Page 25 of Cold November Rake

"Where were you last night?" she interrupted.

He glanced up, surprise evident in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, where were you before you were attacked in St. James's?"

"Opera," he replied, taking a sip of his black coffee.

"With whom?"

He set the cup back on the table. "Alone."

"Alone?"

"Yes, alone. Why?"

"Because this paper says otherwise." She threw the gossip sheet in his direction.

He caught it with his right hand. Temperance noted that his left arm remained unmoving.

She felt a pang of guilt for confronting him while he was in obvious pain.

He scanned the gossip sheet. "Where does this say I was not alone at the opera?"

His voice was cold, dismissive even.

Bastard.

Even confronted with his infidelity, he did not seem fazed.

"It says you were out for a stroll with your mistress."

"I was out for a walk with Marie," he admitted. "After the opera where she performed."

He went alone to watch her.

Temperance pursed her lips, jealousy burning in her chest. "Marie?"

Sutton's coffee cup paused halfway to his lips. He set it back in the saucer and turned his cold blue gaze on her. "Why do you care?"

"Why?" Temperance let out a sharp, incredulous breath and gestured toward the folded copy of The Brazen Belle beside his plate. "Perhaps because I am your wife and I expect more consideration from you than bedding me on the same night you bedded some harlot!"

"Then you are in luck," Sutton said smoothly. "She is neither a harlot, nor did I bed her."

The white-hot rage in Temperance's chest faltered, replaced by a ridiculous wave of calm. She hated herself for it. It was the barest minimum, scraps of consideration thrown from his table, and yet her heart had traitorously lightened at his words.

She believed him.

With ease.

Temperance had to shake off her easy calm. He might not have bedded Marie last night, but why was he permitted a public companion when she was not afforded the same courtesy? She knew the world's hypocritical rules: unlike him, she could not return home carrying another man's child. Still, it felt wildly unfair.

Granted, it was her past mistake that had fractured his trust.

That did not mean he had the right to shatter hers.

She was not about to suffer her entire life for a single moment of foolishness in her youth.