Page 27 of Marry in Secret
And anything was better than watching her family tearing themselves apart.
Rose shook her head and said in as firm a voice as she could muster, “There will be no annulment. Thomas Beresford is and shall remain my husband.”
“That’s the way,” Aunt Dottie said. “Good girl.”
There was another short silence, then all eyes turned to Thomas.
***
Thomas ignored the silence that hung in the room. He stared across at Rose, staggered by what she’d just done. She’d honor her vows to him? Just like that? When only a few hours ago she’d been about to marry a duke?
Why would she do such a stupid thing?
He’d been certain she’d take the offer of annulment.
She was as pale and washed-out now as she had been when she lay unconscious in his arms. Her voice had trembled as she spoke the words, but she’d said them clearly and without equivocation. She would honor her vows.
He had a flash of memory of Rose on her wedding day—the first one—when a radiant young girl had pledged her heart to an idealistic young man. She’d been blazing with joy that day, like a thousand candles lit her from within.
Today she looked like a girl going to her execution.
He’d come prepared to wrest her—and her fortune—from the protection of her family. He’d told himself he was justified in doing it, that she’d moved on, forgotten him, wiped him from the record. That it was just another betrayal in the long line of betrayals.
And now this, an offer that took his breath away with its preposterous generosity.
In his determination not to let Ashendon get the better of him, to hold on to the rights that were legally his, Thomas had all but forgotten: Rose wasn’t just a rich society heiress who could solve all his problems; somewhere, underneath that composed ladylike exterior, she was stillthe rash, warmhearted, ridiculously generous girl he’d married, too tenderhearted and impetuous for her own good.
If he’d been fool enough to anticipate a joyful homecoming—which he wasn’t, thank God—his reception by her and her family would have taught him better. If she’d thrown herself into his arms, kissed him, if she’d even recognized him at the beginning instead of staring across the aisle at him like a frozen doll...
But she hadn’t. In the old days he’d been able to read her easily; every mood, every thought was reflected in her eyes. Now what she thought, what she truly thought, was anyone’s guess.
It should have made it easier to think of her as a means to an end. And for a while, it had.
But now she’d risen to her feet, pale but determined, and in the face of clear family opposition—and all common sense—she’d offered to honor her long-ago vows. Giving him herself and everything she owned on a plate, no questions asked.
It was insane, dammit! She’d done it again, thrown herself impulsively away on a man she barely knew without giving any thought to what was prudent or practical. Or wise.
If she thought Thomas was the same man she’d married, she was in for a rude shock.
The waiting silence pressed against him, expectant, hostile.
She’d said nothing of love. She only spoke of honoring vows. Of duty.
The Rose he’d married was a deeply romantic young woman who lived and breathed love—love for her sister, love for her family, and once, an eon ago, love for him. For Rose, duty had never come into it.
He hardened his heart. He needed her and her fortune and would do what he must to secure his rights and fulfill his obligations. Four years of brutality and hardship burned the softness out of a man. A good thing too. To survive, a man needed to be ruthless.
“Thomas?”
He opened his mouth to accept her offer—and made the mistake of looking at her again. And saw the trembling mouth, the fingers tightly knotted in a fold of her dress, the eyes full of... he didn’t know what. Some emotion he didn’t want to know about.
His own duty was clear. But dammit, he couldn’t do it, not while she was looking at him with those wide blue eyes, full of... he didn’t want to know.
He swore long and hard under his breath, then heard himself say, “You do me great honor by your decision, Rose, but your family is right.”
“What do you mean? I said—”
Now he was the insane one, blowing a fortune down the wind when he so desperately needed it. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “Things have changed.Ihave changed, and so have my circumstances. When you married me I was a young man with what I thought would be a bright future ahead of me. I had a career, the support of my family, a home. I have none of that now.” What was he doing, confessing all this—and in front of her family? Ammunition against him.
