Page 25

M artin had to force himself to breathe.

Her words ran him through like a lance. This hurt far more than it should have after such a brief acquaintance.

And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t warned him.

Time and again, she’d told him in so many words that she planned to marry Lord James.

But after their kiss, he thought something had changed, that there was a glimmer of hope. Apparently, he was mistaken.

“You want an annulment? Now? Even after—”

“Don’t.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t want to be your wife. You said you would release me if I asked. I’m begging you to keep your side of the bargain.”

This was all happening too fast. It wasn’t possible that she’d already made up her mind. Or was it? “But you haven’t even given me a chance. I thought you would at least wait a few days to get to know the earl and make an informed decision.”

“Are you suggesting I don’t know my own mind?” She met his gaze at last, eyes blazing. “Do you dare pretend to know what is in my heart better than I know myself?”

There had to be some way to convince her that he was the better option. He wasn’t ready to surrender. “I make no such claim. I only thought I had more time, and I thought the man’s flaws would speak for themselves.”

“He’s right, Isabella,” Adelaide chimed in. “You hardly know Lord James. This does seem a rather hasty decision.”

“Adelaide, my sweet, please stay out of this,” Isabella said softly. Her voice was breaking. “I know what I’m doing. This is for the best. I promise.”

“Is it? And why is that?” He really should have bitten his tongue, but he was too desperate to rein in his speech. “How is marrying a man you hardly know but who you do know is guaranteed to make you miserable for the best?”

Isabella whirled around to face him. “I know Lord James well enough to take his measure. May I remind you that I’ve known him longer than you? I understand the consequences of the choice I am making. You and I made a bargain, Martin. Now let me go. I want an annulment.”

He struggled to find words to respond, anything to reverse the horrifying prospect of losing her to that miserable, rotten, philandering, hairy brute. But his silver tongue abandoned him in his moment of need. In the end, the word that came out was, “No.”

“No?” Her voice was barely audible. “But you must. You promised!” There was a panicked edge to her voice as she spoke, but he had no intention of backing down. A bargain was a bargain.

“I promised that if I hadn’t won you over by Winchelsea, I would release you. Are we in Winchelsea, my lady?”

She blanched. “No, but—”

“We agreed on Winchelsea,” he said quietly.

He ought to give up. They were in Norfolk, and Lord James held all the power.

And there was no reason to believe Isabella would change her mind if he somehow succeeded in bringing her home.

But he couldn’t let it go. Not now when he was so close to winning her over.

“You haven’t fulfilled your end of the bargain, and I’m going to hold you to it. ”

Shaking her head, she backed up and leaned against the door as if she needed support. He expected her to rail, to lash him with her scathing tongue, but instead she simply said, “Please don’t. Please.”

That brought him up short. Isabella didn’t beg. It wasn’t in her nature. Something was off. There was a piece of this puzzle that he was missing.

“Why should I release you from our bargain early?”

She bit her lip and gripped the door. “Because I don’t care for you.” The words cut him deep, but her voice trembled as she said it. There was something amiss here.

“Why else? What is it you aren’t telling me, Isabella?”

A tear dripped down her cheek.

Instantly, all his anger vanished, and all he wanted in the world was to comfort her.

He needed to touch her, hold her, assure her that whatever Lord James had promised, he himself would promise her so much more.

He might not be able to equal the earl in terms of title or wealth or even rugged good looks, but he would spend every moment of every day for the rest of his life devoted to her happiness.

As he watched the tear drop from her chin and land on the front of her dress, something in him broke.

He couldn’t stand it any longer. Rising slowly, he crossed the room and raised his hand to cup her cheek, thumbing away the tear. Another tear fell. “Isabella, why are you crying?”

Silence. But she didn’t recoil from his touch. On the contrary, she nuzzled against his hand. Her actions in no way matched her words. Isabella still had feelings for him. He would swear it.

Hardly daring to press his luck but unable to resist her allure, he kissed her soft cheek, tasting salt on his lips.

With a shuddering sigh, she fell into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. He clutched her close as she cried. What her reaction meant, he couldn’t say, but tentative hope bloomed within him at her gentle embrace. He didn’t dare speak for fear of spoiling the moment.

“Isabella,” came a quivery voice from the bed. He’d almost forgotten Adelaide’s presence. “Isabella?”

With a sniff, Isabella pulled away to face her sister. He did not want to give her up, but he knew all too well that Adelaide was her priority. “Yes, my sweet?”

A deep, wracking cough shook Adelaide’s thin frame, and Isabella rushed to her side, bringing a cup of water to her lips and making her sip.

“We should go to Winchelsea with Lord Martin. You promised.”

Isabella shook her head. “It’s too late.

We must stay. Rest, and don’t trouble yourself, dear.

All you need to worry about is getting better.

” She caressed her sister’s hair, tucking stray wisps behind her ear.

Then she turned to him, eyes full of sorrow.

“I’m sorry, Martin, but I cannot remain your wife. ”

No! She obviously didn’t want the future she’d chosen, and he couldn’t make sense of any of this.

“Why is it too late?” Clearly, Isabella felt more than she was ready to admit. Something else was holding her back, and he had to know what it was. “What is the real reason for the sudden hurry? Did he threaten you? I’ll kill him if he did.”

The man was a brute, and it was all too easy to imagine him stooping so low as to threaten a woman so that he could have his way with her.

It would explain Isabella’s strange behavior and her refusal to relent about the annulment even now.

The mere thought made him want to draw and quarter Lord James.

Turning to face him, Isabella said quietly, with tears streaming down her face, “I said I don’t care for you, and I meant it. I don’t wish to remain your wife. Lord James can protect Adelaide and me in a way you never could. We’ll be safe here.”

