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“You can’t kill yourself, Clarissa,” he heard himself say. “You stole my mother’s life, so you don’t get to decide where your own ends.”

She let out a hoarse laugh. “Well, I daresay it ends at a hangman’s noose.”

He shook his head. “No. I won’t bring more shame on my family, and neither will you.”

She blinked, tears glistening on the tips of her pale eyelashes. “Then what am I to do?”

“For starters,” he responded, holding out his hand, “you can give me that.”

There was a taut moment. For one awful instant, he thought that she was going to cut her throat anyway.

Then, with a ragged sigh, Clarissa moved the blade of the letter opener away from her throat and carefully placed the handle inhis upturned palm. There was a smear of blood on the side of her neck, and he tried not to look at it.

“You’ll leave here,” Edward heard himself say, his voice hoarse, “and you’ll never come back. That is how you’ll show me you’re sorry. By staying away from us all, and staying away from the rest of the world.”

“W-Where will I go?”

“I’ll find a convent. And you must promise me to take this to your grave, do you understand? I… I don’t know if I can forgive you. I don’t know if my mother would have forgiven you. But if you want to even try to earn my forgiveness, this is what you must do. Don’t come to see me. Don’t write to me. Don’t ever speak Alex’s name again. Do you understand?”

“Will… will you tell him?” Clarissa asked listlessly.

Edward crossed the room and tugged on the bell pull.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “One thing is for sure, though. I won’t tell him for many, many years.”

The door creaked open, and Peter peered in. He did a double-take when he saw Clarissa’s state.

“Y-Your Grace?”

“Take my stepmother back to her home,” Edward said, his eyes fixed on her. “She’s going to pack.”

CHAPTER 24

“Ican’t help but feel,” Theodore said slowly, “that you are not telling us everything.”

Daphne shot her brother-in-law a baleful glare. “AndIcan’t help but feel, Theo, that you’re talking through your hat.”

Theodore gave a wry smile. “Was this the sort of witty banter to which you treated your husband, dearie?”

She considered briefly whether she should throw her cup of tea at Theodore’s head. She decided against it. It was, after all, a good cup of tea, and it would be a shame to waste it.

Besides, this isn’t really my home anymore. I can’t go throwing teacups around willy-nilly.

That thought made her shiver. Itwasn’ther home, no matter how fervently Emily and her mother told her that it was. Daphnewas a married woman, aduchess, and her home should be her husband’s home.

Not that my husband wants to share a home with me, of course. Or a bed.

In a jolt, she imagined herself lying back on the edge of Edward’s bed, him leaning over her, his head ducked so that the stubble on his cheek grazed her stomach teasingly. She imagined his wry, knowing smile, a kiss pressed to her sensitive skin, making her shiver, his hands skimming down the outside of her thighs. He knew, the wretch. Heknewwhat she wanted, knew that she longed for him to move his lips or his fingers lower, to her core, and to make her feel as though she were flying once again. Heknew, and he took his time.

She cleared her throat, doing her best to banish those troublesome thoughts. She was, after all, with herfamily.

The family was seated in one of the nicest parlors. Anna was pacing up and down by the window, her face a furrow of concentration, and Theodore was lounging across a settle in the corner. As she glanced his way, he propped himself up on one elbow and twisted around to look at his pacing wife.

“Do give over, Anna. You’re wearing a path in the carpet,” he said, trying to sound jovial.

The tone didn’t quite work. Daphne wasn’t a fool. She knew that abandoning her husband in that manner, so soon after theirmarriage, was abad thing, and Society would have a great deal to say about it.

“I need to walk if I’m to think,” Anna responded shortly. “And I need to think. Theo, can you think of any reason why the Duke would be so cold towards Daphne?”