Page 48 of A Virgin to Tempt the Duke

She was in the sitting room with a hot cup of tea and an old copy ofThe Mysteries of Udolphowhen she heard the entrance hall. Not a knock. A door. Then a crash. Something heavy, going over and toppling, and then voices.

Something is not right…

She was on her feet before she had decided to stand, her book on the floor with a thwack. She crossed the room and was in the corridor and at the top of the stairs, and then she stopped. The air in her lungs froze as she heard his voice.

“Where is my wife?”

Birchall…

Anna looked over a railing and saw him in the entrance hall below. He was broader than she remembered, or perhaps it was that she had spent months trying not to remember him clearly. He was in his overcoat, hat still on, which meant he had not been received. He had come in the way he did everything Anna imagined, by declaring the obstacle insufficient and barreling through it.

Anna stifled a shriek when she realized that Simmons was on the floor to the left of the door, half-propped against the wall and one hand pressed to his jaw. Birchall followed their gaze and looked up.

“My wife,” he said, and smiled. “There you are, dear.”

She came down the rest of the stairs, although she did not know she was going to do this until she had. Her hands were tight at her sides. She willed them to remain steady. She forced herself to breathe calmly.

“Lord Birchall.” Her voice came out even and soft. She was grateful for it, as she did not wish for any other members of the staff to suffer the same fate as Simmons. “You must leave.”

“Must I?” He looked around the entrance hall with a wide smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked at the door. He looked back at her. “No, I don’t think so. Not until I’ve retrieved my wife.”

“You’ve hurt the butler,” she said sharply, her heart aching for Simmons.

“He was obstructing me.”

“He was doing his duty!”

“I do not give a damn.” He said it agreeably, the way he said everything. “I’ve waited long enough for the obstruction to end on its own.” He took a step toward the center of the hall. She did not move back. “I knew you were here, you understand. From the very beginning!”

His eyes moved over her, with no more emotion than a man taking stock of his wardrobe.

He licked his lips. “Your cousin told me that a solicitor’s employee had been making inquiries around the staff at Edgeware House. Discreet inquiries.” A pause. “Not discreet enough, though. I’ve known for some weeks that you’d found help. Who else would it be, but His Grace, given his sister’s connection to you?” He said it without heat, the way a person describes the solution to a very simple problem. “I’ve only been waiting for the right moment, you see.”

“And you think that moment is now?” she asked. Despite her best efforts, her voice faltered.

“His Grace is at a ball. His sister is with him And here we are.”

“Yes,” Anna said as her heart began to race.

“So very composed,” he said. “I always knew you would be. You look?—”

“What do you want?” she said.

“What I am owed.” He said it simply. “You are my wife. You left on the morning of our wedding. I have spent weeks managing the consequences of that, and I have been remarkably patient.” He tilted his head. “Enough of this farce. I want you to come home, to our bed.”

“I will not go anywhere with you.”

“You are my property. You don’t have a choice?—”

“I have every choice!”

Anna could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she breathed through it. She had thought about this moment and what it would be like. She had thought about it since she left him at the inn yard, and she had thought about it in the months since. She had written the statement for Barnes; she had put it in her own words, and it had asked her to be precise about what had happened to her, and being precise had done something useful. It had given her the shape of it.

“You forced me to marry you,” she said as she took a small step toward him. “In a church, in front of a priest. Under coercion. I did not consent. I said so at the altar.” She held his gaze. “I have a solicitor. I have witnesses. I have a statement. What you didto me on the morning of our wedding will be placed before the court, and I promise you, it will not reflect well on you.”

Something moved across his face, but not the anger she expected. Something colder and more patient glinted in his pale green eyes.

“No one will believe you,” he said with a sneer.