The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,3

tell me than just that my husband was dead. Something worse than that news. I can be held in suspense no longer—what could be worse than that he is dead?”

Owen Gregory had been watching the room with interest, quiet but observant, for the last few moments. But when she asked that question, his posture changed. She could see discomfort take over and it…frightened her. This man didn’t want to tell her the rest. Which meant it was very bad, indeed, for he had no affiliation with her, no reason to want to protect her.

“You might want to retake your seat,” he said, and motioned to the chair she had abandoned. She did so and gripped the armrests with all her might. As if they might support her, for no one and nothing else in the room would.

“Please just say it,” she whispered. “The suspense is horrible.”

He nodded. “Of course. I am sorry, Mrs. Montgomery, your husband didn’t just die. He was…he was murdered.”

“Murder!” her mother screamed, and was about to launch into another round of hysterics when Mr. Gregory raised a hand.

“My lady, please! I am not finished.” There was something about his tone that did the impossible: it silenced her mother.

Celeste leaned forward as the word murder echoed in her head. “What else is there?”

He swallowed. She watched the action move his Adam’s apple, noted the subtle shift in his position. “It has been determined that…that Mr. Montgomery was a bigamist, madam. You are the third of three wives that the man held at his death. Your marriage, I’m afraid, was not legal.”

Chapter 2

If her mother had been screaming theatrically a few moments before, now the wails that echoed in the room around Celeste were more genuine. But she could scarcely hear them over the rush of blood in her ears. It was all just too much and she could scarcely fathom it.

Erasmus was dead. Murdered. And a bigamist. The last year of her life had been nothing more than a lie. And the future was now as cloudy and bleak as it could be.

She fought to suck in a breath but couldn’t seem to do so as the truth of the situation settled over her, cold and heavy. Mr. Gregory seemed to see her distress, for his frown deepened and he crossed to her, taking the seat beside her. He caught her hand in his, his fingers warm against her own. He held her gaze steadily, almost intimately despite the fact that her mother carried on screeching across the room.

“Take a breath, Mrs. Montgomery,” he said softly. “Through your nose and out through your mouth. Slowly now.”

She blinked and did as he suggested. After a few focused breaths, she felt slightly less like she would sink into the floor and disappear forever. She forced a small smile. “Th-thank you.” He nodded and released her hand.

“I say,” Sir Timothy said, shaking his wife off his arm and crossing toward Celeste and Mr. Gregory. “You have come into my home and disrupted my wife and daughter. I think you need to explain yourself. We don’t even know who you are—how are we to believe anything you say?”

Mr. Gregory looked at her rather than her father. “I am happy to explain if I can. Why don’t we all sit? Mrs. Montgomery, do you need tea? Perhaps something stronger?”

Celeste blinked at the question and the earnest expression in his eyes when he asked it. He actually wanted to ease this for her. He had done so already by encouraging her to breathe, and he continued the pattern by offering her libation. When was the last time someone had done so for her? Thought of her, especially in times of stress?

She glanced at her mother, who had taken a seat on the settee but had her head in her hands and was still in minor hysterics. And her father, who was blustering now, but certainly at the behest of her mother, not because he felt some wild drive to protect Celeste.

She had been alone in the world for a very long time. It was an odd sensation to have someone thinking of her first.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Perhaps tea in a while. Right now I do think an explanation will go further in easing my mind. I cannot wrap my head around anything you are saying.”

Mr. Gregory nodded. “Understandably. I have dropped a weight on your shoulders that I wish I could have avoided, but in these circumstances it is sometimes better to