The soft and tender look on her face was at odds with her cruel words. He didn’t know what to make of it, and his heart ached with terrible foreboding. Why would she say Lord James could protect them, and he couldn’t?

Adelaide gasped and coughed. “Isabella, no. Don’t do this. You care for Lord Martin. It’s plain as day.”

“But he’ll send you away. Can’t you see?

” Isabella said, panic in her eyes. “In the end he’ll make you go to Lady Eleanor.

We can’t trust anyone sent by the duchess.

She’s a spider, and we’re all caught in her web.

But Lord James isn’t. He can take care of us and let us stay together. That’s all that matters, my dear.”

Her words hit him like boulders thrown by a siege engine. She didn’t trust him. She wanted to keep her sister with her. How could he not have seen it sooner?

“I’m not under Lady Eleanor’s thumb any more than Lord James is.

I will not betray my family for the sake of an alliance.

As your sister, Adelaide is family. She would always have the full protection of Winchelsea.

If you wanted to keep Adelaide with you, all you had to do was ask.

I swear to you, I will defend her with my very life. ”

“But you said you would send her away.”

He did. And she’d immediately fled his company. It was all making sense now. If only he could take those words back!

“I only said it because I didn’t know you wished it otherwise. Had you simply told me you didn’t want to send her to the duchess, I would have agreed immediately.”

He prayed that she would trust him. He believed deep down that she did, but he’d been his own worst enemy, blithely confirming her fears without realizing he was driving her away.

“But Lady Eleanor sent you. How can I trust that you will be true to your word?”

The words twisted in his gut as though he’d been stabbed. Even after everything they had been through, she still didn’t trust him. How could he prove himself? What proof could he offer?

“Have I ever given you cause to doubt me? Have I ever deceived you in any way? I have kept every single promise I have ever made to you, Isabella. My heart is true. I swear on my home, on my family, on all that I hold dear that I will do right by you, no matter what it costs me with the duchess. You must trust me on this. My word is my bond.”

For a long moment, Isabella stared at him in silence. His future hung on a knife’s edge as he waited for her to pronounce his doom.

Then she whispered. “Then I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“What mistake?” Dare he hope?

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone to Lord James. And it wouldn’t be too late for…” She trailed off.

“For what, Isabella?”

The seconds passed with agonizing slowness. Everything in his world sharpened to a point. The next words that passed her lips could either be his salvation or his eternal damnation.

“For happiness. For us. I could have spent the rest of my life with a man who truly cared—a man who was brave and kind and giving. And instead, I chose a man who sees me as nothing but a tool for his own ambition. How could I have been so blind?”

“Isabella, does this mean you care for me? That you want to be my wife in truth?” He needed to hear her state it plainly. Everything in him longed to go to her and hold her in his arms, but he held back, waiting for proof.

“Yes, Martin. I want to be your wife. You’ve won your wager. There is no one else I would rather spend the rest of my life with. I don’t know what we’ll do about Lord James, but I choose you.”

For a long moment, he couldn’t move, thunderstruck by this final confirmation of her affection. He’d pretended confidence from the very start, but he’d hardly dared believe this day would come. But she’d spoken the words. He’d won his wager. Elation flooded him as he reached out.

She took a step toward him, arms outstretched, tentative hope written in every feature.

It was real. She was truly his, now and forever. He reached for her, desperate to fold her in his arms.

Grasping her hand, he pulled her up and kissed her deep and hard.

Isabella was his, whatever might wait for them outside the door.

He’d won her heart, and the rest of the world could burn to the ground for all he cared.

This was what he’d been dreaming of ever since meeting her—this meeting of equals, igniting of passions.

The sweet taste of her drove him mad, as she crushed her body against his, hands clutching at his back, and kissed him back with every bit as much fervor as he gave.

With every lick of her tongue, he fell harder for her.

His heart was hers, utterly hers. He didn’t think he could fall more deeply in love than he already had, but each touch tethered him more tightly to her.

They were inseparable now. He hardly knew where he ended, and she began.

They were so lost in each other that there would be no untangling them.

The kiss began to spiral out of control.

The desperate frenzy with which they consumed each other became too much.

She was so soft and warm beneath his touch.

The herbal scent of her hair drove him made as his fingers caressed her tresses.

She tasted of sweetness and spice and boundless possibility.

With her by his side, he was so much more.

He’d never thought his life was incomplete, but her love filled a hole he never knew he had.

Her luscious body pressed against his and drove him to greater heights. He needed to be closer. Holding her in his arms wasn’t nearly enough. He needed her, all of her. Now.

But as he began kissing down her neck, there was a ragged cough from the bed, and they both froze. They had an audience. How could he have forgotten?

Both panting, they stepped away from each other. He thought about diving into the dark and icy sea after Pascal to calm his body and jolt his mind back into working order.

“My apologies, Lady Adelaide,” he said as soon as he was capable of speech.

From the bed, Adelaide laughed weakly and coughed again.

“I’m happy for the two of you, though I was starting to wonder if I was going to need to dump that water on you both to bring you to your senses,” she said, pointing to the pitcher and basin on a small table across the room.

“Right now, you two need to figure out how you’re going to handle Lord James.

He won’t be so entertained by your newfound adoration. ”

All too true, but Martin savored the challenge. He’d won his bride. And no one was ever going to take her away. If Lord James wanted to challenge him, he would fight to the very death for her favor.

“It’s too late. I’ve won. I won’t let him take you away from me. Not ever.”

But Isabella quailed. Worry creased her forehead, and her hands balled into fists. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

Perhaps not, but Martin would not countenance any impediment to their union, now that her affection was certain. Let Lord James do his worst. Martin would never surrender his bride.