Page 82

Then she gave a saccharine smile.

Harriet picked up on the tension and looked from them to Joana.

“Of course,” Emily piped up in her cheery voice. “What do you expect from newlyweds who are crazily in love with each other? It was how it was with Charles and I. It is such a joy to marry for true love. I’m so happy there are so many love matches in this family.”

“Is that what you believe?” Joana asked, plastering a tight smile on her face and gripping her cutlery very tightly.

“What are you doing here, Joana?” Edward glared at her. “How did you escape?”

“Escape?” Harriet frowned. “Eddie, what are you talking about?”

“Yes, Edward.” Joana sneered. “Why don’t you tell the family everything?”

“You are no family of mine,” Edward growled. He turned to a footman and ordered him to send for the constables.

“Edward, what is going on?” Emily asked incredulously.

“Joana tried to kidnap and ship Arabella off to the West last night,” he hissed. “Charles and I assisted in her arrest, but I don’t know how she managed to escape.”

“I am very good at getting what I want when I want.” Joana smiled, before suddenly picking up a knife and pressing it to Emily’s throat.

“Joana, what is wrong with you?” Harriet gasped. “Put down that knife.”

“I will. When dear Edward tells you the truth.”

“What truth?”

“The truth about their sham of a marriage,” Joana spat.

“What?”

“Harriet, I was caught in a compromising position, and Edward was kind enough to step up and marry me to rescue me from ruination. We planned to separate after a few months, but down the line, we fell in love, and we want to have a real marriage now,” Arabella blurted out.

“Well,” Harriet said after a long minute of silence. “There are many marriages that started on worse notes. I am just happy that you and my son are happy.”

“What?” Joana yelled, throwing the knife. “You’re not angry?”

“Oh, I am, but what does it matter?”

“What does it matter?” She screeched. “Your son would not have had to marry her if she was not a whore who was willing to do anything to lie with a man. She is a nasty wench not fit to be the Duchess!”

The hate in her eyes was so vivid that it made Edward shudder.

“Neither are you, going by your actions yesterday,” Arabella answered, the steel in her words arousing him.

That seemed to drive Joana to the limits of sanity.

“You disgusting whore. You can never have him. He belongs to me! You are just a fortune hunter and a disgusting whore. Only you could ask a gentleman to bed you. You can never have him. If I can’t have him, no one else will. Least of all you!”

In a blink of an eye, she threw a knife in Arabella’s direction.

Edward managed to move Arabella out of harm’s way at the last minute, but the knife speared his shoulder. Joana was gearing up to throw her fork next when the Dowager Duchess gave a command with a simple tilt of her head. Joanna was immediately restrained by two footmen who were conveniently standing around the dining room.

“Get your filthy hands off me,” Joana screeched, squirming violently.

She whipped her head around and bit one of the footmen. He yelped but managed to keep hold of her. She turned to Arabella then.

“You think you’ve won, don’t you? I should have killed you when I had the chance, but you just wouldn’t die, would you?” she hissed. “You even managed to escape the trap I set for you. Miss Goody Two Shoes offering your horse when you were supposed to ride it. I should have known that those incompetent fools would not get the job done. As usual, if you want to get a job done properly, you should do it yourself. Humans are incompetent, and men are not to be trusted—except for you of course. You are the exception.”