Page 70 of To Tempt a Scandalous Lord
“With your hand wrapped around her arm?” Niall hissed. “Explain yourself, Matthews.”
Her husband’s jaw was sharp enough to cut through granite. But the hand he looped about her waist was gentle, and tears burned the back of her eyes.
Tugging on his waistcoat, Matthews scoffed. “There’s nothing to explain, Inverray. I don’t know what you think you saw—”
“I saw you harassing my wife.”
Alicia clamped her eyes closed, unsure of what to do. She wanted Niall to pummel the viscount until he was a bloody heap on the ground…and she wanted to kick him for good measure. But Alicia was mindful of where they were at, and they could not afford to cause a scene.
Niall flicked his gaze to her for a second, before returning it to Matthews. In that instant, he had come to the same conclusion she had.
He pulled her closer to his side. “I don’t know what game you’re playing at, Matthews, but I suspect you were taking out your frustrations with me on my wife, and I will not stand for it. She has nothing to do with this, and it is shameful for you to use her in your pathetic attempt to punish me.”
Matthews scoffed. “Punish you? Hardly, my boy. If I have learned anything during my time in politics, it’s that your allies will disappoint you, and it’s best to expect it and move on quickly when it does.” He paused, considering Niall for a long moment before smirking at her. “I trust you’ll tell me if such an approach applies to wives, as well.”
With that final salvo, the viscount slipped out the door.
Alicia stared at the spot where he’d disappeared for a long moment.
Whatever were they going to do? Viscount Matthews had so much power. The respect of Parliament and theton. He could blackmail her for all of eternity, for even if she tried to excuse away his claim, who would believe her?
Glancing up, she found her husband staring at the floor. What was he thinking? Viscount Matthews had been his mentor. Had guided him from the time he had first stood for Parliament to his current bid for Prime Minister. Alicia might dislike him, but she had no wish to diminish the man’s worth in her husband’s eyes. That the viscount would, instead, treat Niall so shabbily made her want to chase after the man and twist his fingers until he begged for Niall’s forgiveness.
Instead, Alicia reached out her hand to grab Niall’s. Lifting his knuckles to her lips, she kissed them with all the relief and remorse pumping through her blood. “Thank you for finding me when you did.”
Niall didn’t respond.
After waiting a moment, Alicia plowed on. “I’m sorry that Lord Matthews has turned out to be such a devil.”
“I am, too,” he murmured.
Alicia licked her lips. “What are we going to do?”
His shoulders sank. “Let us continue this discussion in the carriage.”
Nodding, Alicia preceded her husband through the door. She did not attempt to talk to him as they made their way to the foyer, instead bidding their hosts goodbye. Only when they were finally ensconced in the dark Campbell carriage did Niall speak.
“I want you to retire to the Kilmorow estate in the Highlands.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The words tasted like vinegar on his tongue.
Niall did not want to send his wife away. Everything about Alicia enchanted him. The sigh she emitted as she settled into bed at night; how she pursed her pretty pink lips as she read the morning newspaper, leaving the margins covered in her scrawl; the way she always sought and held his gaze right before she shattered around him. Waking up curled about her, her small hands linked with his, made everything about his life better.
Until she broke his trust.
And now everything about their marriage had become a distraction he could not afford to have at this time.
Instead of thinking about meeting electors and fine-tuning his arguments, he’d been racking his brain for how to extract them from this mess. He dared not ask Firthwell or the dukes for their advice, because the fewer people who knew of Alicia’s secret profession the better.
Having to make conversation with Matthews in front of the other guests as if the man wasn’t a duplicitous snake had been a painful challenge. Worse yet when Alicia’s eyes had stayed on him, following his every movement, and yet he refused to meet her gaze, couldn’t look at her remorseful mien and not want to forgive her.
He needed time to focus on his leadership bid, and to figure out how to rid them of the threat Matthews represented, not only to Alicia, but to him as well. For how could a future be possible between them when the viscount sought to keep them apart?
Alicia needed to go to Scotland until the election was over. She would be safe there, and Niall would no longer be distracted.
Curling his hands, he prepared for her refusal.
