stubborn woman inside her wanted to push him away, but the one who craved his affection made her languid in his arms. Maybe this was his way of apologising and making things right between them, the way last night had been his means of seeking comfort. He made a trail of kisses across her cheek and down to her jaw and caressed the hollow of her neck with his tongue.
She tilted back her head and closed her eyes, savouring the sweep of moisture and the sweet tickle of his breath. She forgot all of her arguments for or against the plan as he began to undo the small laces at the back of her dress. It wasn’t an attempt to keep them apart. He wanted her—it was apparent in the quickness of his breath in her ear and the eagerness of his fingers against her skin. She was his wife and this arrangement wouldn’t be for ever.
Then she turned her head and noticed his things laid out on the bed in the adjoining room. It was no coincidence Jasper had thought of this arrangement after she’d confronted him and refused to leave him be. With his kisses he was trying to pretend everything from this morning hadn’t happened and all was resolved between them, but it wasn’t.
She wrested out of his embrace. ‘Don’t try to placate me. The next time you attempt to make love to me, be sure it’s because you want me, not because you want your way.’
She stormed out of the room and down the hall, refusing to be humoured like a child or made to come or go according to his whims. She’d hold out on him until he finally told her something or decided he wanted separate rooms to become separate lives.
She came to a halt at the top of the stairs, all her early morning worries rushing back to her. I should march in there and confront him, refuse to allow whatever it is he is trying to do, but her usual stubbornness failed her and she didn’t move. She was wary of what else he might do if she did insist on them sharing a room. She didn’t want to make demands, drive him away, or lose the warmth of his touch or the joy of his company. Maybe I was too fast to anger and walk out. If she’d held him tighter, been more complacent instead of haranguing, she wondered if she might have changed his mind.
She went downstairs to the sitting room and began to pace, confused and lost about what to do. His embrace last night before their fight, and their time at the club, had contradicted everything he was saying and doing today, but he was withdrawing from her and she must stop it, even if she didn’t know how. She wished there was someone she could speak with, but if she dared broach the subject with one of Jasper’s sisters, the story would spread through the family like a fire and probably jump to the Rathbone household. Heaven knew what Philip would say. It eliminated Laura as a confidant, too, especially since Laura and Philip had no secrets between them. Though he kept his business separate from his family, he was at home in his office during the day, taking as much interest in Laura’s life as she did in his. She could speak with Mrs Fairley, but the modiste was in Salisbury visiting her sister and not expected back for another week.
For all the change in her situation and surname, she might as well be a spinster again.
She stared at the bookshelf across the room, noting how her old novels mingled effortlessly with the ones Jasper had inherited from his uncle. If only she knew how to make her and Jasper’s hearts and lives fit together so neatly. She could balance ledgers and negotiate contracts but she couldn’t win her husband’s love or his confidence.
Then one green-leather spine with gold-embossed letters caught her notice. She slipped it out from among the others.
Glenarvon.
She smiled as she traced the shiny title. It had been one of the first books Mrs Hale had secreted for her years ago. The two of them had read it, sneaking off to the garden to discuss the scandalous tome away from Philip’s hearing and his disapproval.
Mrs Hale!
She clutched the book to her chest. Speaking to Mrs Hale would mean breaking her promise to Jasper but she had to do it. He was already going back on his vow to honour her and this wasn’t how she wanted to live. She needed advice and help and she was sure Mrs Hale would keep her secret. Heaven knew she’d kept some before, even colluding with Jane to create a few. With this being Mrs Hale’s second marriage, she must know something about husbands.
* * *
‘He’s running an illegal gambling hell at night,’ Jane blurted out to Mrs Hale as they sat together in the small morning room of Dr Hale’s house. Through the wall she heard Dr Hale speaking with a patient, his voice low and steady. Years ago, she’d come here numerous times when Philip had been courting Arabella, his first wife and Dr Hale’s daughter.
‘A gambling establishment. How exciting!’ Mrs Hale drank in the news as she did every other scandal the two of them had ever shared.
‘It isn’t exciting, it’s awful.’ Guilt pressed on her as much as anxiety. She’d promised Jasper she wouldn’t tell anyone, but he’d also promised to make her his primary concern and he hadn’t. ‘He’s away from me all night and sleeps all morning. I hardly see him except for afternoons and evenings when we, well, you know.’
‘I do.’ She poured tea in Jane’s cup, eyeing her through the steam. ‘Is that why you’re here?’
‘No.’ She rose and went to Dr Hale’s bookshelf to straighten a few books. She’d rather be here about a possible baby instead of this worry. She turned and took in the familiar room. After Arabella had passed, Jane used to sit here with Dr Hale, trying to help him in a way she hadn’t been able to do with Philip. In his grief her brother had retreated into a more severe stoicism than before, while Dr Hale had appeared lost. Later, when Thomas was old enough, Jane used to bring her nephew here to see his grandfather. The visits had helped ease Dr Hale out of his mourning and it had made a great difference to them both. In the cosy sitting room, Jane hoped to garner a little of the comfort she’d been able to offer during that difficult time. ‘The gambling hell isn’t the worst of it. There’s something serious tormenting Jasper, something he won’t tell me about, and I think it might be another woman.’
Mrs Hale motioned for Jane to return to her seat at the table. Jane sat across from her and told her about the letter from Savannah and Jasper coming home from the hell in the mornings, troubled but unwilling to discuss it with her. ‘I love him and I want this to be a real marriage, but I’m not sure he wants the same.’
Mrs Hale reached across the table and squeezed her hand. ‘I think he does and I suspect it’s the reason he changed his mind about marrying you. Deep down, he realised you can help him face whatever he’s dealing with and you must, or things will never be right between you.’
‘But the woman in Savannah?’
‘Perhaps she is just a widow he’s done business with.’
‘And if she’s not?’
Mrs Hale let go of her hand and sat back. ‘Jane, if there is one thing I’ve learned after two marriages, it’s the need to trust your spouse and to give him the benefit of the doubt. Until you learn otherwise, don’t worry yourself into a panic about a woman an ocean away. If you’re patient, I’m sure the truth will eventually come out and it will probably be nothing like what you’re imagining.’
‘It wasn’t with Milton.’
‘And you must stop allowing your experience with him to guide you in this. Jasper is not his brother and you worrying about what might be, instead of what is, won’t help you.’
Jane threw out her arms in frustration. ‘I don’t even know what is and what isn’t. He won’t tell me and it’s coming
