Indiscretions by Ranstrom Gail

Author:Ranstrom, Gail [Ranstrom, Gail]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2011-12-15T08:00:00+00:00

Who is that woman?

Elise stared at the face in her dressing table mirror. She looked only vaguely familiar—her eyes, her mouth, her nose—but somehow not familiar at all. How ironic that the woman she had pretended to be should be more real to her than her own self.

The little clock on her writing desk struck seven as she picked up her brush to run it through her hair. Behind her in the mirror, the sight of a chair propped beneath her doorknob was a stark reminder of what her life had become. She could not even leave her door open for her maid. She was a self-imposed prisoner without bars, a hostage to her son’s safety.

She threw the brush down and stood, wondering what to do next. She couldn’t think, couldn’t eat or sleep. After the tedious voyage, broken only by occasional games of whist with Mr. Doyle and other passengers, she had sped from the docks to the house in Mayfair, leaving her things aboard to fetch later. Alas, no sign of William. Only Barrett awaited her.

He’d known she’d come. He did not have to find her. All he had to do was claim William and let the headmaster do the rest. And the irony was that Barrett did not want either of them. A man with a runaway wife was the object of many jokes. He only wanted to exert his power over them, enforce his “rights” and, perhaps, regain his standing in the ton and his family’s jewelry. He hadn’t bothered to retrieve her things from Captain Gilbert until she’d told him she’d brought the jewelry back.

She glanced again at the chair beneath the doorknob. That was one right, however, that he’d never reclaim. Even though he had agreed to her terms, he had come to her door every night. She’d heard his wheezing on the other side of the panel, had seen the knob twist with excruciating slowness, as if he were testing it. After a moment, he would go away, apparently unwilling to fuel the servants’ gossip by forcing the issue. But that day was coming. Already he was testing her door at any time of the night or day. He would not suffer her rejection long.

The worst of her regrets was Lockwood. Had she not known his passion, she might have been able to bear her husband’s touch. Tears burned her eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. Last night, facing his anger, she’d wanted to die. What was the use of trying to explain? Nothing could change the fact that she was Lord Barrett’s wife. Or that she would remain such for as long as William was a hostage.

And now Lockwood hated her. His scorn last night had cut deeply. The look in his eyes had told her that his love had turned to ashes. His pain had equaled hers. The difference was that she would always love him, and he had already stopped loving her.

Even Barrett had remarked upon it.

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