“My dear girl, easy is overrated.”

As the music came to a halt, he pulled her across the floor and into a dark hallway. The sounds of their guests and music followed then dimmed.

“We haven’t long,” he whispered, “But I have thought of nothing but this since I first spotted you in that scandalous gown of yours.”

William leaned down and kissed her passionately before she could protest that her gown was no more scandalous than any other lady in the room.

The soft yet demanding press of his lips drove her wild with desire. How did he have such power over her? It seemed unfair for she couldn’t imagine she made him feel so nearly undone.

When he ended the kiss, she could have sworn she was floating but she knew she had to come back to earth.

“William,” she whispered. “Our guests.”

“Damn our guests,” he replied, his voice low.

“I am too close to scandal to abandon them,” she pointed out.

“You know, I almost don’t give a fig. I want you as I’ve never wanted anyone before.”

His words gave her sudden hope that perhaps they might see eye to eye in many things. That perhaps she would be able to be herself one day. She certainly hoped so. But if not, she’d find a way for them to be happy. She would.

Chapter 11

With a smile on his face, William strode down the hall towards the card room that his wife and mother had arranged for the male guests who did not care to dance.

Marriage was proving to be very pleasant. Granted, it had not been for long but he was beginning to be certain that Felicity was going to be exactly the sort of wife he needed. A good hostess, beautiful, and intelligent. And a good sister-in-law. Mary was becoming positively radiant in her newfound confidence. Jane and Elizabeth absolutely thrived in Felicity’s company.

“So, who will make the first attempt at the new marchioness?”

Those words stopped William dead. His whole body tensed as he tried to convince himself that he had not heard what he was certain he had.

“She looks a prime filly, no doubt. And with her reputation, she’ll be ripe for bedsport. No doubt she’ll be as hot for it as her father. A right little hoyden.”

Laughter met this outrageous claim.

 William’s earlier pleasure died quickly, replaced by a deadly calm.

The voices came from the small study just before the card room.

Bracing himself, he entered.

Two young bucks stood drinking brandy and smoking cigars.

They grew quiet as soon as they spotted William.

William gave them a cold smile, walked to the brandy decanter and poured himself a drink.

They watched him silently for a very long time until, at last, one said, “Wonderful evening, Lord Marksborough.”

“My wife is proving a marvelous asset,” he replied evenly.

The young men glanced at each other like guilty schoolboys.

William palmed his snifter. “Now, I did hear one of you make some interesting comments about my wife.”

The slender fellow on the right with a shock of red hair William recognized as Lord Terry. He paled beneath his spattering of freckles.

Lord Eversly, on the other hand, a tall overly groomed blonde fellow, glared defiantly. “I’m sorry you heard that, Talbot.”

“Are you?” William queried.

“But face facts man, her reputation is bad,” Eversly said boldly. “She’ll be approached by any number of comers.”

It should have shocked him that Eversly so clearly felt that his wife was still fair game. It did not. He knew society and he knew men. Neither was to be admired particularly. “Reason or enlightenment isn’t your strongest suit, is it Eversly?”

Terry stuttered, “Surely we can all apologize and shake hands now?”

William felt the banked rage in him grow. “Shake hands?”

“Look,” said Eversly. “I meant no harm. You’ve slept with any number of married women, Talbot.”

“I have, but I’ve never spoken of any of them as you have done.”

Eversly rolled his eyes. “Come, man. She’s just a woman. We gentlemen must stick together. All ladies are burgeoning trollops, in my opinion.”

William eyed the other man, amazed at his stupidity. “You do realize I have sisters.”

“Yes. And, no doubt, your wife will corrupt them all.”

William arched a brow, further stunned the man could be such a fool. Someone needed to teach him a lesson. “Do you prefer pistols or blades Lord Eversly? And will Lord Terry be your second come dawn? For I swear, you—“

“My lord?” Felicity questioned as she hurried in.

All three men turned toward her.

She was so damned beautiful in her ruby gown, diamond necklace and tiara laced through her curling black hair. But her face, her lovely face, was a mask of horror.

“My lord, you are needed in the ballroom,” she added urgently.

“I am busy at present,” he replied calmly.

“It is extremely important,” she persisted.

“So is this,” William replied.

Lord Eversly bowed quickly. “Do forgive me, Lady Marksborough, but I must depart.”

William didn’t raise his voice but said, “If you must. I shall see you at dawn, Eversly. Someone will be around to your club to see Lord Terry. A place will be arranged.”

Lord Terry darted after Eversly, both of them leaving with an air of shock about them.

Felicity stood as stricken as a ghost. “William, you cannot.”

“I can and I will.”

“Why?” she demanded.

He looked away. He couldn’t tell her what they said.

“It was about me?” Her voice pitched low with sadness. “Oh God, of course it was. William, people will say wicked things. It is their nature.”

“I won’t let them get away with it.”

She rushed to his side and clasped his arm. “I beg of you to let them. Think of your sisters. Your mother. You have no heir.”

“Your confidence fills me with pride,” he drawled.

“I know your deadly reputation, William. But anything can happen. I am not worth it!” she cried. “Nothing is worth the risk of your death.”

Her self-derision nearly destroyed him. They hadn’t been married long, but he knew the moment she said such a terrible thing that she was worth everything. Felicity was the most worthwhile person he had ever met.

