The Bedding Proposal Part 36

He stalked from the room, fury rolling off him in waves. She listened as he dressed, his boots. .h.i.tting the floor with hard thuds as he shoved his feet into them.

When he reappeared, he glared at her. Then he pulled her into his arms, kissing her with a pa.s.sion, a savage hunger and desperation, that mirrored her own.

But it was over far too soon.

Pushing her away, he strode to the door, slamming it at his back.

Chapter 30.

"h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation, there has to be a way to revoke this accursed decree!" Leo smacked his hands down on the wide mahogany table, sending legal tomes and piles of parchment sliding onto the library floor.

Lawrence looked up from where he sat at the other end of the long table in front of his own huge stack of books and doc.u.ments. "I'm sorry, Leo. We've looked at this from every possible angle and I can't see any way to break it. I know the barrister who drafted it. Unfortunately for you and Lady Thalia, he's d.a.m.ned good at his job. Too good. I took the liberty of asking him, discreetly, of course, if it could be challenged, but the b.l.o.o.d.y thing is airtight. I've looked it over myself, again and again, and I think you're going to have to face the fact that it's inviolable. Lady Thalia cannot remarry."

Leo dropped back down into his chair, his spirits as haggard as he knew he must look.

In the month since he'd slammed his way out of Thalia's town house on that dreadful, cold, wet afternoon, he'd spent his time combing through every law text and legal precedent he could lay his hands on.

When he'd had no luck on his own, he'd written to Lawrence for his help. Without asking questions, his twin had traveled back early from Braebourne to lend his aid. But to Leo's fury and frustration, even Lawrence's brilliant legal mind could not find a solution.

"And Ned's had no luck either?" Lawrence said quietly.

Leo shook his head. "He made a couple inquiries in the Lords about a private bill. He even briefly chatted up the prime minister. But it can't be done. Apparently Kemp has too much influence. He would stop any attempts to change the decree, even if the law was on our side."

"Which it is not."

He struck his fist against the table again, causing another couple of pages to slide to the floor. "I wish to G.o.d I hadn't promised Thalia not to kill that miserable b.a.s.t.a.r.d. What I wouldn't give to get my hands around his neck again. This time I wouldn't stop squeezing until he'd taken his last breath."

And though he hadn't confided in anyone, not even his twin, he'd seriously considered driving to Kemp's estate to confront him about his vile abuse of Thalia. Demand that Kemp somehow free her from the terms of their divorce. But the man would just laugh and turn him away. He knew it as surely as he knew his own name.

What had stopped him-the only thing really-was his fear that he might actually kill Kemp. He was angry enough, frustrated and outraged enough, that it would be easy given the right set of circ.u.mstances.

Lawrence sent him a wry smile. "It would solve your problem if Kemp went to an early grave. But Lady Thalia is right. Killing him wouldn't end with you and her living happily ever after. Not if you're hanging from the end of a noose on Tyburn for the murder of her former husband."

Leo grunted, then turned to stare blankly out the window. A long silence followed.

"She sent Athena back last week," Leo said dolefully.

"Who is Athena?"

"A horse. A mare I gave her before Christmas. She was training her for Esme to ride this Season."

"Esme has a horse. And every other breed of animal known to man, come to that."

"It was just an excuse to get her to accept my gift. I bought the mare for Thalia because she fell in love with her at Tattersall's. I thought once the horse was installed in her stables, she wouldn't have the heart to return her."

He'd hoped she wouldn't return any of his others gifts as well. But more than two weeks ago, a package had arrived by messenger.

It was the pearls.

He'd drunk himself into a stupor that night.

"She won't see me either. I've called, but Fletcher won't let me through the door. I could barge in, of course, but he's an old man. I don't want to hurt him."

He drew a ragged breath.

"When was the last time you slept?" Lawrence asked.

Leo shrugged. "Don't know. I can sleep later."

"You should sleep now. You're dead on your feet. I haven't said before, but you look like h.e.l.l, Leo. Worse than h.e.l.l actually."

"That about sums it up."

Because he was in h.e.l.l.

h.e.l.l without her.

"Go upstairs to your room." Lawrence gave him a look as if he understood exactly what he was feeling.

And maybe he did. They were twins, after all. Identical in more ways than just the cut of their faces.

"I will. I just want to look all this over one more time."

"Leo, you know it's not going to do any good."

"I'm going to look it over one more time," he repeated through clenched teeth.

For a moment, Lawrence looked as if he was going to argue. But he nodded instead. "All right. Let's look. One more time."

"So what do you say, Thalia?"

As if from a great distance, Thalia heard her name. She blinked and looked up, startled out of her reverie. "What?"

Quietly, Mathilda set her cup onto the tea table between them. "I asked what you thought. Would you like to go shopping tomorrow in Bond Street? We'll go to all the stores like we used to and you can buy anything you fancy."

