To Tempt An Angel (Book 1 Douglas series) (35 page)

“I’m waiting for your answer,” Robert said, his hands on his hips.

 “Do you actually believe me capable of murder?” Angelica asked, rising from the settee to challenge him.

“Do not answer my question with a question,” Robert said. “Tell me what you put in the man’s madeira.”

“Aunt Roxie slipped Emerson a purgative,” Angelica answered. “He will recover by tomorrow morning.”

Robert nodded, and his lips twitched into a smile. “I apologize for doubting you,” he said.

“Take your apology and stuff it in a dark place,” Angelica shot back. She whirled away and climbed into bed.

“Are you angry with me?” Robert asked.

Angelica answered by turning her back to him. She refused to speak to a husband who believed her capable of murder.

“Should I take that as a
yes?
” he asked.

“Whoever said the Campbells weren’t perceptive?” Angelica asked rhetorically.

Silence greeted her sarcasm. Then she heard the door click shut.

The Emersons had been in residence for less than a day, and already she and her husband were arguing. On the other hand, her husband could have assumed she wouldn’t stoop to murder. His confidence in her would have been appreciated.

A long time passed before Angelica drifted into a fretful sleep. She awakened the next morning to find the bed beside her empty but then heard a noise on the opposite side of the chamber. Rolling over, she saw her husband shaving.

“Where are you going at this hour?” she asked drowsily.

“I’m going fishing,” he answered over his shoulder.

“This early?” Angelica sat up and drew up the coverlet. “Do you want to be certain no one hears the screams of the worms and the fish?”

“Precisely.” Robert wiped the excess soap off his face and crossed the chamber to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’ve left some dry toast on the table and a bowl of nuts for Jasper. Be sure you eat the bread before you rise.”

“Thank you,” Angelica said, feeling guilty because he was being so nice and she had behaved badly the previous evening.

 “I apologize for considering you capable of harming Emerson,” Robert said.

“I am perfectly capable of harming the man,” Angelica admitted. “However, poisoning is too easy a death for that villain.”

Robert smiled and leaned close. He planted a kiss on her lips and then said, “I won’t return until early afternoon.”

“How many worms and fish are you planning to murder?” she asked, arching a blond brow at him.

“I’m going to Armstrong’s estate to look at a pony for Daisy,” he said, rising from his perch and walking toward the door. “Try to stay out of trouble until I return.”

 “Yes, my lord,” she called. “Your wish is my inconvenience.”

Angelica ate her dry toast, lay back on the bed, and slept peacefully for another three hours. After dressing and feeding the macaw, Angelica walked downstairs to the dining room.

The hour being late, Venetia sat alone at the table, and Angelica hesitated for a brief moment. She decided not to let the other woman bother her. After all,
she
was the Marchioness of Argyll.

With as much graceful dignity as she could manage, Angelica crossed the room to the sideboard. She helped herself to a buttered scone, a slice of ham, and a spoonful of scrambled eggs. Turning around, she sat at the opposite end of the table from the brunette.

“I saved you
The Times
,” Tinker said, setting the newspaper down beside her plate.

Angelica gave the majordomo an easy smile. “Thank you, Tinker.”

Angelica began to read the newspaper while she ate. Feeling a presence beside her, she looked up to see her nemesis sitting in the chair beside hers.

“May I speak with you?” Venetia asked politely.

Wondering what caused this change in attitude, Angelica stared at her for a long moment. Finally she nodded.

“I want to apologize for my outburst last night,” Venetia said, a pretty blush staining her cheeks. “My father’s sudden illness panicked me, but he’s much better this morning. You know, my father and I are close, much closer than he is to Alexander.”

The father preferred the daughter to his only son and heir? That was odd. Her conciliatory words put Angelica on the alert, however.

 “I forgive you,” she said and then turned her head to continue reading the newspaper.

“May I speak frankly?” Venetia asked.

Angelica looked at her again. “Speak, then.”

Venetia inched closer and dropped her voice to a mere whisper. “My behavior to you has been unforgivable,” she began, “but I would like to explain why I have been so despicable. After my sister died, I assumed that Robert and I would eventually wed. It seemed inevitable, since both of us had suffered a heartbreaking loss. And then you dropped into our lives.”

