She had dined with Anne and Elizabeth in the nursery earlier and had given them their bath herself. Then, she had settled them in bed with another story and a seemingly endless round of hugs. They were sweet children, eager to please, and much in need of both attention and love.
If only she could say the same of their father.
On a sigh, she turned another page, cognizant she had failed to read any of the words strung together on the previous one. She had not seen Jasper for the remainder of the day. Nor had he visited her this evening as she had supposed he might.
It was just as well. She had no wish to see him. Perhaps he was spending the night with Mary. He had claimed she was not his mistress. However, that did not mean he was not sharing his bed with her. The bitterness invading her was unfamiliar, but there was no help for it. She had not expected for her marriage to change so abruptly.
Suddenly, a flurry of commotion in the hall beyond her room reached her. Thumps. Voices. Loud, low male voices. Although she was a newcomer to The Sinner’s Palace, she was reasonably certain none of the sounds emerging were ordinary. Or good.
Concern replacing the fury curdling her stomach, she snapped the book closed and leapt to her feet. She scarcely knew what the next moment would bring beneath this roof. Crossing the carpets in her bare feet, she opened the door to her chamber a crack, peering into the hall.
What she saw tore a gasp from her throat.
Jasper was splattered with blood.
Without conscious thought, she found herself in the hall, taking in the appalling vignette before her. Her husband was not alone, but his accompaniment was not a woman, at least. It was his brothers, Hart and Rafe, who were equally besmirched, copper staining their white shirts, bruises marring their jaws, blood on their hands and knuckles. Jasper was leaning on Hugh when he spotted her.
“Well if it ain’t my lady wife.”
His words were more snarl than welcome.
The scent of smoke and damp clothing reached her. But this smoke was different—it was not tobacco. When she had been a girl, there had been a fire in the kitchens at Langford Hall, and the acrid scent tickling her nose now reminded her very much of that. A half moon darkened the skin below his eye, his hair was damp and ruffled, and the knuckles of his right hand were caked in blood.
The three men before her looked as if they had just returned from battle.
“What has happened?” she demanded, fear lending her voice a sharpness that made it ring through the otherwise quiet hall.
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with,” he said.
She took note of a new tone in his voice. Was he in his cups?
“I shall be the judge of that,” she countered, flicking an irritated glance to each of his brothers. “Which of you will tell me what has happened?”
Rafe grinned. “We gave the Bradleys a sound drubbing.”
His words, too, were slurred.
Heaven help her. The Suttons were far more trouble than even she had bargained for.
“Who are the Bradleys, and why are you all bloodied and smelling of smoke?” she demanded next to anyone who would answer.
“The bastards who burned our building today,” Hart offered helpfully.
“I’m sure Lady Octavia doesn’t give a goddamn about what happened,” Jasper said, scorn lacing his deep voice. “London’s greatest scoundrel, et cetera.”
Perhaps the harshness of her earlier words had indeed landed their barbs in his impenetrable hide. But what was she to think? She had walked in upon him kissing another woman. And not just any other woman, but a prostitute.
&n
bsp; “Obviously I am concerned, or I would not be standing here in the hall in my dressing gown at such a late hour,” she returned coolly, refusing to look at him. “Hugh, kindly tell me what has happened.”
Hugh gave her an apologetic shrug. “It’s as they said. The Bradleys set fire to the new Sinner’s Palace earlier today and burned it to the ground. Mr. Sutton and ‘is brothers went to the Bradleys for answers.”
“And blood,” Rafe said with pride.
“And broken noses,” Hart added.
“Go to bed, woman,” Jasper said, stumbling a bit as he attempted to seek out his chamber without the aid of Hugh. “I’ve no need of you tonight.”