hurt you. Please believe me, Hal. I was forced to wed him and I cannot leave him no matter how I feel...’
‘I shall find a way to set you free of him somehow,’ Hallam said. He was reaching out to touch her cheek, but she flinched away when they heard someone call her name and the colour left her face.
‘I must go,’ she said and tears stood in her eyes. ‘Please forget me, forget what I just said. You cannot help me. Lethbridge would ruin my family and kill you. Honour demands that I keep the vows I made when I married. I beg you, forget me.’
Hallam tried to hold her, but she slipped away and walked from the rose arbour into the open garden. He heard the sound of voices and knew that she was speaking to her husband. The count’s voice was harsh and it took all Hallam’s will-power to stop himself from rushing out to confront him, but Maddie had begged him not to and he could not make a scene here.
He must seek Lethbridge out another day and see what could be done to help Maddie. If she would go with him, he would take her away to France or Italy. He had little fortune and she had none, but he would find a way of supporting them both somehow. His estate might be sold and perhaps he could become a soldier of fortune, offering his sword to any that would pay.
Yet she’d spoken of honour and her family’s ruin. It was foolish of her to think of honour when her husband was so cruel to her, but her family’s ruin was another matter. He could do little for them and he knew that she would never walk away from her unhappy marriage if it meant their downfall.
The only way was to force a quarrel on Lethbridge. If the count would call him out it would be an affair of honour, and though he might be brought before the magistrate and even imprisoned for a time, he would not hang for it. He thought that he would bear even that if necessary to free Maddie from what must be a living hell for her.
If the count would not call him out, he must be the one to do it and would probably have to flee to France until the storm blew over. His mind busy with his thoughts of revenge on the evil count, Hallam waited until he was sure he would not be seen leaving the rose arbour before returning to the reception. He did not wish Maddie to be punished for meeting him, for if her husband had seen them together he must have thought the worst.
Taking great care not to follow too close on the count and Madeline, he did not notice the servant lingering in the shrubbery, watching.
His mind with Madeline, Hallam could only pray that Lethbridge would not harm her again. Somehow, he must find a way to set her free. He would not think of his own future or the happiness he hoped to gain one day, but only of Maddie.
As a widow she would be safe and perhaps one day she would allow him to take care of her.
* * *
‘Who were you talking to?’ Lethbridge demanded, as he took his wife by the arm, pushing her in the direction of the courtyard where his coach was awaiting them. ‘I told you what I would do to you if you saw your lover again—and I shall thrash him.’
‘There is no one else,’ Maddie said, lifting her head defiantly. ‘You are foolish to be jealous, sir. I do not have a lover.’
‘Lying bitch,’ he muttered as he thrust her towards the coach. ‘Get inside. I’ll teach you to behave when I get you home.’
‘May I not say farewell to my friends?’
‘You chose to leave the reception and I am ready to leave,’ he said looking at her coldly. ‘I have made your goodbyes. I was forced to say you were feeling unwell.’
‘You did not lie, sir. It was because I had a terrible headache that I left the reception. I swear to you on my mama’s life that I did not go to meet anyone.’
Lethbridge glared at her. ‘You swear that you did not meet a lover, madam?’
‘I swear it,’ she said, but could not look at him.
He grabbed her arm, swinging her back to face him. ‘Swear it on your mother’s life or I shall thrash you when we get home.’
Madeline felt a surge of anger. Lifting her head, she looked him in the eyes. ‘I swear in on my own life, my mother’s—and anyone else’s you care to name. I did not meet my lover for I have no lover.’
Lethbridge stared at her for a moment, then inclined his head. ‘Very well, I shall accept your word—but if I discover you have lied to me you will be very sorry, madam.’
Madeline turned her face from him, the tears stinging her eyes, but she refused to weep or beg. He was a brute and she hated him. He had made her life intolerable and she would almost rather be dead than married to him. Yet if she took her own life, he would seek revenge from her family.
Her throat was tight with tears, for she could discover no way of escape. All she could do was to try to block out her unhappiness...and perhaps to allow her thoughts to drift back to the time when Hallam had made love to her so sweetly beneath the apple tree.
Yet even that memory was ruined for when Hallam kissed her, she’d known that something inside her had flinched away. How could it be that she could not welcome Hallam’s kisses when they had always been so sweet to her? Had her husband’s cruelty made it impossible for her to accept even the touch of the man she loved?
If that were the case, there was no help for her.
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