Page 33 of The Wicked Duke's Convenient Bride
She turned her head. “Wait!” she exclaimed, sounding breathless.
He lowered his head and kissed her throat, and her hands curled over his shoulders, pushing him back.
“Stop!” she demanded. “I do not wish to continue this!”
He stopped, scarcely daring to breathe. Everything was hot and muddled inside his head. She had wanted this, and he had wanted this. Why had she ended everything so abruptly? They could have easily continued, which would have made for the most pleasant evenings. Tabitha flattened her palms against his chest and pushed him so hard that he nearly stumbled.
“Tabby Cat is much more fitting when your claws are out!” Matthew snapped.
Tabitha slapped him. He registered the crack before the pain. Tabitha did not strike with much force, but the act of violence still caught him unaware.
“How dare you?” Tabitha shouted. “Get away from me!”
“Away from you?” he asked. “I should like nothing more, but regrettably, you are my wife! You knew what to expect from this arrangement, just as I did.”
“I did not know that you were still in love with another woman when I did! Nor did I know that you would treat me so disdainfully simply for not being the person you want me to be!”
Matthew felt as if his blood had turned to ice. He fell quiet. Tabitha stood before him, flushed and wet-eyed. Fury was etched in the lines of her body. More than her slap, which left him stricken. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Think very carefully before you answer.”
“Or what?” she asked. “You will ignore me further? That would be a blessing after everything you have done!”
He drew in a sharp breath. “Do not cross me, Tabitha. You do not know what you speak of.”
“You married me, while you long for another woman,” Tabitha said, “and you intend to punish me every day for the rest of our marriage for not being her.”
He shook his head. Some of the cold shock of hearing her speak so openly about Rosemary had faded; in its place was a smouldering fury. What did this young chit know about losing love? What did she know about anything at all?
“You will never be Rosemary,” he said. “She was an incomparable woman, and you are a pale imitation at best.”
Tabitha flinched.
Matthew knew the words were cruel, and he did not care. A surge of injustice rose within him. Tabitha had brought this on herself. He had tried to make amends in a way, and she had rejected him.
“And you wanted a husband who you would not care for,” Matthew continued. “You wanted a man who would save you from scandal, and you have got both. You are a duchess, living in my lavish townhouse with all the freedom you could possibly desire, and you have the gall to be ungrateful for it! Apologies for giving you precisely what you wanted, Tabitha.”
She took a shuddering breath. “You—I can understand why she left you.”
“She did not leave!” Matthew snapped. “Rosemary loved me more than any other person on Earth. How dare you besmirch her and our love? You know nothing about her or me.”
“You are right,” Tabitha said. “I know nothing about you, and that is hardly my fault.”
“We will live separate lives from now on, like I suggested from the start. It was a mistake trying to be friends.”
“Friends?” Tabitha asked with an incredulous laugh. “Do you touch all your friends the way you touched me in the theatre? I should not have to tolerate such treatment from you. I am a burden until you find yourself overcome with lust, and then, I am worthy of your attention, am I?”
He stormed away, not even dignifying that with a response. She had not the faintest idea how difficult this all was, and he needed to leave her before he said something he really regretted. He went to the stairwell, ascending quickly to his study. The few staff he encountered hurried away, either sensing his fury or seeing the displeasure drawn in his face. Matthew entered his study and locked the door behind him. Once inside, he pressed his back against the door and tried to steady his ragged breathing. He wanted to scream.
How dare Tabitha even mention Rosemary? What right did she have to ask about his past, his personal business? He scowled into the empty room. Matthew had never been a man who liked to drink when he was emotional, but he felt like he really deserved a glass of strong Scotch right then.
“Damn you, Tabitha,” he hissed to the empty room. “Why could you not just let well enough alone?”
She would be gone soon, though. Jonathan’s lead had been so promising. It had to be Rosemary, and once she was safely returned to England, he could annul the marriage to Tabitha. It would be a perfect, happy ending for Rosemary and himself. And well—
Tabitha had known that he was married before her, and he had laid out all the terms of their marriage from the very start. It was not his fault that she decided their agreed upon arrangement was insufficient.
He was utterly blameless. Or mostly blameless, at least. Sure, he could have been more honest with her, but what did it matter? He did not imagine that would fix the root of their problems, which was that Tabitha clearly wanted a marriage that he could not deliver.
He stormed to his desk and pulled out the letter from Jonathan, the one which promised that a woman matching Rosemary’s description and miniature had been found.
