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The servant nodded and hurried off without delay while Will continued to march Lydia out of the manor as if she were a common criminal. She could not bear it, but nor could she risk causing a scene.

“Will, what is the meaning of this?” Lydia hissed out of the corner of her mouth. “I have done what is expected of a duchess. I have behaved with decorum. I have not embarrassed you. The Earl of Gorsley is enormously wealthy and looking for investors in his mining endeavors. One afternoon of tea—or liquor, if youprefer—with him, and you might find your problems halved. Gentlemen talk when they dance—they cannot seem to help it.”

Will’s brow creased. “You are not my business nor my financial advisor. You are my wife. I do not need you to investigate gentlemen on my behalf. I just need you to do as you have been asked, though I see now that I was foolish to think you capable of such a simple request.”

“Idanced.You were not here. I did not know if youwouldbe here. What have I done that deserves such ire from you?”

She knew, but she wanted him to admit it. She wanted him to tell her that he was worried about her being like his mother. She wanted him to be honest with her, instead of making up silly, impossible rules that benefited only him. He might have told her that she could not expect love, and she might have been waiting to demand an annulment, but in the meantime, she knew she deserved more than this. A prison fraudulently described as ‘freedom.’

He did not reply. Instead, he continued to march her to the manor entrance and did not stop until they were outside the carriage that he had arrived in.

He wrenched open the door. “Get in.”

“Not until you let me say farewell to my sister, at least,” Lydia replied, dragging her feet on the gravel.

He huffed out a breath. “Very well.”

She smirked, believing she had won this quarrel. As such, she was not ready to fight back as he picked her up, threw her over his shoulder, and climbed into the carriage.

He set her down roughly on the squabs and closed the door behind them. That done, he sat down opposite, staring at her in a way that suggested that trying to defy him would not be a good idea.

“I told you there would be consequences,” he said. “You know what you have done. Do not feign innocence on this one. There was no bending of the rules tonight—you took a hammer to the first one.”

Lydia sat up straighter. “Youought to remember your words more keenly. I rarely forget what is said to me, particularly important information.” She paused, before affecting her deepest, gruffest voice. “One, you will not flirt with any gentleman other than myself when we are in public.”

“So, you admit it?” He was breathing hard, though she could not understand why—he had not done anything to warrant such exertion.

She shook her head. “You will not flirt with any gentleman other than myself whenweare in public.” She held his gaze boldly. “Wewere not in public.Youwere not here. Ergo, I have broken no rule. If you are to be a man of business, my silver wolf, you ought to beverycareful of how you word things. A mistake withme will not matter much, but a mistake in a contract could be disastrous.”

His expression became blank as he stared at her. It took all the willpower she possessed to keep staring right back, her posture rigid, her chin up. She still did not know what Mary had meant about ‘taking it all,’ but she had her own reasons for not letting him win. Namely, that he had just removed her from an evening with her friends and sister, stealing away the liberty that had been promised to her.

If she gave in now, she would set a dangerous precedent.

“Careful, kitten,” he said softly. “Or need I remind you ofyourwording?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“One,” he replied with a smile. “You and I will not share a bed, nor be man and wife in said bed, unless youstay out of other ladies’ beds for at least a month.”

Her frown deepened. “I see no matter with my wording.”

“This is a carriage.” He leaned forward, placing one hand on either side of her thighs, his mouth so close to hers that she could have kissed him if she had but moved half an inch. “Not a bed.”

“Oh…” she whispered, her heart racing as her body responded, not in fear or fright but in sudden and all-consuming need.

CHAPTER 21

“It is your choice,” William murmured, battling every roaring impulse to kiss her, pleasure her, satisfy her, until she vowed never to disobey again. “If you can ignore my slight oversight in wording and understand what I actually meant, so can I. If you cannot, I think it only fair that I should not either.”

Although he wanted her to follow his rules, there was a considerable part of him that felt like it might burst apart at the seams if she decided to ignore the accidentally ambiguous wording. Not that he really thought she believed the wording was ambiguous—she had known exactly what he meant, just as he did.

“I…” Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes shining with a hunger that fed his own. Her gaze flicked to his lips and back up to his eyes, fighting her own battle within.

“It is your choice,” he repeated, gripping the velvet of the squabs to resist gripping her supple flesh, so close to his fingertips.

Her hand covered one of his, her bosom heaving with the strain of the decision before her.

But it was the driver and the arrival of her carriage that halted her contemplation, the sound of the carriage wheels on the driveway seeming to startle her out of the trance she had been in. William could have cursed, but that would have given him away.