Venetia shrugged. “Naturally, I became upset, especially since—” She broke off and stared at the opposite wall.

“Especially since what?” Angelica asked.

“I suppose you may as well know the truth,” Venetia said after a long pause.

Angelica felt the first stirrings of panic beginning to swell in her chest. “What truth?” she asked in a small voice.

“Colin is Robert’s son.”

Those four words hit Angelica with the impact of an avalanche. She leaped out of her chair so quickly that it toppled over. “Another Emerson lie?”

“I am sorry,” Venetia said, looking decidedly insincere. “If you don’t believe me, ask your husband.”

“I won’t insult my husband’s integrity by repeating such a monstrous accusation,” Angelica said in a scathing voice. With her head held high, she marched out of the dining room. Returning to her chamber, she dropped onto the settee in front of the hearth.

It wasn’t true, Angelica told herself. Her husband was too good a man to have made love to his brother’s wife. How dare that Emerson bitch—!

Angelica’s head throbbed with troubling thoughts. Perhaps Colin’s father wasn’t dead; perhaps he was at the Armstrong estate looking at ponies. Was Daisy Colin’s sister instead of his cousin? She lay down on the settee and closed her thoughts by falling asleep.

“Alexander Emerson just arrived
.” Angelica heard these words as if from a distance.

“Are you ill?
”

Angelica opened her eyes to see her husband standing beside the settee. He wore a concerned expression on his face.

“I feel much better now,” she said, then yawned and stood to stretch. Venetia’s shocking revelation came rushing back to her.

“Is Colin your son?” Angelica asked, before she could swallow the words.

Robert stared at her for an agonizingly long moment and then answered, “I don’t know. Does it matter?”

His words stunned Angelica who had expected a different answer. “I mind very much if the man I married made love to his brother’s wife,” she replied.

“I cannot deny or confirm Colin’s paternity,” Robert told her. “Once,
only once
, a long time ago, I was drunk and—” He shrugged, seeming at a loss for words.

Angelica couldn’t speak. She plopped down on the settee and stared at him. She had married a stranger. Yes, he was the duke’s son, promised to her by her father all those long years ago. But he was a stranger to her.

“Say something angel,” Robert said in a choked voice.

Angelica tilted her head back to stare him straight in the eye and said, “I want a divorce.”

Chapter 20

An expression of unspeakable pain appeared on her husband’s face, making Angelica doubt her resolve. She watched him banish the emotion and, turning away, walk toward the door.

Was he dismissing her feelings? Angelica wondered, her anger swelling again. Had he nothing else to say to her?

“I meant it,” she said. “I want a divorce.”

Robert paused. When he turned to face her, his hurt had been replaced by a look of contempt.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped. “No one divorces.”

“I do,” Angelica told him, her voice rising in anger.

Robert ignored her and walked out of the room. The quiet click as he shut the door was more deafening than if he had slammed it.

“I do,” Jasper shrieked from inside its cage. “I do.”

“Shut up, you dumb bird,” Angelica snapped.

“Dumb bird,” the macaw repeated.

She marched across the chamber and covered the bird’s cage, saying, “Good night.”

Angelica remained closeted with her troubled thoughts for the rest of the afternoon. When her anger subsided, she began to doubt herself again. Perhaps she’d been too hasty, demanding a divorce. She loved her husband, only . . . She wanted the man she married, not the one who had made love to his brother’s wife.

Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. What was she supposed to do now? She had spoken the word
divorce
on impulse and needed to live with it.

“
Lady Angelica!
”

The chamber door swung open, admitting Daisy and Colin. Both children dashed across the chamber to her, and she greeted them with a sad smile.

“Hello,” the macaw called.

“Ignore Jasper,” Angelica whispered. “He’s in the doghouse.”

Daisy looked confused. “That’s a doghouse?”

“I meant that Jasper irritated me, so I banished him to his cage,” Angelica explained.’

“What did he do?” Colin asked.

“The dumb bird mocked me.”

“Dumb bird,” the macaw said, making the children laugh.

