"If women occasionally seem a bit wild, my lord, it is almost certainly because men have driven them to it. Be that as it may, I do not intend to discuss my friends' roles in all this."
"No, I don't suppose you do. They helped you arrange the meeting at Leighton Field?"
"Yes."
"Thank God one of them had the sense to come to me this morning, although it would have been a great deal more accommodating of her to have sent word of this matter earlier. As it was, I barely arrived at Leighton Field in time. What are their names, Sophy?"
Sophy's nails bit into her palms. "You must realize I cannot tell you, my lord."
"The dictates of honor again, my dear?" His mouth curved grimly.
"Do not laugh at me, Julian. That is the one thing I will not tolerate from you. As you have observed, I came close to getting killed this morning because of you. The least you could do is refrain from finding it all laughable."
"You think I am laughing?" Julian pushed away from the desk and stalked to the window. Bracing one hand against the frame he turned his back to her and stared out into the small garden. "I assure you I find absolutely nothing in this whole mess the least amusing. I have spent the past few hours trying to decide what to do with you, Sophy."
"Such cogitation is probably bad for your liver, my lord."
"Well, it hasn't done my digestion any good, I'll admit. The only reason you are not already on your way to Ravenwood or Eslington Park is because your sudden absence would only create more talk. We must all act as if nothing has happened. It is the only hope. Thus, you will be allowed to remain here in London. However, you will not leave this house again unless you are escorted by either myself or my aunt. And as for your seconds, you are forbidden to see them again. You obviously cannot be trusted to choose your friends wisely."
At that final pronouncement, Sophy exploded in fury. It was all too much. The night of passion and fearful anticipation, the meeting at dawn with Charlotte Featherstone, Julian's arrogant indignation. It was more than Sophy could bear. For the first time in her adult life she completely lost her temper.
"No, damn you, Ravenwood, you go too far. You will not tell me who I can and cannot see."
He glanced back at her over his shoulder, his gaze sweeping over her with cold detachment. "You think not, madam?"
"I will not allow you to do so." Seething with frustration and rage, Sophy confronted him proudly. "I did not marry you in order to become your prisoner."
"Really?" he asked roughly. "Then why did you marry me, madam?"
"I married you because I love you," Sophy cried passionately. "I've loved you since I was eighteen years old, fool that I am."
"Sophy, what the hell are you saying?"
The towering rage consumed her completely. She was beyond logic or reason. "Furthermore, you cannot punish me for what occurred this morning because it was all your fault in the first place."
"My fault?" he roared, losing a good measure of his own unnatural calm.
"If you had not written those love letters to Charlotte Featherstone none of this would have happened."
"What love letters?" Julian snarled.
"The ones you wrote to her during the course of your affair with her. The ones she threatened to publish in her Memoirs. I could not endure it, Julian. Don't you see? I could not bear to have the whole world see the beautiful love letters you had written to your mistress when I have not received so much as a shopping list from you. You may scoff all you wish, but I, too, have my pride."
Julian was staring at her. "Is that what Featherstone threatened? To print old love letters of mine?"
"Yes, damn you. You sent love letters to a mistress and yet you cannot be bothered to give your wife the smallest token of your affection. But I suppose that is perfectly understandable when one considers the feet that you have no affection for me."
"For God's sake, Sophy, I was a very young man when I first met Charlotte Featherstone. I may or may not have scribbled a note or two to her. The truth is, I barely recall the entire affair. In any event, you would do well to keep in mind that very young men occasionally put into writing passing fancies that are far better left unwritten. Such fancies are meaningless, I assure you."
"Oh, I believe you, my lord."
"Sophy, under normal circumstances, I would never discuss a woman such as Featherstone with you. But given the bizarre situation in which we find ourselves, allow me to explain something very clearly. There is not a great degree of affection involved on either side in the sort of relationship a man has with a woman like Featherstone. It is a matter of business for the woman and convenience for the man."
"Such a relationship sounds very much like a marriage, my lord, except, of course, that a wife does not have the luxury of handling her own business affairs the way a woman of the demimonde does."
"Damn it, Sophy, there is a world of difference between your situation and Featherstone's." Julian made an obvious effort to hold onto his self-control.
"Is there, my lord? I will allow that, unless you manage to squander your fortune, I shall probably not have to worry overmuch about my pension the way Charlotte must. But other than that, I am not certain I am as well off as Charlotte."
"You've lost your senses, Sophy. You're becoming irrational."
"And you are utterly impossible, my lord." Her rage was burning itself out. Sophy was suddenly aware of being unutterably weary. "There is no dealing with such arrogance. I do not know why I bother to try."
"You find me arrogant? Believe me, Sophy, that is nothing compared to what I was this morning when I looked out your window and saw you climbing into that closed carriage."
There was a new, raw edge in his words that was alarming. Sophy was momentarily distracted by it. "I did not realize you had seen me leave the house."
"Do you know what I thought when I saw you step into that carriage?" Julian's gaze was emerald hard.
"I imagine you were concerned, my lord?"
"Goddamn it, Sophy, I thought you were leaving with your lover."
She stared at him. "Lover? What lover?"
"You may be assured that was one of the many questions I asked myself as I rode after you. I did not even know which bastard among all the bastards in London was taking you away."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Julian, that was a perfectly stupid conclusion for you to arrive at."
"Was it?"
"It most certainly was. What on earth would I want with another man? I cannot seem to handle the one I've got." She swung around and went to the door.
"Sophy, stop right where you are. Where do you think you're going? I'm not through with you."
"But I am quite through with you, my lord. Through with being berated for trying to do the honorable thing. Through with trying to make you fall in love with me. Through with any attempt to create a marriage based on mutual respect and affection."
"Damn it, Sophy."
"Do not worry, my lord. I have learned my lesson. From now on you will have exactly the sort of marriage you desire. I will endeavor to stay out of your way. I shall occupy myself with other more important matters— matters which I should have put first right from the start."
"Will you, indeed?" he snarled. "And what about this great love you say you have for me?"
"You need not worry. I will not speak of it again. I realize to do so would only embarrass you and further humiliate me. I assure you, I have been humiliated enough by you to last me a lifetime."
Julian's expression softened slightly. "Sophy, my dear, come back here and be seated. I have much to say to you."