A Scandal In the Making

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  Evan said nothing as Franklin rose as well and followed him out of the study. If he ended up thumping the intruder within an inch of his life, he supposed it was better if there was at least one witness. Particularly one who was a solicitor.

  "Mr. Taylor," Evan said as he strode into the room, Franklin still trailing silently behind. "What brings you to my doorstep this fine spring day?" Actually, the day was anything but fine as the weather, which had broken a bit while they were still at Brambly Fields, had now turned rainy and gray once more.

  "Ah, Lord Berkshire. A pleasure." The other man stood and bowed low, giving Evan a moment to study him. He was handsome, Evan supposed, in a rather meek, mild, and scholarly sort of way. Not at all the sort of man who could handle a spirited woman like Cassandra. He was, however, a bit on the wiry side and Evan suspected that the man fenced and likely had the hidden muscles to prove it beneath his finely tailored clothes. So while he was clearly not a man of extravagant means, he was also not precisely poor either. And given the hungry, lustful look in his eyes, he was also not here to see Evan.

  "I was in Town on business and thought that I might call upon an old friend, offer her my congratulations on her recent and extremely sudden marriage." Taylor paused. "You are aware that I knew Cass...or should I say Lady Berkshire when we were mere children."

  Evan's fist clenched at the man's deliberate use of Cassandra's Christian name. "I am aware that you were friendly, yes. There is very little my wife and I keep from each other." Franklin's eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline at that remark, but Evan ignored him. "Please, forgive my rudeness, but I was meeting with my solicitor here, Mr. Franklin, when you arrived. As my wife is not home at present, I did not wish to keep you waiting."

  It was a clear invitation for the other man to leave, but Evan was not really surprised when the man remained where he was, taking up space in the drawing room that Evan rather wished he was not.

  "A pity, then. I was hoping to see her. Catch up on old times." Taylor put his hands up in a defensive posture. "I know it's not the done thing, of course, but it has been so long and I could use a friendly face right about now. She and I were once quite close."

  "Your divorce," Evan sniped. "Yes, I had heard. Nasty business, that."

  Taylor's eyes fairly glittered with a mix of greed and avarice. "It is difficult to find a good and loyal woman these days, I fear."

  "Indeed it is, though you will find none more loyal than Lady Berkshire as of late. She does not give her affections easily and I consider myself fortunate that she has blessed them upon me and only me." Very well, that was likely a lie since Evan had known going into his marriage that Cassandra had once held feelings for this man. He prayed to God above that she no longer did. "I am lucky to have finally come to realize what was right under my nose all along."

  The other man tilted his head a bit incredulously. "Truly? I was under the impression that yours was a business arrangement. All of the papers intimate as much and, really, you are a known libertine with many mistresses behind you. Can a man truly change so much?"

  "A good woman can change a man rather profoundly. Certainly you know this, do you not?" Evan would have tossed the man out already had Franklin not been standing there. He did not want to look bad in the eyes of his solicitor for some reason. Still, Taylor was trying his patience and Evan could feel his control over his anger slipping. "And there is little question that Lady Berkshire is among the finest women I know."

  "Did I hear my name?"

  Evan nearly tripped over himself as he spun around to see Cassandra standing in the drawing room doorway. She looked like perfection today, drat it all, with her lovely tresses piled high on her head and her deep burgundy gown clinging to all of the delicious curves of her body as if it had been custom fitted just for her. Which, of course, it had been. Damn bloody Madame LaVallier and her fine French sewing skills anyway.

  "Miss Grove!" Taylor fairly lit up the room when he saw Cassandra and Evan wanted to put the man's eyes out immediately. Then toss him out the window for good measure. Just in case his point was not made well enough. "It is good to see you!"

  She laughed uneasily as she came over to take the other man's hands in hers as he bowed to her. "Mr. Taylor. It is good to see you after so long, as well. And it is Lady Berkshire now." There was a slight note of censure in her tone, but Evan was mostly beyond listening. All he saw was his wife touching another man.

