Page 80 of Seducing a Stranger
“I think not!” she snapped. “You’ll stand out there where you belong and explain yourself, or you’ll turn right around and go home.”
“But…” He looked to Ash for help, and found only avid, ill-concealed enjoyment. “This isn’t even your residence. Is Lady Trenwyth in there?”
She held out her hand against him with the judgement of St. Peter, himself. “You do not want to cross paths with the women in that house right now, Morley, as you are speaking to the only one who feels a modicum of compassion for you at the moment.”
“Don’t go in there, old boy,” Ash said out of the side of his mouth. “There are plenty of banisters from which to lynch you. Best you run and change your name…again.”
Shoulders slumping, Morley climbed the last few stairs to stand at least eye level with his accuser. “Let me preface this with the fact that I realize I handled the situation poorly.”
“Understatement, but go on.” Farah narrowed her eyes.
He turned to Ash. “Do you remember what Caroline looked like?”
The man’s lashes swept down. “Yes, but I don’t know what that has to do with—”
“Face like a fucking saint, she had,” Morley pressed on. “Eyes wide enough to contain all the innocence in the entire world.”
Ash’s lip twitched at a fond memory. “Yes, and the brilliant girl could steal bacon from a bloodhound and get away with it.”
“Precisely.” Morley turned back to Farah to elucidate. “My wife is the loveliest creature I may ever have the opportunity to envision in my lifetime. She’s radiant and sweet-natured and wise and I enjoy nothing so much as her presence. But, doesn’t that make for the perfect swindler? How can she ask me to trust her when I don’t know her?”
Farah’s brow crimped with concern as she contemplated his words. “You’ve lived with her for weeks. Surely you havesomeidea of her character now.”
“Do we ever really know anyone?” he asked as defensiveness spilled over into ire. “I’ve arrested criminals who’ve been married for decades, to the absolute astonishment of their spouses. Besides, I’m not one of you idle rich with nothing better to do than lounge and travel and revel in each other. I’m kept rather busy tasked with the safety of the city and all, and then I’ve an entirely different vocation in the evenings. When have I possibly had the time—”
“Oh please,” Ash snorted with distinctive derision. “I’ve killed men who’ve tried to feed me half the horseshit you just did, Morley.”
“Makethe time,” Farah interjected firmly. “For both your sakes. Because I’ve met your wife all but twice and I’d take the stand to profess her innocence tomorrow. Not only that, but it’s patently clear she might be the loneliest woman I have ever known.”
Morley jerked, taken aback. “What do you mean?
Farah regarded him with rank skepticism. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
“Pretend I’m an idiot.”
A chortle erupted from the man at his side. “Why the need for pretense?”
Forgetting her indignation, or maybe just taking immense pity on him, Farah glided over and placed her hand on arms he hadn’t realized he’d crossed.
“Morley, she’s lost her entire family and reputation to this scandal. Her father might be a criminal. Her fiancé died in front of her. Her sisters are hardly allowed to speak to her. She was deceived by her best friend and her elder sister. And then… herhusbandabandons her in a strange home with nothing but stress to occupy her thoughts while she’s pregnant with his child. A stranger’s child. And a stranger you seem determined to remain. How can you make it impossible to get to know each other, and then punish her for it?”
Sufficiently chastised, he hung his head. “I always wanted to be a husband, but I think I waited so long because a part of me knew I’d mangle it.”
“Oh, ballocks.” In a rare show of the affection they once shared, Ash bumped his shoulder with his own. “You are the best of us, Morley. Always were. But you’re prioritizing doing the right thing in front of being a good man, and thereby getting in your own way. That’s all.”
“She loves you, I think,” Farah said.
Morley’s head snapped up to catch her dimples appearing in a knowing smile. “I don’t believe a woman can be as hurt by mere words unless she’s opened her heart to that pain.”
It was the second time the word had been uttered tonight. A word he never before dared to contemplate.
“And we loved her too,” she finished, patting his arm. “I’m glad you came, now home to your wife. She’s desperate to hear from you.”
At her words he went instantly alert. “Go home? I’m here totakeher home.”
Doubt clouded Farah’s soft grey eyes. “Morley…she left nigh an hour ago.”
He seized her shoulders, panic landing like a stone in his gut, squeezing the blood from his veins. “An hour? Did you see her leave? Which way did she turn? Did she hire a hansom?”
