without her. We argued and then I left. I didn’t have a choice. My income depends on me doing my job. There is trouble brewing in the north. We have to find out what is going on before it gets out of hand. I can’t take her with me. It’s far too dangerous. Penelope knows she was wrong and that is the end to it.’
The glow he’d seen in his friend when he first married had not returned. Apparently love was as fleeting as it was elusive. The idea of it made him feel cold. ‘Seems as if we are both caught between a wall and cartwheel.’
‘I know. Who knows why they do what they do?’ He shook his head.
‘And yet here you are, offering me advice.’
Mark looked up at him. ‘I’m trying to help. Yesterday your marriage was all set, today she’s at my house refusing to see you. It isn’t about money. Something must have happened.’
Bitterness rose up in his throat. ‘Mother happened.’
Mark straightened. ‘Your mother?’
‘She arrived while I was out. Fitz saw me and Rosabella together and blabbed on about it, I gather. Mother dropped some pretty strong hints that she didn’t think Rosabella was good enough for our family. She is such a damnable hypocrite. I threw her out.’
‘So you defended Rosabella?’
‘Oh, you know how it is between me and Mother.’
Mark gave a little grimace, which said he understood very well.
‘We were still sparring at the front door and Rosabella must have overheard me say that while I didn’t particularly want a child, I’d tolerate one if it came along. By the time I returned from seeing Mother off, Rosabella was up in the boughs and not listening to reason. I said some pretty harsh things, if I recall, and thought it better to leave before I said more. By the time I cooled off and returned, she was gone. I suppose finding that damned letter and the stone was all the excuse she needed to slough me off. Rosabella has pretty strange notions about family members loving each other.’
Mark nodded. ‘I see.’
His temper flared ‘What in hell’s name do you see? I ruined the girl. Now we have to be married.’
‘You muffed it. In my experience, women are a bit odd about marriage and such. They don’t care about logic. They want to be courted. Wooed.’
‘I wooed her exceedingly well, right into my bed.’ He squeezed his eyes shut. ‘I thought she was a widow.’
‘You seduced her. It is not the same. Not in their eyes. Women today expect a man to be romantic.’
‘Damn it, what are you suggesting?’
‘You must like her or you wouldn’t have—’
Garth put up a warning hand. ‘I find her attractive, yes. It might not be my first choice, but I am not as unhappy about this marriage as I might have expected.’
‘You could be a little more enthused. Tell her you care for her.’
The very idea of talking about feelings tied his stomach in a knot. ‘Why is she being so idiotic about this? She could be carrying my child. There is no choice but marriage, no matter how much money her father left.’
Another wince from his friend. ‘You—’
‘All right. I’ll talk to her. Tell her I care. It is all nonsense, but if it makes her happy, I’ll do it.’
The doubt in Mark’s face offered little hope of success.
‘Don’t worry, I know how to charm a woman.’
‘That’s what she’s afraid of.’
‘What?’
‘It is why she doesn’t want to see you. She is afraid you will charm her into wedding you. That’s what she told Penelope.’
Garth glowered at him. ‘Why the hell did she come to your house in the first place?’
‘Penelope. She told her yesterday that if she ever needed help she could come to us.’
‘Nice of her,’ Garth snarled.
‘You didn’t want me to turn her away, did you?’
No. His blood turned to ice at the thought of Rosabella with no one to turn to. Alone in London. Vulnerable. He shook his head. ‘No. If it had to be anyone, I’m glad she came to you and Penelope.’
Glad for her. He just wished she hadn’t left.
Her departure had created an empty place in his chest. He felt as if a piece of him was missing. A piece he hadn’t realised was part of him until he lost it.
No. Rosabella was his responsibility and he wasn’t going to let her go. ‘Convince her to let me talk to her.’
Mark pushed to his feet. ‘I’ll try, but you know I have never