Page 50

Could there truly be hope for them? Would it not just be a marriage where she got what she needed and so did he? Could there be more, perhaps even a glimpse of the true happiness she’d seen between her parents?

Could she really slay the shadow of William if only she opened up to Nathaniel?

Just as she tore herself away from the door, her eyes fell on William himself.

Shock slapped her, and she stood completely still, her feet as heavy as lead. He’d just walked around the corner, eyes blazing with anger under his polite social mask.

As he saw her, his face must have straightened in the same expression of surprise as she wore.

“Lady Calliope,” he said coldly. “Or, shall I say, Your Grace.”

He gave her a pointedly deep bow, then straightened up tall and dark, standing in the shadows of the hallway.

Calliope straightened her back as fear clenched her insides. What was he doing here? He did not have any power over her anymore, she told herself. She was married. William couldn’t do anything.

“Lord Huntingham,” she said. “I was just going to find my brother.”

“Hm,” he said as he slowly walked to her, his disgusted gaze moving over her body, making her want to shrink and disappear. How could there have been a moment in her life when she had been infatuated with him? Thinking he was the most wonderful boy in the whole world? “I’ve just seen your brother.”

“Right,” she said as she tensed all over.

He stood two steps away now, close enough to reach out to pinch her. Silly thought, no doubt, but the place over her collarbone hurt.

“I came to ask for your hand in marriage,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when I learned that you already married someone else.”

He said it like it was a personal insult, like she had betrayed him. His upper lip crawled up, baring a row of white teeth in an expression of contempt.

“Indeed, I am married,” she said. “I am afraid you are too late.”

His nostrils flared as he leaned closer to her, his handsome features transforming into something snakelike.

“Well, you lost your chance to marry the only respectable man who would want someone like you.”

Calliope inhaled sharply, feeling herself shrivel into something small and insignificant.

“Remember, I know who you really are, you dirty little whore.”

There it was, that word, like a slap.

“I saw you,” he continued. “I know you. I would have taken you as you are.”

A small particle of his spit landed on her neck and the skin right above her collarbone. Calliope began shaking, any words she wished to say stuck in her mouth. She should tell him what she thought of him. How wrong he was. He didn’t know her at all. But that place he had pinched her hurt and burned.

“But it’s better this way,” he continued. “I must admit, you’ve entered my private fantasies in the darkest moments of my life, and I prayed to God to forgive my soul. I would have made you a better Christian. An obedient wife. But it’s for the better. Sinful whores like you deserve to be married to such dirty rakes as Kelford.”

Tears of humiliation blurred her vision and burned her eyes. She prayed the floor would open under her feet and she’d disappear. One trembling hand clutched at her stomach in a futile attempt to protect herself.

The door opened and a tall figure came to stand near her. “Step away from my wife,” said Nathaniel calmly.

“Kelford,” said William unevenly.

Through her blurring vision, Calliope saw a large dark navy figure with golden spots move sharply against another tall figure in black. There was the sound of a push and shuffling feet and then the rattle of a vase, and something heavy fell on the floor with crack. Calliope wiped her eyes with the backs of her shaking hands. Nathaniel shoved William against the wall. Shattered shards of a vase, flowers, and a painting with a cracked frame lay on the floor.

“I heard you, you scoundrel,” hissed Nathaniel into William’s face as he held him by the collar. “Apologize to my wife right now, or I will demand satisfaction.”

The sound of many footsteps came from the sitting room, and the hallway filled with people. Preston, who appeared from the hallway leading to his study, rushed to stand by Nathaniel.

“Kelford, calm yourself! This is my visitor—my guest!”