Parton supervised her dressing, which was just as well since Gwen was in such a state as to hardly know her own body.Every part of her felt new and tingling. The gown set off the emeralds. Her hair was piled high on her head and dressed with tiny diamond clips that sparkled in the firelight.When it was time to go, there was a knock on the front door of her room. Parton opened it and her husband stood, framed in the doorway, staring at her.She turned in a circle before him. When she faced him again, his eyes devoured her. ‘Magnificent.’ He complimented.‘Do I please you?’ She asked shyly‘Very much so.’ He took her hand and stroked it before bringing it to his lips. Then he escorted her to the carriage, handed her in and seated himself across from her.She glanced at the seat beside her and wondered why he chose to be so far away.As if reading her mind he answered, ‘Parton’s handiwork will be safer if I keep my distance from you, my dear.’‘In what way?’‘In the privacy of this carr

Everything had been going so well; the evening was not going to end like this. There had to be a way to stop it. She wouldfind Authur and beg him to take her home. She doubted that Archie would bother to ruin her if her husband was not thereto hear the story.She searched the ballroom, the card room, and other surrounding rooms, but Authur was nowhere to be found. Time was running out. She must come up with another plan. You could meet him, suggested a small voice in her mind, and let him do his worst and be done. No one might be the wiser. It was what Lady Danbury would have done.‘No.’ She said it aloud. She would not meet him, not to preserve any more secrets from her husband. She would die first.If someone must die, why must it be you? said the matter- of-fact voice in her head. You are only a foolish girl, trapped in circumstances. But Lord Archie—he is the one who trapped you. He is evil. And while he lives, he will be a danger to,you, and to your husband, the man he longs to

He was in trouble. He knew it in his bones. It wasn’t the misery that ate at him, or the loneliness. He’d grown used to it.It was the feeling that a change was coming. The sense that something wonderful lay just around the corner, only to see his hopes dashed and to find he’d given his heart to a woman who did not want him.‘Good morning.’ She’d come into the breakfast room so quietly that he hadn’t heard. And her voice was hoarse, as though she’d cried herself to sleep after creeping back to her room in the night. Unable to rest, he had gone to the library in search of the brandy bottle and when he returned she was gone from his bed.‘Good morning,’ he responded. What else could he say to her? What apology could he offer? What explanation could he give that would take the bitterness out of this morning?She’d come into his life, unwilling. He’d laughed to himself that his mother had chosen the perfect bride, a woman just as unhappy as he was. It would be a case of like drawing to li

His tone was dry. ‘Very well. You do not prefer my brother to the workhouse. And where do I stand? My brother thinks I’ve spent ten years in the fleshpots of Europe without learning to appreciate a beautiful woman when I find one under my own roof.’‘Beautiful?’ The word echoed in her mind.‘Gwen.’ He smiled and touched her lip. ‘There is a statue in a Paris museum, of a Greek goddess. I visited her often, since the sight of her made me want to climb the plinth and lick the marble.And when you stand in the doorway with the light illuminating your body, I detect a startling resemblance.’‘Oh.’ She squirmed under his weight.‘Am I making you uncomfortable?’‘No,’ she murmured.He released her wrists and slid off her body to lie beside her, his hand resting on her hip so that she could feel the warmth of it through the fabric.‘Of course, you have many other qualities that I find admirable.’‘Really?’ She suspected that he was teasing, but was at a loss as to why.‘You have a quick wit a

‘What are you doing here?’ She tried to keep the quaver out of her voice.‘Waiting for you.’‘How—?’‘—Did I come here? How did I get in?’ He smiled, and it was the same cheerful grin he’d used to woo her. His tone,was light, but the glint in his eyes was deadly serious.‘It is not so hard, once you have the keys. Mrs Martha still hates you, you know. But she was always quite fond of me. She’s working at an inn on the main road. When you let her go, you should have thought to ask for the second set of keys. She was most forthcoming with them when I wanted them.’‘And what—?’‘Do I want from you? Why don’t you stop asking questions and let me finish, Gwen. For that is what I want. To finish the business between us.’‘There is nothing between us. We are finished, Archie.’Her voice gave lie to the words.His held the same annoying confidence. ‘I beg to differ.We are finished when I say we are finished.’She turned to grab for the door handle and saw, out of the corner of her eye, the p