Page 107 of To Pleasure a Prince
But then the afternoon would yawn before him, hours of doing nothing because he could not concentrate on estate business or investments or even the treasures in his library. Finally, he would dine alone, since Louisa would not eat with him. Had not eaten with him since their return three days ago.
Had it only been three days since he’d left Iversley’s? It felt like three weeks…months…years. A torturous eternity. His bed was empty, and his heart was hollow. And the place at the end of the table, which should be filled by his wife—
Damn, damn,damn!
He thrust his untouched toast aside. He’d lived like this contentedly before, closeted at Castlemaine and tending to his estate, with only Louisa for company. He’d even gone through stretches when Louisa was so angry at him that she wouldn’t speak to him for days on end. So why did he suddenly want to hurl his cup through the clock that gnawed away his life with each slow, methodical tick?
Because of Regina. Because until his wife had exploded into his life, he’d never tasted heaven, never truly known what he was missing. She had changed all that, confound the woman.
And God, how he’d lapped it up. How quickly he’d grown used to waking up with a warm, willing wife in his bed. To having her settled sweetly upon his lap while he read the morning paper and tried to help her read it, too.
To being buried inside her so deep—
He groaned. That was how a woman like her kept a man enthralled, by being so soft, seductive, and ready to please that a man couldn’t help but root his cock deep inside her. Then once she had him by the cock, she led him around by it, and he was helpless to escape. If he even wanted to.
He hid his face in his hands. That was the trouble. He wasn’t sure he wanted to escape anymore. Any life, even among her society friends, was better than this.
Was that how Father had finally come to accept Mother’s infidelity? Because she’d worn him down? Because eventually he’d decided that any piece of her was better than none at all? Damn it, he would not let that happen to him!
“Marcus?”
He jerked his head up at the sound of that familiar resentful voice. “Yes, angel?”
“I wish to speak to you.” Louisa marched into the room as regally as any queen. Great God, she already walked like Regina. Give her a few years, and society would be callingherLa Belle Dame Sans Merci.
He stiffened. “I take it from your expression that you’re still angry at me.”
“I have just received a note from Lady Iversley.”
His eyes narrowed. “Oh?”
“She is requesting that I send apparel for your wife. It seems Regina and Cicely are residing with the Iversleys. Because they have nowhere else to go.”
“Nonsense, I leased her a damned town house.”
“She has no keys, and you never instructed the servants to admit her.”
He squirmed in his chair. He hadn’t even thought of that. “What about her brother? She could stay with him, for God’s sake.” Though he didn’t like the idea.
“Apparently she’s too angry at her brother to stay in his house. Not that it would matter. It seems he’s missing.”
“What?”
Approaching the table, she tossed a newspaper clipping at him. “Readthat.”
The minute he caught sight of Regina’s name, or rather, her married name, the breath dried up in his throat. Snatching it from her, he read:
Lady Draker was welcomed eagerly by her friends at the Merrington dinner party, who were anxious to hear about her honeymoon with the newly fashionable Lord Draker. His lordship had been called away on estate business, but accompanied by his good friends, the Earl and Countess of Iversley, Lady Draker shimmered in a delicate gown of French crepe in primrose and white, with…
Called away on estate business? He snorted. The woman was ever quick to hide the truth. She would never say,I abandoned my husband.
He skipped past all the fashion nonsense, then was arrested by the words, “Lord Whitmore.” His heart pounding, he read:
One wonders what Lord Whitmore did to warrant the viscountess giving him the cut direct, but Lady Draker made her displeasure at her cousin’s presence markedly obvious.
Marcus stared blindly at the paper. He’d threatened to bar Regina from his home, and she’d repaid him by cutting the very man who’d insulted him at Almack’s. Her own cousin. A man who would leap to take Marcus’s place if she would only give him the chance.
Clearly she wouldn’t. But how long would it be before she did? If Marcus continued to brood out here without her, how long would she stand firm? A cold fear closed its fist around his heart. Great God, what had he done?
