Page 43 of Brazen Rogue
"How dare you, Sally," Bellamy seethed, glaring at his wife. Reign took a cautionary step back, having never heard his tone so deadly before. As if his words themselves could strike a person down.
"What is wrong with you that you would act so viciously toward anyone when you are so privileged? You live under the protection of my name. You tricked me into thinking that it was Miss Hall who would have been in that conservatory all those years ago to ensure I married you instead. You leave England for years. Abandoning your daughter and your marriage to rut about Europe with men such as the one who clings to your side even now."
The people about them all tittered at the marquess's damning words toward his wife. Ladies tipped up their noses at the marchioness's antics, the men shaking their heads in disgust.
It was Lady Lupton-Gage's turn to gape, and rightfully so; a surprisingly pink blush kissed the woman's cheeks. "How dare you insinuate anything about my character."
His lordship shrugged, meeting Reign's eyes a moment before turning back to his wife. "I will no longer pretend how you live your life is acceptable to me or our daughter. You flaunt your lovers, you taunt your equals, and you expect me to remain your forever loyal servant, well," he said, shaking his head. "I will no longer do it. The letter we received notifying us of your death, I believe you were behind. All a game to try to ensure that I was never able to find happiness. To bide your time until you could return to London, miraculously alive and ready to take up your mantle as marchioness when I did find love. You hated Miss Hall so very much that you kept this sick game of yours going for years, and to what end? To return, to laud it over her on the night we announced our engagement. And all because she was not as well-to-do as you. Not a child born of wealth and connections, but had the audacity to fall in love with one. A rich, titled marquess who loved her too."
Reign swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to blink her tears away, but they fell unheeded down her face. She had never heard Bellamy speak so, had never thought he would defend her so publicly or damn his wife in the same breath. But he was. Right at this moment, he had thrown all thought of scandal and what thetonmay think aside to defend her honor, to defend their love, and she had never loved him more in her life.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Bellamy knew he was possibly damning himself along with Reign and his wife with his public response to the marchioness’s atrocious behavior. It was well beyond time that he said something. Time for him to throw all thoughts of what the people surrounding him at this very moment thought, and to hell with them all.
None of them mattered in any case. All that mattered was Reign and the life he wanted with her. And now he would ensure that that future did come to fruition. No matter the trouble or talk, his decision would undoubtedly ensue.
His wife glanced about the room, obstinate to her very core and possibly such a narcissist that she did not gauge the temperature of her actions and what people thought of her. She continued, "There is little you can do, Bellamy. I'm your wife, you may try to pack me off to Derbyshire, but I shall only travel again. Do as I please, as I always have. I fooled you for two years with false accounts in which all funds came to me. I'm a marchioness and far more intelligent than you give me credit for. My brother is a marquess, just as you are. They will never allow you to treat me with such little respect."
Bellamy gestured to the throng of guests. "Really?" he asked her. "And where is your family this evening? They were invited and did not attend. Do you truly believe they want to be associated with a woman of such loose morals as yourself? I know I no longer do and will not, from this very moment."
There, he had said, out loud and publicly, for everyone to hear. A weight that had settled on his shoulders lifted, and for the first time in many days, he felt ... hope.
Sally laughed again, and yet this time, the sound was as brittle as her reputation. "You cannot touch me, Bellamy. You have never had the stomach to be hard against anyone. In all the years of our marriage, you have never shown anyone that you have a backbone."
Her words stung, and he ground his teeth, not too proud to know that what she said was true. "I have been a coward. Always worried about what would affect our daughter and doing my best to keep her reputation intact with a mother of such loose morals as yourself. Your death upset her greatly. She mourned you, and yet all the while, you were alive and could have spared her that pain. You do not care for anyone, and I have, madam, this very evening, grown a backbone as you say, and I'm going to wield it like a sword. I'm going to divorce you. Come ruination or scandal, I'm going to rid myself of your presence, of any connection I have ever had in my life, and watch you sail off to your precious Europe and stay there."
Bellamy stepped over to where Reign stood, watching him in awe, and he took her hand, lifting her gloved fingers and kissing them. "I'm going to marry the woman I love. The woman who should have always been mine as I was hers. I'm going to marry Miss Hall, my daughter's wonderful governess, my friend of many years and who, the moment I saw her debut, has held my heart in the palm of her hands." He leaned down and kissed her lips, no longer willing to let anything or anyone come between what he wanted and how he wished to live his life. "Marry me, Reign," he asked her.
She bit her lip, her eyes wide. The room was eerily quiet, so much so one could hear a pin drop.
"You cannot marry that commoner. How absurd, and I shall fight you, Lupton-Gage. I shall fight you to remain your wife."
He rounded on Sally, stepping but an inch from her face. "Why, when it is clear you have no wish to be my wife? You never have. And to be brutally honest, I loathed you from the moment you tricked me. That is no marriage I wish to be part of, and if you had any respect for yourself, your family, and your daughter, you would grant me what I want and be happy that I do not place you into an institution instead."
Reign’s comforting hand slipped into his, and he clasped onto her tight. Needing her more than anything. He looked up, taking in all his guests. "The ball is now at an end, my lords and ladies. Please request your carriages," he said, striding past his wife and pulling Reign along with him.
He left the ballroom behind them, running into his butler in the foyer. "Have a maid pack everything of the marchioness and send it to Lord Perry's London home. She leaves immediately and is not to step past this foyer. Am I understood?" he demanded.
His butler nodded. "I shall ensure all is as you wish, my lord."
Bellamy continued toward the back of the house, needing to be alone with Reign. This evening, he had placed her in a position that he had not wanted, but he needed to know if she would remain by his side. Be his as he hoped after all that was about to occur between them and in their future life.
Reign could barely keep up with Bellamy as he rushed through his London home toward the back of the house. He strode through a large morning room that allowed the light from the eastern sky and out through the terrace doors into the gardens.
With quickened steps, they made their way down to a stone-and-glass pavilion overlooking a small lake.
"What are we doing here?" she asked him, stepping inside the opulent space that looked like it belonged to the main house and not in the extensive garden.
"I must know. I must hear from you if what I declared at the ball just now does not frighten you away. That you will marry me as I hope, no matter how long that may take."
Reign approached him, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him close. He shivered in her arms. She knew the confrontation was something he deplored and in such a public manner had certainly caused him to shudder.
"I will wait for you, Bellamy. No matter how long or troublesome the next few months or years may be. I'm not going anywhere. You ought to know that of me by now. I waited for you even when you were lost to me in marriage. Even now, that I'm an heiress."
He frowned, pushing a few whisps of hair from her face. "An heiress. What are you talking of?"
She chuckled, leaning into his embrace. "Well, the one hundred pounds in the letter I received was in fact, ten thousand pounds. There was an error in the correspondence, but do you know what that means?" she asked him. "For us?"
