Page 78 of The Duke and the Wrong Bride

She held that glare, so cold that it sent a shiver down Henry’s spine. “Why don’t you ask me how Miss Jennings’ ball was?”

“Miss Jennings’ ball?” Henry frowned, as it took him a moment to understand what she meant. Yes, he knew about the ball. But why that should make her so angry? “You’re upset because I missed the ball?”

“Don’t you think?”

His expression flattened. “You’re allowed to be upset with me, Charlotte. But what I will not tolerate is this petulant attitude you’ve adopted. I missed the event. For that, I am sorry. But to treat it as… as…”

“As what?”

“The end of the world! To behave as if I’ve somehow transgressed beyond redemption because I wasn’t able to make it back in time for a singular event,” He scoffed. “It was one night. There will be others.”

“That’s it?!” she cried, losing her cool suddenly. “That’s all you have to say?”

“What else is there to say? I can’t go back in time. What’s done is done, and I’m sorry. I wish that I was here. If I was, I would have gladly attended. But sadly, business took precedence.”

It clearly wasn’t what she wanted to hear. The look on her face… not anger. She wasn’t even upset. It was disappointment that crossed her visage, a look that suggested he had said the exact thing she didn’t wish to hear while, at the same time, she had been expecting it. She recoiled as if he had slapped her.

“You just do not get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She stepped around him and stormed off.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Henry called after her. All right, so now he was angry. “Do not walk away from me!” He went after her, grabbing her by the arm and forcing her to turn around.

“Don’t—” She pulled her arm free. “Don’t touch me.”

“Or else what?”

He stood up to her, glaring heatedly as he so often did, waiting for her to match his glare with her own. It was a game he knew well enough, one they had played a hundred times. She would push, he would stand firm, she would push harder, and inevitably… well, they both knew where it led.

In a way, Henry almost felt relief. Yes, his wife was angry with him, but that would pass. In fact, now that he thought of it, it was likely that she was feigning anger to elicit this exact reaction. Why, he almost smiled to himself. Women’s tricks. He had thought they were past this, but it was nice sometimes to revisit old times and?—

“Nothing,” she sighed, relaxing before him, her expression one of disquiet and boredom. “You made your choice. As you said, what’s done is done. And honestly, I really don’t care. Not anymore.”

“You’re mad at me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” He tried to take her by the arm again, wanting to see that fire pour from her. He needed it. He needed a reaction. “You’re furious that I didn’t make it back in time for the ball. Disappointed, even.”

She stood stiff, ignoring his hand on her arm. “I was,” she admitted. “But that was days ago now. And since then…” She exhaled and slowly peeled her arm free. “I’ve realized that anger isn’t the answer. Maybe it never was.”

“It seemed to work well for us in the past.” His lame attempt at a chuckle died on his lips, smothered by her expressionless stare.

“It did once,” she admitted. “But that was then, and this is now. Now… now we’re past that. Or I thought we were past that. I thought that we were… that we… that you cared for me.”

That struck Henry harder than he expected it to. He reared back, as if she had slapped him. “I do care for you.”

“Do you?” she asked desperately. “You come back to me after being away for seven days. After missing a ball that you promised me you would be home for?—”

“I had business! I couldn’t simply drop it and?—”

“And then when you do return, you send for Lord Talbot.” Her expression turned pleading, and her tone was filled with pain. “You may have had business then, Henry. But surely that could wait? Did you think that after having not seen you in seven days, I might have wanted to talk? To spend time with you? That I might have been expecting more than a ‘greetings, how have you been’ after an entire week of being on my own? That maybe, just maybe, you might have even apologized. That alone might have shown that you cared.”

“Is that what you want?” He frowned, taken aback by this sudden outburst. “An apology?”

She scoffed and shook her head. “No. Not now. Not when I have to ask you for it.”

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