Page 93 of A Scottish Bride for the Duke
If she stopped caring about him, that would solve this entire issue, and she could go to his country estate happily, not caring if he lived or died.
But then she would have to spend the rest of her life with him, and that wouldn’t be comfortable if there was no affection between them at all. What would happen when he came to her bed?
Right now, she knew precisely what would happen, and she kept several large, heavy books by her nightstand, just in case she would have to hurl them at the duke.
“He has decided,” Isobel said heavily. “And there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Well, tell him he’s wrong.” Eliza whirled. “Tell him that you refuse.”
“Aye, and then what?”
“And then you would remain here, in London, and I would be able to continue seeing you, and we’d put a stop to this nonsense.”
“If my marriage is to die, I’d rather not be around to have it happen,” Isobel said, rolling her shoulders at the way the thought hurt.
Ithurtto think that Adrian would cut himself off from her while she was still here. And after they had been so happy together. They’d been like a shooting star—a bright blaze of glory, then ending in a heartbeat.
Just like that, all the happiness she’d felt in his arms had gone.
All because of Moreton.
The worst part was, the threat hadn’t been a surprise. He’d known, long before she’d danced with Moreton, that he sought to end her life, and probably Adrian’s as well. Yet when she confessed such a thing to him, he claimed that now she was a liability and must be removed from London.
If only he’d thought that from the start. To spare her from this hurt.
“I don’t understand why you’re letting him dictate these things,” Eliza said with an angry snap of her teeth. “You are just as much in this marriage as he is.”
Isobel couldn’t tell her friend about the threat Moreton posed, so all she did was shake her head.
“I won’t fight for something that’s already lost.”
“You should makehimfight for it.”
Isobel’s heart gave another pang. The way he had shut her out of his bedchamber and told her to sleep elsewhere. Then, anger replaced her sadness. They had shared so much and she had shared her trauma with him, andthiswas how he chose to repay her.
“I won’t make him fight for anything,” she said. “But I won’t give him anything, either.”
Eliza stopped her pacing and stared at her with a gleam in her eye. “How do you mean?”
“Well, when he brings me back here, he might expect that I will fall into place and be his dutiful duchess, disposable and eager.” Isobel’s lip curled. “But there are consequences to actions, and if he throws me away, I will not come running back to him.”
“Oh.” Eliza dropped into place beside her. “What will you do?”
“Nothing he wants me to, that’s for certain. He thinks he can bully me into dining with him every day? Perhaps he can, but he cannae make me talk. I’m not disposable.”
“No, of course not.”
“I wanted to be here for him through everything, but if he doesn’t want that, then I won’t be giving him the satisfaction of returning and picking up the threads of our life as they were.”
“Good!” Eliza gripped her hands. “As you should. I still think you should remain here, though.”
Part of Isobel wanted to. A desperate, aching part, that burned with Adrian’s rejection of her. That part, all hurt, wanted to plead with him to let her in. To let her be a part of this life, and to let her fight alongside him. That part feared desperately for his life.
Adrian thought so much of his position that he might allow Moreton to take advantage of his weaknesses. And if something happened to him, Isobel knew she would never recover.
But the other part of her, this part anger, simmered in resentment. How dare he send her away after all this time, as though she was nothing to him? She knew he was doing so in part to protect his heart and her, but she still couldn’t stand it.
He was supposed to be her husband. Yet at the first sign of strife, he was sending her away.
