“William.” His name emerged from her tight throat in a catch.

He pressed his thumb to her mouth, sealing it. “Don’t say anything, please. I just want you to understand what you mean to me.”

With that, he got to his feet.

Julia snapped her head up. “Where are you going?”

“To let Lady Bursbury know you are well. She’s terribly worried.” He swept a hand over Julia’s hair in an affectionate caress. “And to allow you time to think over what I’ve said.”

But she didn’t have to think. She already knew. This man who had faced his fears to save her, who had lost everything and sought only to gain back the wholeness of his heart, she had to give him a chance. She had to give herself a chance.

He paused at the door. “To be fair, I do not count this as your prize. If you would like to claim another, I will offer no complaints.” Then he was gone.

She couldn’t help the smile on her lips any more than she could dim the lightness in her soul. For she knew her fears about William were unfounded.

That was not all she had reconciled within her soul. She was finally ready to admit what she had felt the first time those warm brown eyes met hers. It had fueled her suspicion and put a visceral edge to her fear, and now she finally understood why: she loved her husband.

She always had.

WILLIAM HAD SPENT most of his life behind a shield, steeling himself and his heart from rejection. However, the baring of his deepest hurt and greatest wish to Julia did not leave him as achingly vulnerable as he had anticipated. No, he felt comforted, the rocky bed of his childhood finally smoothed.

She knew now what he wanted, and why he wanted it. He only hoped it would be enough to change her mind. Not that he would ever stop trying if it didn’t.

Lady Bursbury had been exceedingly grateful he had informed her Julia’s burn was minor and she would recover easily. He’d never seen Lady Bursbury in such a nervous state, and she’d continued to apologize profusely, despite it not being any real fault of hers.

As he approached the chamber to return to Julia, the door to his right opened and Lady Venerton stepped out. She caught his gaze and her eyes widened. “Your Grace,” she gasped.

Quickly, she shut her door and swept toward him.

William stiffened and resisted the very rude urge to take a step away from her. The odor of brandy hovered around her like a fog.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said in a breathy whisper.

William exhaled to avoid being victim to her pungent breath. Good God, had the woman drank a full decanter on her own?

“Lady Venerton, my wife has been injured, if you’ll recall—”

“That is what I wanted to talk to you about.” Lady Venerton pushed her shoulders back so her small breasts were shoved high on her chest. She lowered her head in a way she must have intended to be seductive, except it made her look as fully foxed as she smelled, eyes half-mast and mouth slack. “She doesn’t deserve you. I know men like you. Strong, healthy, virile. You need—”

“This is highly inappropriate.” William turned from the woman.

She grabbed his arm, her grip strong. Before he could realize what the countess was doing, she threw her body against him. William flew back against the wall at the unexpected press of weight and knocked a vase from the table. It crashed to the floor, and Lady Venerton’s mouth pressed wetly against his.

A soft cry came from somewhere behind Lady Venerton.

“William.”

He recognized that voice. Oh God, he recognized that voice.

Julia.




CHAPTER 9




JULIA COULDN’T THINK. She could only run. Away from the scene, away from the hurt. Away from the husband who had betrayed her.

“Julia—wait.” William shouted somewhere behind her, but she didn’t stop. Not even when the aged Lord Venerton ran past her, nearly knocking her to the ground.

“I knew there was something between the two of you,” a reedy voice hissed.

Julia turned in time to see him deliver a solid blow to William. She was not the only victim.

Her heart clattered in her chest. Heat blazed through her and made the pain in her arm agonizing. The warmth seemed to press into her lungs and fog her brain. She needed to get outside. Just for a moment. Just to breathe.

She raced through the front door and slammed directly into a person. She reeled back and looked up to find Lord Hesterton staring down at her as though she’d grown a second head.

“It’s cold out here, Your Grace.” His obvious statement was delivered with his usual bored drawl.

The chill in the air washed over her like a cool cloth. “I need to get some air,” she gasped. “To just…forgive me, but to just be alone.”

“Now that I understand.” He gave her a soft smile. “Will you at least accept my coat?”

Was she not wearing a coat? Her mind spun. Of course, she wasn’t. She hadn’t time to put one on.

She nodded, and he pulled the coat from his shoulders and draped it over hers. The lining inside was still warm from the heat of his body.

“Thank you,” she said in puff of frozen air and rushed from the house.

He called after her, something she could scarcely make out. But she didn’t ask him to repeat it. She didn’t care. All that mattered was the agonizing chasm filling her chest.

William.

He had betrayed her exactly as her father had done to her mother. She was grateful it had not gone too far. She had not told him she loved him. What a fool she would have been then.

The moon cast its brilliant light overhead and turned the world into a wash of purple blue snow. The wind had stopped, and the night was still.

Lady Venerton.

Louisa.

The vilest of all women.

Julia stiffened.

The vilest of all women.

A woman who easily took what she wanted, even when it was obvious the feelings were not mutual. Julia exclaimed her own stupidity into the night air. She had fallen too quickly on her fears rather than her trust.

She needed to go to William, to get the entire story from him. To know for certain.

A deep, terrible groan came from beneath her feet. Confusion caught her for only a moment and then the terrifying understanding dawned. She had wandered onto the frozen lake.

She spun around to turn in the other direction, when the ice beneath groaned again, and gave a splintering crack.

WILLIAM HELD Lord Venerton’s wiry frame back with one arm. The elderly man swung feebly at William, each blow too far away to land.

“I have never had anything to do with your wife, Venerton,” William growled. “See to your wife and leave me be.”

Lord Venerton regarded his wife.

“I’ve never struck a woman.” William glared at Lady Venerton, who staggered drunkenly and regarded them both with a smug, bleary smile. “And I won’t start today,” William continued. “But I’ve never been more tempted.”

With that, he raced down the stairs where Julia had gone. Was she in the library? The drawing room perhaps?

Hesterton waved at him. “I believe your wife has lost her mind.”

William grabbed the marquis by the shoulders. “Where is she?”

“Outside, wandering about on the frozen lake.” Hesterton frowned. “I tried to tell her—”