Midnight Star (Star Quartet 2)

er going to all the trouble of removing you?”

It is just as I thought it would be, Chauncey realized, staring fixedly at her husband but not really hearing his words. He hates me now. He wants to hate me.

“I did what I believed right!” she burst out, her hands fisted at her sides. “What would you have done, damn you?”

Delaney stroked his jaw, studying her flushed face. “I already told you what I would have done,” he said matter-of-factly. “I would have confronted you—something, my dear, that you didn’t have the guts to do. Had I believed you guilty, I would have killed you.”

“I am a woman! What did you expect me to do? Challenge you to a duel? Damn you, Delaney! I sought to ruin you, as I thought you had my father. Only I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Your holdings are too dispersed.”

“But you hated me enough to take the risk of riding out in the night to the warehouse, knowing that someone wanted you dead. Your notion of revenge, my dear, is chilling. Even if you had burned all the goods and the warehouse to the ground, I wouldn’t have been a begger—surely you realized that. After all, you are my wife, privy to the knowledge of where my money is. As your loving husband, I kept nothing from you.”

“Yes, I know that. But I felt so guilty.” Her voice broke. “I was falling in love with you, yet I knew that I had to revenge my father. Even then, you won. The damned fire was an accident. Can’t you believe that?”

Suddenly he started to laugh, a rumbling sound deep in his chest. “How deflated you must have felt,” he gasped, “when I told you I’d never had any intention of marrying Penelope! By then you were stuck with me as your husband. Poor Chauncey! Tell me, wife, what were your thoughts then?”

“No, I wasn’t deflated,” she said. “You told me before we were married. I am trying to tell you the truth, Del, all of it. I decided to marry you because I would, of course, be close to you, live in your house, and be able to learn of all your business plans.”

“Didn’t you realize that I would want you as my wife in every way?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t certain what it was all about.” She raised her chin in defiance. “I decided I could bear anything, that I had to bear it.”

“As I recall,” he said, his voice thick with mockery, “after the threat on your life aboard the Scarlet Queen, you very nearly ravished my poor body. Did you despise yourself afterward for being such a wild bitch?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that is honesty of a sort. And after you’d ruined me, what was your plan?”

“To leave you. Tell you that it was I who had ruined you, and why.”

“Ah, your profound desire to avoid conceiving my child. Do you know, dear wife, that I asked my mistress about contraception? Marie thought it a great joke.”

“I could be pregnant with your child at this moment, Del.”

He was drawn up at the soft pleading in her voice. “Yes, I suppose you could,” he said slowly. “Let us hope that I am not so virile, my dear. It would not be particularly pleasant for you to return to England carrying a babe in your womb, would it?”

No, she would’t accept it. It couldn’t be over. She lowered her head in silent supplication. “I . . . I don’t want to leave. I want to be your wife. I want to have your children.”

“Chauncey, I have been a great fool.”

She raised her head, hope in her eyes.

“If I were to allow you to remain, I would be that much greater a fool. All this time, I wanted you to trust me. Oh yes, I knew you were keeping something from me. But now I really don’t give a damn if you trust me or not, because you see, my dear, I don’t trust you.”

He turned abruptly and strode from the room.

“Del, wait!” But he was gone.

He did not return the rest of the day, nor that night. The following morning, he came into the bedroom.

“What are you doing?”

Chauncey whirled about at the sound of his voice. She gestured helplessly at the open valise on the bed. “I’m packing my things.”

“You will need different things where we’re going.”

She stared at him, hope once again building in her. “What do you mean?”

“When it rains, it pours, it would appear. I received a message late yesterday that there were more troubles at the Midnight Star mine in Downieville. This is the mine, you doubtless know, that earned such great amounts of money for Paul Montgomery. I can’t leave you here—I’m not that great a villain. You’d probably be found drowned in the bay within the week. I think it somewhat ironic that you should see the property that started this entire charade. You’ll need sturdy clothes. I’ll send Mary to you.”