Page 86 of Temptations of a Wallflower
Jeremy attempted to write a letter to Mr. Wolbert, but his efforts stuttered into a page filled with half-begun sentences. At last, he resigned himself to doing nothing but gazing into the fire as his thoughts roiled. His heart thudded heavily as he anticipated going to bed, and what would follow.
Finally, his mother rose with a yawn. “It’s been a very long day.”
“So it has,” Sarah agreed, turning around. “I think I’ll retire.”
“I’ll join you in a moment,” Jeremy said, his words and movements deadened.
Sarah frowned at him, but, after saying good night to his parents, she left the drawing room.
“Are you two quarreling?” his father demanded once she’d gone.
Was it a quarrel? It would soon be nothing but an empty query. But until Sarah put his mind at ease, Jeremy didn’t know what to call how he felt.
“Everything is fine,” he said woodenly.
His mother looked as though she wanted to quiz him on the subject, but she kept silent. He pressed a goodnight kiss to her cheek, nodded at his father, and headed for his bedchamber. Each step felt as thoughhe was climbing the stairs to the gallows. His footfalls were heavy and thudding.
He stared at his hand as it hovered over the doorknob to the bedroom. It was someone else’s hand. Someone else’s arm attached to his body—a body he couldn’t even feel. He merely needed to open the door and find Sarah on the other side. Then he would have all his answers. Then his fears would be laid to rest, and he’d never have to think of this again.
He turned the doorknob. Slowly pushed open the door.
The room was in half light and half darkness, the fire casting dancing shadows over everything. His gaze slowly moved across the carpet, to the bed. To Sarah standing at the head of the bed, with a sheet of the manuscript in her hand.
She would look at him with a puzzled expression. Or she would laugh. Then he would exhale. Then his mind and body would calm.
But one glance at her face, and he understood.
She stared at him, her eyes wide, her face ashen. She looked as though someone had presented her with her own corpse.
It was true. His wife truly was the Lady of Dubious Quality.
Chapter 25
A man stood on my balcony. Moonlight limned his tall, broad-shouldered figure, turning him into an apparition from the depths of midnight dreams.
He was none other than Jacob Clearwater . . .
The Highwayman’s Seduction
The world disintegrated around Sarah, and no matter how much she struggled, nothing could end her limitless fall.
In her hand, she held the means of her destruction. Standing in the bedchamber was the man bringing ruination—Jeremy. Her husband.
Everything she’d hoped would never come to pass had done so. In the worst possible way.
All she could do was stare at Jeremy, hoping, praying that he wouldn’t be angry. But that was a futile hope.
“No denial?” he rasped. “No words of confusion or refutation?”
She managed to speak. “I wouldn’t insult you that way.”
He gave a hoarse laugh. “So now you’ve found your integrity.” Stepping closer, he growled, “You’ve played me for a fool.”
“That was never my intention.”
“No?” he demanded. “You willfully imperiled my career. My family.”
Carefully, as though it had been a lit bomb, Sarah moved the entire manuscript, putting it down on the nightstand. “I didn’t know you were the man looking for the Lady of Dubious Quality, not until yesterday.”
