Page 133 of The Sainted Duchess
“Why have you brought me here?”
“See, you keep asking questions,” he grinned again. A thought occurred to her that if her hands were not tied, she would have liked to knock that grin right off his face. “But I do not know if you wish to know the answer.”
She pressed her lips together.
“But if you really wish to know,” he continued, grinning, “it was really your own doing. Or rather, your husband's.”
Stephen?
“Really. He brought this on himself,” he continued. “Otherwise, I am quite the gentleman, as you know.”
“You’re holding a bound woman hostage,” she said. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Yes, I do. Clearly,” he said. “But you are my leverage.”
“Leverage,” Maria said flatly. “So this is revenge.”
“It’s justice,” Owen said. “Your husband humiliated me. He ruined everything I built.”
“You mean the lies you built,” she shot back. “Stephen told me the truth about you and saved me from your ill intentions. Did you really think the truth would stay hidden for long, and you would not get your reckoning? The ‘private vows’ you whisperedto women and then vanished. It makes me sick just to imagine it.”
“Don’t make them out to be so innocent,” his smile twitched. “They knew the game.”
“They were tricked,” she said. “You preyed on them, taking what you wanted and leaving them to pay the price.”
“I gave them attention,” he said. “Better than their own families ever did. And they enjoyed it.”
“That is disgusting,” Maria said. “And Stephen was right to stop you.”
“He tore down my name,” Owen’s eyes hardened. “He told every club. Do you know what that does to a man in this city?”
“It kept others safe,” she said.
“It starved me,” he snapped. “He dragged me through the gutter and called it moral. So I will drag him.”
“By holding me here against my will?” she said. “That’s your brave idea.”
“It’s the fastest way,” he said. “You are what he will do anything for.”
“You deserve prison,” Maria said bitterly. She had never met a man as disgusting as him.
“He won’t put me there if I hold you,” He leaned closer.
“He will. You underestimate his sense of justice,” she said. “And he’ll sleep fine after.”
“You think so?” His voice was calm now. “He’ll see the trauma that I’ll put you through. That stain doesn’t wash.”
“The only stain here is yours,” Maria said. “You chose this.”
“I chose a life,” Owen said. “A good one with willing women.”
“Not willing,” she said. “Fooled.”
“Same result,” He shrugged.
She stared at him, sick. Did he have no conscience at all?
“Stephen didn’t ruin you. He showed people what you were.”
