can,” Algernon suggested. “Emotions are running high all over today. Gads, we both need a drink.”
Nash refused a glass and looked down at his clenched hands. He needed to keep his wits about him.
Algernon had always been far more agile than him when it came to the unexpected. Gentle when he needed to be, a battering ram when required. Nash needed to focus on what he could do, not what he wanted to do. Laura would be at Ravenswood for only one month. He could try to make peace with her, for the sake of their children.
Algernon moved away, leaving Nash staring at his fists. He uncurled his hands slowly. Some time ago, he had removed his wedding band out of necessity. But the mark, the depression, was still there on his finger, and he rubbed at it now, as he often did when he thought of his wife.
He had not handled the moment of seeing her again very well, but he’d never been at his ease around his bride. Not outside the bedchamber, anyway. In bed, he knew exactly how to behave.
Seeing her again had been a great shock.
But he should make an effort to be civil while Laura remained under the same roof as him. But if she was to resume her adjoining bedchamber, he would have to prevent any further attempts at seduction on her part. That was a threshold they should never cross again.
Three children were more than enough for a marriage that was in tatters.
His marriage to Laura had been awkward from the start. Sudden matches often were. Laura, at seventeen, had been beautiful and accomplished, but their father had wished for her to become Algernon’s bride and the future Duchess of Ravenswood, rather than Nash’s.
Everyone had expected that match—until the last moment.
When Algernon had suddenly vowed he’d never marry, just to spite their father, Laura had quickly agreed to a marriage to Nash, the spare, to avoid any embarrassment and damage to her reputation.
He closed his eyes, remembering the terror of the moment when he’d proposed in Algernon’s place. It had been a stormy night and that should have been an omen for how they would live as man and wife. He’d been so nervous about getting the unexpected words out right, but Laura hadn’t seemed to notice his clumsiness. She’d agreed with a soft sigh he’d mistaken for contentment.
Unfortunately, their married life had failed to meet her high expectations in almost every respect bar one. He had given her the children she’d said she longed for. Only to have another by him in secret. “How long have you known about the girl?”
“I didn’t.”
Nash pursed his lips. “Why did you lie about knowing, then?”
“I was attempting to delay a discussion about her adultery until you’d recovered your composure. However, clearly she did nothing wrong, nor did you.”
Nash could feel his face heating. “So you really believe she is mine?”
“Isabelle looks much like the other pair did at that age,” Algernon mused. “I can’t imagine another man would have shared Laura’s bed. She never seemed the type for half measures. Father was quite wrong to blacken her character the way he so often tried to do.”
“Father distrusted all women,” Nash murmured.
“I was always grateful we never had sisters after I saw how he behaved toward Laura,” Algernon said. “But now he’s gone and we’re overrun with females.”
Nash hunched a little at the observation.
It shouldn’t matter that theirs was not an expected match, but it always did to him. The marriage had served its purpose. Father’s purpose was all that had mattered once. What remained of Laura’s dowry had gone to the dukedom now, though. He would be repaid one day. His oldest son would inherit, should Algernon fail to marry and produce legitimate heirs. Thomas and Liam had always been the duchy’s insurance against such a thing.
Laura had not agreed with him about that…not that she’d ever agreed with him about anything after Liam had arrived.
He turned as he heard a thump to find Algernon had left the drawing room and was halfway up a ladder in the library, stripping book after book from the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and talking to himself.
“Where the hell is it?”
He hurried across the hall to offer his help. “What are you looking for?”
“The legal books Father used to keep behind his desk to hit us with. I had them all put up here when I took over.”
“They have been in my book room since the day after the funeral.”
Algernon slid down the ladder and turned to glare at Nash. “You were planning the divorce even before we left for the summer house party?”
“Of course I was,” he admitted. “This is not a rushed decision, but a long-considered one.”
“Well, go fetch those and any other volumes you’ve appropriated. I’ll be much too busy in the coming weeks to chase all over the house after them all.” When Nash did not move, Algernon barked, “Go!”
Stung by the manner of his dismissal, a reminder of how Father had talked to him, Nash stalked off toward the other side of the palace. He was grateful, though, to have a chore that did not require him to think beyond the immediate future because his mind was in a whirl and might never settle again.