Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

L ouise went back inside, hearing her father’s angry footsteps retreating into the garden.

She rejoined the group, feeling Christian’s eyes on her the entire time, but she avoided looking at him.

“Where is your father?” her mother asked, looking at the terrace in surprise.

“He left, Mama.”

“Left?” Lady Northbridge echoed, furrowing her brow.

“I believe he had some business to attend to,” Louise offered, acutely aware of Christian’s eyes boring into her. “Urgent business.”

Lady Northbridge shifted in her seat, appearing uncomfortable suddenly as she cleared her throat. She looked over at Christian, her hands clenching into fists in her lap.

“I see. Well, I would not wish to be here without my husband. Your Grace, I can only apologize for him leaving without bidding you farewell. I am sure he had a good reason.”

Christian’s expression was nonchalant, but he nodded his head at her respectfully.

Marcus leaned forward in his chair and carefully handed Jack to Louise. “I would be happy to escort you home, Lady Northbridge,” he offered solemnly.

“Oh, there is no need, Lord Marcus. But I am most grateful for the offer. It is not far, and I shall enjoy the walk.”

“I insist,” Marcus said, standing up.

Lady Northbridge looked rather startled by his persistence, but her shoulders did relax, and she sighed. “Very well then.”

Christian rose too, and the whole party showed the Countess to the door.

As they stood in the entryway, Lady Northbridge turned to Louise and pulled her into her arms. “It was lovely to see you, as always,” she said earnestly.

Christian was murmuring something to his brother, his voice too low for either of them to hear, but as their attention was elsewhere, Lady Northbridge leveled Louise with a sharp look.

“Will you allow me to visit you without your father, dearest? I do not want us to become estranged because of the… bad blood between them.”

“Of course, Mama. You are always welcome in our home. I hope you know that.”

Lady Northbridge smiled gratefully and gave a single nod before Marcus offered her his arm and they walked out into the chilly air.

Louise watched them go, her mother’s youthful gait reminding her once again of how much she had sacrificed for her father and how little he seemed to appreciate it.

“What is it?” Christian asked tersely as soon as they were out of earshot. “You came back inside as white as a sheet. What did your father say to you?”

Louise shook her head, her eyes lingering on Marcus and her mother. “Let us return to the drawing room. I do not wish to speak about it here.”

Christian looked as though he wanted to insist, but as she walked away, he followed her back into the room.

As Louise listened to the gentle bustle of the staff below stairs, she mulled over how much her life had changed in so short a time.

A week ago, if anyone had asked me if I would defend my husband against my father, I would have laughed at them. And now here I am, protecting him above all else.

Once they had returned to the bright drawing room, Louise looked around the floor for Jack. She had placed him on a chair before they left the room, and now he was lying beside the fire, his belly to the flames, his paws splayed out happily.

Louise turned back to Christian, who closed the door rather defiantly and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, uncertain how to begin the conversation.

My father has insulted Christian in every manner imaginable. It is a question of which offense to reveal first.

“What did the Earl say?” Christian demanded.

“You must promise not to be angry.”

“I will promise no such thing.”

Louise huffed. “I do not want you to come to blows. My father is a formidable man, and he has threatened to ruin you.”

Christian’s eyes hardened at that. “And how, pray tell, is an already ruined man planning to ruin me ?”

“This is exactly what I mean,” she said briskly. “You have a rivalry that goes back years. It will never be settled if you continue to provoke each other.”

“Ha!” Christian scoffed incredulously. “Then the Earl wishes to settle things, doesn’t he? And how did he propose to do so? Alone, with just his daughter to speak to?”

Louise wrung her hands in front of her, dreading his reaction but knowing she would have to confess all the same.

“He told me that he wanted the deed to our townhouse. Is it true that you have it?”

Christian’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes, it is true, although I am astonished that he revealed as much to you. He must be truly desperate.”

“I do not think he has anything left to lose,” she confessed. “He was agitated, speaking about the power you hold over him while you are in possession of the deed.”

“I intend to keep it forever,” Christian replied grimly. “Would you honestly trust him with it more than me? He also holds your mother’s life in his hands, and I imagine he values that as highly as he values yours.”

Louise’s stomach churned at the thought of her father harming her mother in other ways besides using his fists.

Would Christian really protect us?

Her father’s words were still ringing in her ears. Although she did not trust him, she knew there was a grain of truth in what he had said about her husband.

“I am grateful that you would protect my mother and my future,” she said, “but that is not all he wanted.”

“What else?”

“He told me to ask you for money. Well, he told me to take money from you and give it to him. I do not know where he expects me to find it, but he asked me all the same.”

“This is preposterous,” Christian snapped. “I will deal with it.”

Louise blinked at him. “You will deal with it? How will you deal with it?”

“In my own way. He is not the first man to wrong me, although he was one of the first. It is depressingly predictable that he has neither changed nor improved over the years.” Christian pulled out his fob watch and grunted as he checked the hour. “I shall deal with this,” he muttered, almost to himself.

To her dismay, he opened the door and left the room.

Louise was forced to follow him at a light trot to keep up. Christian’s shoulders were pulled back and tense, his stance altogether confrontational, and she dreaded what was to come.

He walked into his study, leaving the door open behind him, apparently anticipating that she would follow him. He moved to his desk and began gathering some papers, looking over a few things before placing them into a leather-bound binder.

“Are you leaving?” Louise asked helplessly.

Have I just made everything worse? Should I have held my tongue?

“Yes,” he said curtly. “I expect to find the Earl at his precious club . I will make sure that he understands his position once and for all.”

“You will not hurt him.” Louise meant it as a question, but it came out as a demand.

Christian paused, looking up at her. “Do you honestly think I would intend to harm anyone? I didn’t think you thought so little of me.”

“You have banished him from your house,” Louise hissed, “and I know there is no goodwill between you.”

“I will do as a gentleman does and put him in his place with words .”

He deposited one last piece of parchment in the binder and rounded the desk as though to walk straight past her and out of the room. Louise grabbed his arm before he could do so.

Christian looked down at her questioningly. His proximity had the usual effect on her, and she stepped back so as not to be drawn to him again.

“My father said something else.”

Christian lowered the binder and turned to her. “And what was that?”

“That you only married me because you felt you had something to gain. He said that you did it for revenge and nothing more.” She searched his eyes for any hint of emotion, but they were hard and cold. “Is that true?” she asked desperately.

Christian didn’t move for a moment. He glanced away, his jaw working, the vein in his temple prominent beneath his hair.

He licked his lips, a hint of irritation crossing his face as he finally looked back at her. “I have been honest with you from the beginning, Louise. The fact that you feel the need to ask me that question offends me deeply.”

Louise’s stomach dropped as he looked down at her with an expression she had not seen since the day of the masquerade ball—it was one of deep disdain.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I must speak to your father.”