Thalia focused on her friend, realizing the tea in her cup had gone cold. She too set her cup aside. "You know that I am no longer in the position to buy anything that I fancy. But I'm happy to accompany you and lend my opinion on your purchases."

"It won't be any fun if I'm the only one buying," Mathilda said with a little pout. "Let me treat you to something. It will be my pleasure."

Thalia sent her friend a brief smile. "You are all kindness, but you know I cannot accept."

"At least a hat. Or some gloves? Surely you cannot complain about either of those?"

"No, really. I do quite well on my own."

Mathilda raised an elegantly coiffed brow.

"I do," Thalia insisted. "Honestly, I want for nothing. Besides, I have little need for new finery, since I so rarely go out. I could show it off to Hera, but somehow I don't think she'd be all that impressed."

She forced a laugh, but Mathilda didn't join her.

Instead, Mathilda frowned. "I should have had you to Lambton for the holidays-"

"You asked me. I said no."

"Yes, but I ought to have insisted. I guess I was rather under the impression you were hoping a certain admirer would return to Town."

Thalia looked away, the misery that was her constant companion these days snapping its jagged little teeth.

But she didn't want to think of Leo. She spent the majority of each day trying very hard not to think of him. It was one of the reasons she had sent Athena and the pearls back to him. She couldn't bear to see either one of them, couldn't stand the memories of Leo that they roused within her empty, broken heart.

"I . . . well, perhaps at the time," she said.

"And now?"

She curled her fingers into a fist beneath her edge of her skirt. "Now what?"

"Are you and he still . . ."

"No." Her voice sounded sharp. Sharper than she'd intended.

She moderated her tone. "Lord Leopold and I are no longer seeing one another."

"Ah." Mathilda leaned over and reached for a lemon biscuit, nibbling the sweet cookie as was her habit when she was uncomfortable. "When did that happen? You didn't say."

"No, I didn't."

"I'm sorry, Thalia. Did he end it?"

"No. I did. It was time."

"Really? But the two of you seemed so happy the last time I saw you together. I thought . . ."

Thalia forced herself to look into Mathilda's eyes, careful not to let anything show in her own gaze. "What did you think?"

"You seemed different around him. And the way he looked at you. I thought perhaps the two of you were in love."

Her heart gave a hard pump as if she had taken a blow. She glanced away again.

"Whatever we were, nothing could come of it. You know I cannot remarry."

"Marry? Were things so serious that you talked of marriage?"

She squeezed her hand tighter, her nails digging into the tender flesh of her palm. She welcomed the pain.

"Tilly, I know you mean well, but I do not wish to talk about it. About him. Tell me again how Tom is doing in school."

Mathilda studied her for long seconds, then sighed. "Very well, I won't pry further. But you know you may always come to me."

"I do."

She reached for her cup and dumped the cold tea into the silver waste receptacle, then poured herself a fresh cup. She raised the hot tea to her lips. It drove away a little of the cold inside her. A cold that had never really gone away, not since the day Leo left.

"Now, Tom," she said again, striving for a lighter tone. "How is he doing?"

Chapter 31.

April flowers blossomed in a vivid riot of color. Trees adorned themselves in new green finery like girls preening for a ball. Warmer air drove away the lingering cold. And all around, the city hummed with a renewed vitality that could mean only one thing-springtime had arrived.

But Leo noticed none of it as he strode along the crowded streets, his muscles tight with a frustration and despair that went bone deep.

His every effort to find a way out of Thalia's divorce decree had met with failure. Every road he took led to yet another impa.s.se, another new defeat. He wasn't used to losing; it wasn't a situation in which he often found himself. But finally, against even his own instincts, he'd had to accept the truth.

Thalia would never be able to remarry.

Not that she would have him, even if Kemp weren't in the way.

He'd tried over the past couple of months to reason with her, to convince her that her inability to provide him with children didn't matter. But she was sure it would-maybe not now, but someday.

She'd been hurt too much in the past to believe. He could not get through the wall she'd built around herself.

They'd seen each other again nearly six weeks ago when he'd gone to her town house. It galled him that he hadn't been able to bring an engagement ring as he'd promised.

He'd expected Fletcher to refuse him entrance as he had so often before. But this time had been different. This time he had been invited inside and left to cool his heels in the drawing room.

She'd joined him a short time later, looking every bit as beautiful as ever, although she seemed a little thinner, and tired.

As tired perhaps as he was himself.

"You have to stop this, Leo," she said in an emotionless voice. "Stop writing to me. Stop coming to my door. We have said all there is to say. I have made my wishes quite clear. We are done."

"Do you love me?"

She'd shown no reaction, though she had refused to meet his eyes. "Whether I do or not no longer matters. This is the final time we will see one another. I will no longer accept your letters and if you call upon me-"