“A series of minor scandals in my family. And your…birth.”
“Nothing wrong with my birth,” he snapped. “I have it on good authority that I came out in the usual way, with lots of blood and screaming.” He leaned forward and took a childish delight when she straightened her already straight shoulders. “I think what you meant to say is that I’m the bastard son of a bigamist earl and that kind of thing tends to upset people.” He threw himself back against the squabs. “The ‘bastard son’ part of it, I mean. They’re all fine with the ‘bigamist earl’ part.”
Her lips tightened, which was a shame, because they were rather lovely full lips, on a rather lovely wide mouth.
“If you’d like to put it like that,” she said.
But why discuss his father? This affairs business was much more intriguing.
“So you truly don’t mind if I take a lover?”
“It is not a wife’s position to mind. Ours is not the model of a faithful, loving marriage that my parents demonstrated, but—”
“Faithful! Your parents. Ha!”
A slew of emotions chased each other across her face: Shock? Disbelief? Sorrow? Fear? Then her features settled into cool dignity, her demeanor a reminder that she was the granddaughter of a duke, thank you very much.
“You will not pollute my memory of my parents’ marriage with your own sordid views,” she said. “Fidelity was a cornerstone of their relationship and of our family.”
The truth writhed inside him but he held it in. The naive darling truly believed her father had been faithful to her mother. Ah, well. No need to rob her of her illusions. It hardly mattered anymore.
“As for your own behavior, Mr. DeWitt: I do not believe you have been celibate since our wedding day and either way, it is of no concern to me. I’m sure your self-regard will not be diminished if I point out that you are no more to me than a stranger who pays the bills. For which, I say again, we are all grateful. Besides, I’d much rather you bother other men’s wives, if it means you leave me alone.”
Excellent: She didn’t want him; he didn’t want her. Finally they agreed on something. Their wedding night had been nothing short of awful, however necessary. His first wedding night, now: That had been marvelous. He had been nineteen, then, and touching a woman for the first time and he was very, very enthusiastic. And Rachel had some experience and was not shy in telling him what she liked and what to do, and they were already friends. But with this wife, Cassandra…
No. What was done was done, and it was best that way.
“That was not my best performance,” he said, sounding gruff and stilted to his own ears.
“I hadn’t realized one scored points.”
“We had a duty. I discharged my duty like a gentleman and you bore yours like a lady.”
“England must be very proud.”
Perhaps he should have been more tender with her. Talked to her or something. But he had been as gentle as he could, and talking was a trap. It led to intimacy, which led to affection, which led to attachments, which led to trouble, and he did not need more trouble. Other men’s wives made the best lovers, because they already knew what they wanted and they always went home to someone else. And she’d just given him carte blanche to do as he pleased. Which meant he could drop a note to Lady Yardley after all.
Except that it felt all wrong.
Curse Treyford and his wretched bigamy. Had his bigamy never been discovered, had his marriage to Joshua’s mother not been dissolved, had Joshua not been disinherited—well, Joshua would have become a fully-fledged aristocrat with all the morals of a dockside cat. As it was, by going off at fourteen to work in Birmingham, he had made middle-class friends and married a middle-class woman and developed inconvenient middle-class values. Like raising one’s own children and being proud of hard work and staying faithful to one’s spouse.
Mercifully, the hackney jerked to a stop, putting an end to this torture. The cabin swayed and men outside exchanged yells.
“Never mind,” he muttered. “I hardly even remember it.”
“You probably don’t even remember my name.”
“Of course I do. It’s Clarissa, isn’t it?”
“Oh, well done, Josiah.”
The door opened and she allowed herself to be assisted gracefully to the footpath. Joshua jumped down and scowled at her. Blasted woman had to stop saying things like that, or he would find