Vexing the Viscount

“I didn’t dare speak of this before now, but as we left the bedchamber at the party, I glanced back and noticed Emily adjusting her skirts as she left a room too.”

Shock knifed through her. “You think she and Jonathon were in a bedroom together . . . making love?” That could not be true.

“She told me he was upstairs, but not until I forced it out of her.”

Tia went still. Her only friend in London was cuckolding her husband and lying about her knowledge of Jonathon’s whereabouts. Braden’s arms tightened around her, enveloping her in his strength. “How could she do such a thing?”

“Lord Eldridge is far from a perfect husband. I am not defending what she did, but it cannot be easy to see your husband openly dallying with his mistress at a party. I would just like to know why she didn’t tell either one of us that Jonathon was at the party. Why is he staying away from both of us?”

“I wish I knew,” she said softly. Why would Jonathon refuse to pay a call on Braden?

“Every time you have received word or rumor of Jonathon it’s been from Lady Eldridge. How is it she tends to hear of his whereabouts when no one else knows?”

Tia’s mind spun. How had she not thought to question Emily about that? “I don’t know. I never thought about it until now. I suppose I assumed she was hearing something from the gossips or the servants.”

“I have had two runners looking for him. One is not known to be with Bow Street and is a member of Society. Not even he has heard a rumor of Jonathon.”

“You think he has contacted her, don’t you?”

“I cannot think of any other way that she could know where he is, when no one else does,” Braden replied.

Tia didn’t know what to believe any longer. A sense of betrayal crept over her. “I need to find out if she knows where he is.”

He reached over and caressed her cheek. “She may just lie to you in order to keep him safe.”

“But if she knows something, I have to convince her to tell me.” There was only one way to do that. “I will tell her about his opium eating. If she truly loves him, she will want him to get help.”

He shook his head. “Or she will deny that he has a problem. Many people in love will only see the good in the other person, not their faults.”

“Then what do you suggest?” she asked, frustration lining her voice. A part of her wondered if his words were a warning about his own faults. Was she seeing only what she wanted in him?

“Perhaps we should return to the estate,” he said softly.

Tia propped herself up and looked down at him. “You can’t mean that.”

“I think I do.” He looked away from her, but she still saw the pain in his eyes. “There is nothing I can do, Tia. He doesn’t want my assistance.”

“Give it just a few more days. If we still haven’t been able to speak with him, then we shall return to the estate.”

He looked back at her. “Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do we return as man and wife? As an engaged couple on the brink of marriage? Or will you continue to be my mistress out there where everyone will know?”

She bit down on her lower lip. The idea of their future hadn’t penetrated her mind. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“I could give you anything,” he said, caressing her face with his hand.

Anything but love. Every time she remembered how she told him she loved him, only to get no response, a small piece of her died. She refused to live in a loveless marriage. “I can’t give you an answer right now.”

“When?”

“Before we return.”

“So by the end of the week,” he said.

“Yes. At the latest.” Now she had four days to determine the best way to tell him that when they returned to the estate, their relationship was over. Her heart ached with the thought. She didn’t want to end the closeness she felt with him. She wanted to fall asleep every night to the sound of his heartbeat in her ear and his arms wrapped around her.