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“I wouldnotallow that,” he said in a strangled voice.

“Do you believe that you couldstopme?” she asked incredulously. “Do you believe that I would obey you?”

“That was?—”

“Our wedding vows, I know!” she snapped. “You have reminded me of them often enough, but I can assure you that I intend to see my family, regardless of whether you like it or not. If you refuse me, I will slip away when you least expect it and in the most embarrassing way possible.”

He clenched his jaw and thought of the newly filled decanter of brandy. Maybe it was foolish of him to have expected that Catherine would leave him at peace in his study. William should have anticipated her eventually invading his refuge. Where could he go now that she had?

“You cannot expect me to simply exist here and accept all this without complaint,” Catherine said. “I need more time, and whether you like it or not, I have a right to that. I am a human being, and I have feelings.”

Her words were nothing special coming from the woman who argued with him so often and so eagerly, but for some reason, they struck him as a bolt of lightning might have. Shewasa person and a woman of refined and delicate sensibilities.

William raked his hands through his hair and looked at her. She was so beautiful, standing before him in all her glorious anger. Catherine’s flushed face and bright, glittering eyes only made her look more beautiful. She had loved him, and he had ruined everything. Had her love turned to hatred, rather than mere indifference? It was impossible to say from her face.

He had been avoiding her since the accident, and he had wrapped his heart in armor to ward away any of her blows. Perhaps, it was for the best that she left for a while. Maybe her absence would make it easier for him to learn not to love her any longer.

William slowly nodded. “You should go,” he said, finding his voice at last. “If that is the way you feel, spending a couple of weeks with your siblings would probably be for the best.”

“I am glad you can see reason,” she replied tartly.

A wretched feeling swept over him. If he was a better man, he might have fought for her. He might have insisted that he did love her. He might have even groveled in an attempt to persuade her that he was good for her.

But he could not do that. A hollowness settled inside him. It was as though he no longer had anything inside himself. Catherine had taken everything from him.

“It is settled, then,” she said. “I will make arrangements to leave at once.”

“Good.”

“Farewell, my husband.”

She swept to the door, and that hollow feeling threatened to crush him. William’s eyes swept over her familiar, slight form. She was a good woman, far better than he deserved, and he had made more mistakes with her than any husband ever ought to make. “Catherine!”

She halted with her hand on the door. With his eyes, he traced the lines of tension in her shoulder and her arms. At last, she turned to fast him. The color in her cheeks had brightened, so her face was now flushed with scarlet. “Yes?”

William’s heart thundered against his ribs. He ought to apologize for everything.I am sorry. It was only three words, four syllables. A lump rose in his throat, clogging him from breathing or forming the words. Still, he tried. He worked his jaw and smiled awkwardly.

Catherine took a step toward him, her expression slowly becoming one of tentative hopefulness. If he apologized, Catherine might forgive him. He stood, pushing his chair out. “Catherine,” he said again.

“Are you attempting to delay me?” she asked, crossing her arms. “If you are, that is childish of you. You realize that, right?”

There was a beat of silence. She fidgeted with her skirts; he planted his palms on his desk, just as she had moments before, in a vain attempt to steady himself.

“I am not attempting to delay you,” he said at last.

“Good. Because I will not be persuaded.”

“I know,” he said. “I just wanted to say that you—you should…”

Her brow furrowed, and he sensed her growing impatience. In her position, he would have been irritated, too. William cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, trying to exude the cool confidence that had once been so familiar to him. “I hope you enjoy your stay with your siblings.”

“Thank you.”

“Take your time.”

Her jaw clenched, and she smiled thinly. The expression was sharp and venomous. “I shall do just that.”

In a swirl of skirts and fury, Catherine tore open the door of the study and vanished through it. She slammed the door behind her, the sound so loud that it shook the room.