He was not particularly proud of having broken the nose of his wife’s lover. But he had to admit that, like returning to Needham Hall, planting Sidmouth a facer had also felt right.
He made his way to his chamber, thinking it odd indeed how, now that he had returned, it felt in some ways as if he had never been gone at all. He stopped at Nell’s door and knocked.
“Who is it?” came her suspicious call.
“Jack,” he told her.
“Go to the devil!”
He grimaced, trying the door and finding it latched. No surprise there. “Will you be joining me at dinner?”
“No.” Her clipped response was also expected.
She was angry with him. Likely, the blow he had dealt Sidmouth’s nose had not furthered his cause.
“I must speak with you, Nell,” he tried again. “You cannot remain in your chamber forever.”
“Yes I can.” Her mulish insistence rang through the portal separating them. “I have no wish to see you ever again.”
Blast the woman. “You are being a child. Matters between us must be settled. I have kept my distance for three years, but that time is at an end now, and you must face that.”
Just as he had to face that his absence had been a mistake.
Silence met his pronouncement.
He knocked on the door, wincing as his sore knuckles connected with wood. “Nell. I am not going anywhere until you speak with me.”
“I have no wish to speak with you.” Her voice, whilst muffled, sounded nearer.
A good sign, mayhap?
“We must speak,” he tried again.
She made a sound of irritation low in her throat before the door opened a fraction, revealing she was still in her dressing gown. “What do you want, Needham?”
You.
He did not say that, however. It was too soon. There were too many unsettled emotions between them. Too much hurt.
He met her gaze. “I want to speak with you.”
“You have already spoken with me.” Her lips thinned into a grim line. “At length. There is nothing you have to say which I wish to hear, unless it is an apology for abusing Tom.”
His jaw tensed. “No apology is forthcoming. I would do it again, given half the chance. You will be wise to tell Sidmouth that as well. I will not countenance any more of his interference in our marriage.”
Defiance glittered in her brilliant eyes. “We have no marriage.”
It occurred to him then that they had spent more time apart than they had together.
“It is my intention to rectify what has happened between us,” he told her truthfully. “To move beyond the past. I want a marriage with you, Nell. I always have. That has never changed.”
Abruptly, she took a step in retreat, opening the door as she did so. “If you insist upon haunting my door, you may as well come inside. That way, we can put this discussion to rest at once.”
For the second time that day, he crossed the threshold of his wife’s chamber. Into her domain. There had been a time when he had known without question that he was welcome within. How strange it felt to be an unwanted guest. Distance and time had somehow rendered this part of everything—their separation—easier to swallow. But now, he could not help but to take note.
The door closed at his back with a snick, and he turned to face her. She was not as pale now as she had been earlier, but she was every bit as beautiful. He wanted to touch her. To take her in his arms as he had yesterday.
He restrained himself, knowing he needed to take his time, for both their sakes.
“You are not dressing for dinner?” he asked mildly.
She glanced down at herself, as if just realizing she wore nothing more than her elegant robe. “I will not have dinner with a villain.”
Had he expected anything less?
He inclined his head. “Fortunately, dinner this evening is with me, my dear.”
His attempt at levity did not appear to impress her. “You are the villain I was speaking of, and you know it.”
“What if I am not the villain you think me?” he dared to ask.
She raised a brow. “Your question is a moot point, Needham. You are every bit the villain I think you. Your actions earlier, in attacking poor Tom, confirmed it.”
He busied himself by moving about her chamber, taking inventory now in a way he had not bothered to earlier when he had been fretting over her remaining abed for so long. She had changed the wallcoverings, he noted. Pink damask had replaced the