  "Of course. Forgive an old friend?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and Evan wanted to rip those bushy brows off the man's head and shove them down his throat. He was thankful he did not have to when Cassandra backed away first, though it did not go unnoticed that she had a bit of a difficult time extracting her hands from Taylor's firm grip.

  Still, she smiled at him in a way she had never smiled at Evan and once more, he wished to hit something. Preferably Matthew Taylor. "Of course. We knew each other well once. Think nothing more of it."

  "It is good to see you." Taylor's eyes took on a softness Evan did not like, for he could see that the other man's gaze reached a part of Cassandra's soul that Evan himself never could and she all but melted into a puddle where she stood. Or perhaps she always looked like that. She did have that kind openness about her that drew others in so easily. Was that all there was to this look passing between her and her old friend? Evan could no longer be certain what he knew and what he did not. His head was starting to hurt too much to muddle it all out. "I have worried about you. I had heard you were forced into marriage."

  "I am well, Mr. Taylor. Truly. And this is a marriage I chose freely. There was nothing forced and I am happy in my vows." She returned Taylor's soft gaze with one of her own. Or maybe it was just a simple smile. Evan did not hear the words she spoke or the other man's response. All he could see before him was anger and pain at the idea of another man lusting after his wife. Evan was now so blinded by rage that he could not tell. He simply wanted the man gone. Now. Before he spilled the other man's blood on his new Hessians. "What brings you to Town, though? I know you do not care for London. You have always made that rather clear."

  "His divorce!" Evan all but snarled. "Unfaithful wife and all of that rot." He would have started pacing like a caged animal if not for Franklin's calming hand on his sleeve. Obviously the solicitor knew Evan was dangerously close to losing control

  Cassandra turned back to Taylor with wide eyes. "Oh, dear! That is terrible. I had no idea!"

  Now Taylor adopted the look of a wounded puppy and Evan wanted to howl with rage before he tore the man's throat out. Could his wife not see the bounder was playing her a fool? "Yes, well, it is over now and I am a free man." Taylor gave Cassandra what Evan thought might be considered a seductive look and he growled deep in his throat, once more only restrained by his solicitor's hand. "My time as a husband has...changed me. I am not the same man I was before and I would like to think I am more...open to things than I was in the past. Especially where the fairer sex is concerned. I am afraid that marriage is not all it is touted to be, particularly when one is unhappy and trapped in a union they do not want."

  This time, there was no way that Cassandra could miss the man's thinly veiled references to his clear desire to conduct an affair with her. Everyone in the drawing room knew it as well. At Taylor's words, Cassandra's eyes widened and her breathing sped up, though whether from shock or desire, Evan did not know. It had damn well better be shock. It had bloody fucking well not be desire!

  Standing there watching his wife watch another man, Evan felt his gut churn and his anger rise like the sourest bile in his throat. He and Cassandra might not be in love, exactly, but they were married, damn it! She was his and no other man could touch her! He did dimly realize that was a bit hypocritical of him, having just received a missive from an old mistress that very morning but Evan did not care. Cassandra belonged to him and it would be a very long time indeed before he was ready to release her from her wedding vows. Or his bed. She had to know that. Now. Not l
ater. Today. Right this very moment, in fact.

  "Mr. Taylor, I am sorry that your marriage was not one of happiness," she finally said when she could find her voice again. How long she had gone without speaking, Evan did not know, but he was relieved - just a bit - by her words. He was even more relieved by her next ones. "But believe me when I say that there are happy marriages with loving couples out there to be had."

  "Like yours?" Taylor lifted a single, damnable eyebrow and Evan felt the need to plant the man a facer. Immediately. "Forgive me, marchioness, if I do not see the situation of your marriage in the same way you do." Then he turned and bowed to Franklin - but not Evan. "Until later. I can see myself out." He strode from the room with far more panache than Evan gave him credit for possessing, but not before he turned and gave one last, longing look at Cassandra.

