brother of yours does not come up to snuff soon and reclaim his wife, I am likely to end up married to her after all.’
She looked at him in surprise, and then she blurted, ‘Do you not mean to marry Elise?’ It was none of her business, but it turned the discussion to something other than herself, which suited her well.
‘Elise is already married.’ He said it flatly, as though stating the obvious, and stared up at the ceiling.
It was her turn to follow him. She stood before him, hands on hips, close enough so that he could not pretend to ignore her. ‘Elise is separated from Harry. If she can persuade him, she will be divorced and free. What are your intentions then?’
‘Divorce is by no means a sure thing,’ he hedged. ‘I would have to declare myself in court as her lover. And even then it might amount to nothing. But it would drag the whole affair into the public eye.’
‘Do you have issues with the scandal of it?’
He shrugged. ‘If I did, then I would be a fool to escort her now. It is no less scandalous to partner with her while she is still married.’
‘Would you think less of her should she be free? Would she be beneath you? Because that would put things back to the way they were before I spoiled them.’ She sighed, and dropped her hands to her sides, remembering the look in her brother’s eyes when he had seen his wife in the doorway. ‘Although it would hurt Harry most awfully.’
Nicholas gave her a tired look, and stretched out on the couch with his feet up and a hand over his eyes. ‘There is nothing wrong with Elise, and no reason that I would find her unfit to marry if she were free. Save one.’ He looked as though the words were being wrenched out of him. ‘I do not love her.’
‘You do not …’ Rosalind looked confused. ‘But she has come back to you again, after all these years. And when I spoke to her, she seemed to think …’
‘What she understands to be true is in some ways different from what I have come to believe.’ He turned his head to her, and there was a look of obvious puzzlement on his face. ‘At one time I would have liked nothing better than to meet her in church and unite our futures. But in the years since she turned me down in favour of Harry?’ He shrugged. ‘Much time has passed. I still find her beautiful, and very desirable—for, while I am circumspect, I am not blind to her charms. I enjoy her company, and I value her friendship above all things. But I seriously doubt, should we marry, that I will be a more satisfactory husband than the one she already has. Once the novelty began to pale she would find many aspects of my character are wanting. And for my part? She broke my heart most thoroughly the first time she chose another. But I doubt when she leaves me this time that it will cause similar damage.’
‘How utterly perfect!’ Rosalind reached out and pulled his boots onto the floor, forcing him to sit up.
‘Oh, really?’ He was eyeing her suspiciously. ‘And just why would you say that?’
She sat down on the couch beside him, in the space his legs had occupied, trying to disguise her obvious relief. ‘I will explain shortly, if you can but answer a few more questions to my satisfaction. If you do not want her, then why did you take her back?’
He scratched his head. ‘I am not sure. But I suspect that force of habit brought her to me, and force of habit keeps me at her side.’
‘That does not sound very romantic.’
‘I thought at first that it was lust. A desire to taste the pleasures that I was once denied.’ He gave her a significant look. ‘But our relationship has not yet progressed to such a stage, and I find myself most content with things as they are.’
‘You two are not …? You do not …?’ Rosalind took her most worldly tone with him, and hoped he could not tell that she lacked the understanding to ask the rest of the question. For she was unsure just what should be happening if the relationship had ‘progressed’. But she had wondered, all the same.
‘We are not, and we do not.’ He was staring at her in surprise now. ‘Are you seeking vicarious pleasure in the details of Elise’s infidelity? For you are most curious on the subject.’
‘Not really.’ She gave him a critical appraisal in return. ‘I think it is quite horrid that she left Harry, and even worse that you took her in. But if it was all for an ember of true love that smouldered for years, though untended, it would give me some measure of understanding. And I would find it in my heart to forgive her.’
‘But not me?’ he asked.
‘I would suspect you of being an unrepentant rogue, Tremaine, as I do in any case. For you seem ready to ruin my brother’s marriage not because you love deeply, but because you are too lazy to send Elise home.’
He flinched at her gibe. ‘It will probably spoil your low opinion of me, but here is the real reason I encouraged her to remain in London. I recognise a friend in dire need, and I want to help her. She is lost, Miss Morley. She will find her way right again, I am sure. But until that time better that she be lost with me than with some other man who does not understand the situation and chooses to take advantage of her weakness.’
‘You are carrying on a public affair with my sister-in-law for her own good?’
Tremaine smiled. ‘And now please explain it to your brother for me. I am sure he will be relieved to hear it.’
‘I think Harry doubts your good intentions.’
His smile widened to a grin. ‘I know he does. I think he invited me down here for the express purpose of keeping me away from Elise during the holiday. To the susceptible, Christmas can be a rather romantic season. I believe we both know what can happen in the proximity of wine and mistletoe.’
He looked at the ceiling and whistled, while she glared steadfastly towards the floor.
‘Do you know how he attempted to trick me into this visit? By offering to divorce his wife if I won his silly bet. He probably thought I could not resist the challenge of besting him. Little did he suspect that I would tell Elise all, and she would insist on coming as well. It must gall him no end to see the two of us here.’
Rosalind cleared her throat. ‘I think you would be surprised at how much he might know on that matter. But pray continue.’
Tremaine laughed. ‘For my part, were I a jealous man, I would be enraged at the amount of energy my supposed intended spends in trying to attract her husband’s attention by courting mine. She means to go back to him, and he is dying to have her back. There is nothing more to be said on the matter.’
‘I will agree with that,’ said Rosalind. ‘For I have never met a couple better suited, no matter what they might think.’
He nodded. ‘We agree that they belong together. And she does want to come home to him, since he did not come to London and get her. So be damned to Harry’s machinations for the holidays. I have devised a plan of my own.’
‘Really?’ Someone else with a plan? She could not decide if she should meet the news with eagerness or dread.
‘Harry’s scheme, whatever it might be, requires my eagerness to win his wife away from him. In this he does not have my co-operation. I have kept her safe from interlopers for two months now, but it is time she returned home. I was hoping to find my