She was good and kind and strong and had to put up with a good deal from society and life. She hadn’t let it brutalize her.

She was the kind of woman a man loved.

And by God, he was falling in love with his own wife. With her intelligence, with her kindness, with the way she was good to his mother even when his mother was impossible, and now, with the way she put his sisters before anything else.

“Felicity, I can think of no better person to defend than you.”

Her eyes hardened. “You have saved me once. You do not have to do so again. You do not have to rescue me from all the ills in the world.”

He cupped her cheek with his palm. “But I want to. I want to protect you from all the cruelty you have ever known.”

“You cannot,” she protested. “Life is cruel, William. It is cruel and relentless and people who fawned over you one moment will destroy you in the next.”

“I cannot allow someone like Eversly to hurt you.”

“But don’t you understand?” Her gaze searched his face as she declared, “He hasn’t. None of them can hurt me. Only you can.”

“Only me?” He tried to understand her words but couldn’t.

“Yes.”

“How?” he asked softly.

“Because I don’t give a tuppence for any of them. But I do care about you.”

She cared about him? The words fell on his heart like the kindest balm. To his shock, he longed for her care. For her to love him as he was beginning to do with her. “What would you have me do?”

“Have Eversly send a written apology and have done with it. Surely the man is quaking in his boots. All London knows how good you are with a blade or a pistol.”

“I—“

“Please,” she pled. “If you fight this duel, it will not be about me, but about you.”

He tensed. “I beg your pardon?”

“My reputation is known. People will always gossip. They can’t touch me now. But there will always be someone making a sly comment about my father and his effects upon his daughters. If you fight this duel, it is because you wish to prove to the world that what they said isn’t true. Do you care so much about the ton?”

Good God, her words cut him like a knife but he couldn’t deny the honesty in them. He was affronted. He loathed having anyone speak thusly about his family.

“How do you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Not be bothered by them?”

She smiled then. “Because they are little people with little minds.”

He stared down at his wife, once again full of wonder. “You are astonishing.”

Her beautiful face hardened with regret. “William, I never should have married you.”

The wonder he’d felt grew cold. “I don’t understand.”

“I married you out of pure selfishness and now I see I have put you at risk and your family.” Tears shone in her eyes then. “I’ve put you in a position where you will always be wishing to defend me. You will always have to hear ill things about your wife. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It was a wicked thing to do. I—“

He grabbed her arms. “Stop. Stop this at once.”

She snapped her teeth together. Her body trembled beneath his hold.

“Felicity, you are better than all of them. All those fools. All those little minds and little people. Would you wish me a life with them and surrounded by them? Would you wish me a little-minded wife? Because that is what you are saying.”

She shook her head, tendrils of hair falling about her face. “I do not wish that. I will try to be a good wife for you.”

“Hear me now.” He held her firmly in his arms, determined to make her see. “I admire you. I think the world of you. I do not wish you to be a ‘good wife’. I don’t wish you to be anyone but yourself.”

She swallowed. “Truly?”

“Truly. I see now that any choice but you would have resulted in my life being one long stretch of expected paths. Of simple choices. You are right. There will be derision and, possibly, scandal. But damn them all to hell. You and I together can overcome any situation if we put our minds to it.”

Suddenly, the tears that had glistened in her eyes overflowed and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

“What?” he asked softly. “What did I say?”

“You and I together,” she replied. “To hear those words fills my heart with joy.”

“We are husband and wife, Felicity, and we must behave like it.”

“William,” Felicity began passionately. “I lo—“

“Do you know what is happening?” His mother’s voice cut through the building intensity of the smaller room and through whatever Felicity had been about to confess.

William fought the urge to tell her to get out.

He loved his mother but she had terrible timing. He felt sure he knew what Felicity had been about to say and he wished to hear it more than anything in the world.

“Mother, now is not an appropriate moment.”

“Appropriate?” repeated his mother. “Appropriate? The word is perfectly apt. My presence is absolutely appropriate as you must be told that your wife is now, once again, the subject of every tongue. As are you. My God, William, a duel?”

“Yes, mother,” he replied quietly, unable to tear his gaze away from Felicity’s. “A duel.”

“There will not be a duel,” Felicity said firmly.

“Of course there won’t,” his mother snapped. “Not over you. Not over a bit of baggage so damaged by her family that you bring more scandal by the moment.”

“Mother,” he gritted. “I called Eversly out for speaking ill of her.”

“Will you call me out, too, then?” his mother demanded.

“No, I’ll send you to Yorkshire.”

“Your own mother?” His mother lifted a hand to her bosom in ill-timed horror. “Over her?”

Small minds and little people, he thought. “Mother, I would like to see you prove yourself better than the rest of society but it seems you will not.”

That stopped her short. “William—“

“You have barely made yourself gracious to Felicity and she has met your veiled hostility with tact and calm. Not once has she been provoked.” He shook his head sadly. “Who is the lady here?”

His mother stilled. “William, how can you say such things?”

His heart ached.

“Please, please do not argue,” Felicity begged. “I will not be a wound between you.”

His mother whipped towards her. “You cannot fool me with your sweet words. You cannot be as good as you seem. Not with the bad blood—“

“Mother,” William cut in quietly.

The tone of his voice stopped his mother.

“I love you,” he said, his throat tightening as he stared at the woman who had brought him into this world. “But I wish I could be proud of you, too.”