  For a long moment, no one spoke. Finally, it was Franklin who broke the silence. "That was...unpleasant."

  "It was bloody fucking foolishness," Evan snapped as he reached for Cassandra and all but yanked her roughly to his side. "Our business for today is concluded, Franklin. We shall resume tomorrow." His tone brooked no room for argument.

  "I shall see you bright and early, as always, my lord." The solicitor was no fool and it was clear he was as eager to be gone as Evan was to see him leave. "I will go gather my things and be on my way." He bowed to Cassandra. "Lady Berkshire. Have a pleasant afternoon."

  Then he was gone and Evan turned to look at his wife. From the fury he saw there, he doubted this afternoon would be anything close to pleasant.

  Chapter Fourteen

  "What in the bloody hell was that all about?" Cassandra was yelling. She hated that she was yelling at Evan again, but really what was going on around here? She had gone out for an hour, two at the most, meeting Abby at the dressmaker's shop, only to return home and find Evan and her old friend Matthew Taylor circling each other like wild animals ready to go for each other's throats.

  "He came to our home, Cassandra! He came in search of you! To stake his claim upon you like some bloody predator looking for a fresh kill!" Evan's eyes flashed fire and she knew he was angry. He had every right to be of course. Just as she did. Though she doubted he would see the situation in that light.

  "And you think I invited him here?" What did he take her for, some sort of harlot?

  "Did you?" he snapped.

  "The very idea that you asked that means that you do not trust me," she ground out, refusing to stoop to his level - or to reveal how much his accusation had hurt her. "And just so we are clear, no, I did not invite him. I haven't spoken to him in years."

  "But you have feelings for him!" Evan was enraged, and she had no idea if she could even reason with him but she had to try.

  "I did! Did! As in the past tense!" Was the man truly that daft? She had married him, not Matthew Taylor. She cared for him, Evan Haddington. Though to be fair, she had never said as much. Still, the blathering fool should have known. No one, other than someone who truly cared for him, would put up with as much of his nonsense as she did. "Once! When I was young!"

  "You fantasized about marrying him!" Evan's breathing was labored, and for a moment, Cassandra worried that he might go into heart palpitations. Assuming she was correct and he did have a heart. She might have been wrong about that after all.

  "I also fantasized about flying to the moon when I was a child! That does not mean I will do it!" What was wrong with her husband? Had he taken a brain fever in the short time she had been gone?

  "When we are done, when we have our children and I set you free, is he the man you will run to? Is he the man you want in your bed, Cassandra, rather than me? A man you can control? Or one you think you can control, at any rate?" Evan stalked across the room so that they were nose to nose once more - just as they used to be. This was not what he wanted, but damn it, he was tired of playing these games. "For I can assure you that you cannot control him, but he sure as bloody fucking hell hopes to control you! You might not have encouraged him, Cassie, but there is still enough of a connection between the two of you that he feels bold enough to waltz through our front door and stake his claim upon you!"

  Cassandra's hand rose of its own volition but she stopped herself before she slapped Evan. No matter her anger, she could not hit him. It was not right and she did not condone violence - not even when her husband was being an arse.

  More than that, she could see the pain in her husband's eyes. Pain she had put there. It had not been intentional, certainly, but her old friendship with a man clearly set upon bedding her had done this to him. She had not encouraged Taylor, certainly, but over the years, she had not discouraged him either - even when it had become clear to her that he was not the man she had thought him to be. She should have pushed him away, made it clear that she no longer cared for him and that her life was with Evan now. And in that way, this entire situation was her fault.

  Mathew might have been responsible for his own actions today, as was Evan, but she had not truly discouraged a man she knew had ambitions, ambitions that were never met or realized because of his overbearing father. Matthew wanted more for his life than Little Bromley and Cassandra knew that as well. She should have also known that, married or not, Taylor would seek her out and find some way to use her. He had done so when he had turned his back on her at his father's request years ago, hoping to not only gain his father's favor but his coin as well. Now that his father was in need of coin himself and Matthew had yet to realize the station in life he aspired to achieve? Was it little wonder he had sought her out, hoping he could coerce her into giving more than she wanted?