“Lady Angelica will you tell us the story about the poor girl at the fair and the prince who rescued her?” Daisy asked.

At that, Angelica burst into tears.

“Why are you crying?” the little girl wailed, her own bottom lips beginning to tremble.

“Your daddy—”

“What’s wrong with my daddy?” she cried.

Angelica realized she was frightening her step-daughter and set her own misery aside for the moment. She put her arm around her and assured her, “Your daddy is well. Do you want to live with him or me?”

“I want to live with him and you,” Daisy answered, obviously puzzled by the question.

“We may be divorcing,” Angelica said, and instantly regretted her words.

“What is
divorce?
” Colin asked.

“Divorce is when a married couple becomes unmarried,” Angelica tried to explain.

“I don’t want a divorce,” Daisy said.

Colin shook his head. “Me neither.”

“Well, I don’t want a divorce,” Angelica told them.

“Then we won’t divorce.” Daisy grabbed her hand, saying, “Let’s go and eat dinner now.”

Angelica nodded. She rose from the settee and followed them to the door.

“Hello,” Jasper called.

Angelica crossed the chamber, removed the cage’s cover, and opened the door. “Come, Jasper,” she said. “Let’s eat.”

“Eat,” the macaw repeated, making the children giggle.

Angelica and the children reached the dining room just as the others, including newcomer Alexander Emerson, took their seats. “Daisy and Colin, you sit in those two chairs,” she instructed them, glancing at her tight lipped husband. “Beside him.” After escorting the macaw to his cage, she sat on the far side of the children, away from her husband.

“Lady Angelica you look tired,” Duke Magnus remarked as the footmen began serving. “Are you feeling well?”

Angelica opened her mouth to reply, but Daisy was faster, announcing, “Daddy made Lady Angelica cry.”

“But we made her smile again,” Colin added.

Everyone at the table looked at Angelica, who blushed, and then shifted their gazes to Robert. Angelica glanced at her husband to find him staring coldly at her. His expression told her that he was not pleased.

“You made Lady Angelica smile? “ Duke Magnus said to the children. “How did you manage that?”

“My daddy wants a divorce,” Daisy began.

“
Divorce?
” Aunt Roxie cried, looking ready to swoon.

Ignoring their stunned audience, Robert tossed his napkin on the table and rose from his chair. “I told you there would be no divorce.”

Angelica bolted out of her chair. “You cannot leave me sitting at this table and stalk off in anger,” she told him. “I am leaving in anger first.”

At that, Angelica tossed her napkin at him and marched toward the door, leaving a silent audience in her wake. She glanced over her shoulder before stepping out of the room and saw her husband watching her, the hint of a smile flirting with his lips.

Of all the unmitigated gall, Angelica thought as she climbed the stairs to her chamber. How dare he admit to making love to his brother’s wife and then become angry with her!

Angelica sat on the settee and realized she’d left Jasper behind. Well, she had no intention of returning to the dining room to fetch him.

A few minutes later, Angelica heard a knock on the door. She knew it wasn’t her husband and hoped it wasn’t her aunt or sisters. She didn’t have the energy to argue and refused to tell the world what the problem was.

“Lady Angelica?” The voice belonged to Tinker.

Angelica rose and crossed the chamber to open the door. “Yes?”

“I believe you forgot something,” the majordomo said.

“Hello,” Jasper said, walking past her into the room.

“Thank you, Tinker.” She started to close the door, but the majordomo held up his hand to stop her.

“Your presence is requested in His Grace’s study,” the man told her.

“Requested or required?”

“Required.”

Angelica nodded and began to close the door again.

“Immediately,” Tinker added.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she assured him.

The majordomo left, and Angelica closed the door. No matter what she refused to tell the duke what this shocking problem was.

Angelica summoned her courage and counted to ten slowly. Leaving the macaw behind she left her chamber.

Walking into the duke’s study Angelica stopped short. Not only was the duke there but also her grim-faced husband and her aunt.

“Sit down, child,” Duke Magnus said. “I want to speak to you and my son.”

Angelica crossed the study like a woman going to the gallows. Three against one was unfair, but it was so like her husband to send for reinforcements. These Campbells cared nothing for her; they cared only for the babe she carried.