  "I do not love him." Cassandra was proud of herself for keeping her voice at a normal volume and not bellowing again as she would have liked. "Yes, there was a time that I believed myself in love with him, but he is a fickle man. I learned that eventually, though I did not sever all ties with him as I likely should have. He uses people for his own purposes, Evan. I know that. I will also admit that when I saw him here in the drawing room today, for a moment, I forgot all the bad that I know and saw only an old friend from home that has been absent from my life for an age."

  She slashed an angry hand through the air, frustrated with everyone and everything. "Then he opened his mouth and he spoke and I remembered why I gave up that fantasy when I was but a mere girl. He is nothing to me and never will be again. Whatever we once shared he killed long ago, and I want nothing more to do with him. Or with any man. I am loyal to you, Evan. You are my husband and you might think I made those vows lightly, but I can assure you that I did not. While we do not share love, I thought we did at least share trust. Or did all of those afternoons in our bed back at Brambly mean nothing to you? For I can assure you that they meant something to me."

  "I. Am. Sorry." Evan gritted out the words. "I jumped to conclusions when I should not have."

  Cassandra could see the struggle within him. It was not easy for Evan to admit that he was wrong and, from his side of the matter, she could well understand how it must have looked to have her old...well, whatever Matthew was, show up on their doorstep unannounced and demanding to see her. For a man like Evan who had never really known loyalty from a woman unless he paid for it with coin, she could well understand how the situation had looked.

  Slowly, Cassandra reached up and caressed Evan's cheek with her hand. "It is fine, dragon. Truly. I understand. And I am sorry as well. But you need to trust me. I am your wife and, if there is not love, then there is caring between us. Of that much I am certain. We were friends first, were we not? After we stopped arguing, that is?"

  "We were." He closed his eyes and turned his face into her palm as if needing rather than just desiring her touch.

  "And we still are friends. Beneath this marriage, there is that. Trust in that if nothing else. Even if you do not trust in me." Cassandra felt her heart swell as a single tear slipped down his cheek. Her dragon did not cry. Ever. That he was doing so now was a mark of how deeply he had been hurt by M
atthew's appearance in their home.

  In that moment, she wanted to tell him about the babe she had lost. She wanted to tell him about these feelings that had started to press upon her heart over the last few weeks, the feelings that ripped through her and caused her pain whenever she thought of him walking away from her and going back to his old life after their agreement was completed.

  Was that love? She did not know and she was afraid that if she spoke that one simple word, all that she had gained might shatter around her like so much spun glass. For what if Evan did not feel the same? What then? Would she lose him, this pain that she felt when she imagined him gone in some distant time a real thing?

  No, that was a risk she could not take. Not yet. It was too soon and she was still far too uncertain. She needed more time. More time with this man to figure out his feelings, for she was also certain that he would never reveal them without some sort of assurance from her. More time to sort out her own feelings, discover if this was simply a passing infatuation or something more? Something deep and true.

  What she felt for Evan was far beyond anything she had felt for another man before. Certainly far deeper and more painful than anything she had felt for Matthew. So was this love? She didn't know and she wanted the time to find out.

  Leaning up on her tiptoes, she placed a kiss just on the underside of Evan's jaw. It was about as far as she could reach on her own, given their height difference. "Take me to bed, Evan," she whispered. "I want you. I need to feel you thrusting inside of me. I have desired you since I awoke this morning only to find you gone from my side." Then she stroked her tongue along the hard, muscled column of his throat. "I am tired of waiting."

  Without a word, Evan reached down and scooped her up into his arms. She let out a small shriek as he adjusted his grasp on her and looped her arms around his neck in response.

  He looked down at her then, his eyes dark with passion and something more, an emotion that she dared not even hope was the first stirrings of love. "You are mine, Cassie. Mine until I let you go, whenever that day might be. But that day is not today and not tomorrow and not anytime soon."