Page 45 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
Phineas didn’t respond, and she took this as a sign that maybe he was softening.
She took another step forward, until she was standing right in front of him. “I love you, Phineas,” she whispered. “And I would never, ever hurt you. Please, don’t push me away. Just let me love you.”
She reached out a hand to cup the side of his face. For a fraction of a second, he froze, and the anger seemed to seep out of him. It was as if, for a moment, he had stopped hating her. But then, as her fingers touched his face, he flinched away from her, and the cold fury returned to his eyes.
“I will be staying with James for the next few nights, until I can figure out the best step forward. James!” His friend jumped at the sound of his name, then scurried forward. “We’re going to pack my things.”
“Phineas,” James said pleadingly, “this isn’t necessary. Surely we can stay here and figure this out.”
Phineas turned and stormed across the hall to the stairs. James ran after him, throwing a shocked and apologetic glance at Iris that did little to comfort her.
Iris waited in frozen shock as she heard them moving around upstairs, arguing. Then Phineas had returned, with a footman dragging his suitcase behind.
Her husband didn’t even look at her as he strode across the hall, wrenched open the door, and left her.
As the door slammed shut in front of her, Iris felt her knees give way beneath her. She seemed to have lost the ability to stand, and she fell forward, her knees hitting the marble floor with a hard thud. Her mother rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her, but it didn’t make any difference.
Iris opened her mouth. She thought she might cry, but instead, she let out a heart-wrenching wail. It reverberated off the walls, echoing through the house.
The sound might have sent a shiver down her spine if she hadn’t been the one making it. Never before had she known such pain. It was heartbreak on another level. And she was sure, as she continued to wail on the floor, her mother rocking her gently, that her heart had been torn out of her chest, and that she would never get it back.
Chapter Fifteen
“That,” James said, as the carriage rattled around them, “was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. And you’ve done a fair number of stupid things over the years, my friend.”
Phineas glowered at him from across the carriage.
They were en route to James’s residence, the carriage clattering over the uneven London cobblestones, jolting them painfully. And it wasn’t just physical pain that Phineas felt.
In his entire life, he had never felt so awful. Which was saying something, considering how many awful moments he’d experienced in his life, including the recent discovery that his parents had been murdered. But what struck him about the feeling he had now, as opposed to the ones he’d had in the past, was that before, he had been the victim of terrible events. That had been catastrophic, of course. Being subjected to the whims of fate or others’ cruelty made one feel powerless, a feeling he couldn’t stand. But for the first time in his life, Phineaswas experiencing what it felt like to not be the victim, but the perpetrator of injustice.
Yes, he had brought down half a dozen men of the ton. But those men deserved every single thing they got. Iris, on the other hand, hadn’t deserved anything he’d said to her.
Phineas tried to swallow down the feeling of intense guilt and self-loathing that was threatening to spill out of him. He couldn’t get the image of her hurt, still hopeful eyes out of his head. She had looked so scared and yet still so strong, trying to reach out to him and convince him that she hadn’t done what he’d accused her of.
“Are you listening to me?” James snapped.
Phineas started and stared at his friend. He’d been so lost in his thoughts that he’d completely forgotten about James. To his surprise, his friend’s expression was even more furious than before.
“You just behaved like a madman!” James shouted. “Your wife was pleading with you, begging you to believe her, and you continued to berate her and accuse her of betrayal with absolutely no evidence!”
“I never knew you had such a soft heart when it came to someone’s lies,” Phineas muttered, looking away.
“I have a soft heart when it comes to someone telling the truth when accused of grievous crimes.”
“Grievous crimes! Don’t be so dramatic. I didn’t accuse her of trying to have me murdered.”
James tutted with impatience. “You accused her of aiding and abetting a man whodidcommit a murder! So, yes, I do think that’s how your accusation came across. And believe me, it is not lost on her that you would lump her in with a man who hired a man tomurder your parents.”
“Well, I can’t help it if she is working with her father!” Phineas snarled.
He didn’t very much appreciate being lectured by someone who knew so little of the circumstances. After his wife’s betrayal, he wantedsomeoneon his side.
James, however, did not look sympathetic. “She isn’t working with Carfield!” he shouted, banging a fist down on his seat. “She’s innocent!”
“And how do you know that?” Phineas challenged. “It would be very easy for her to have continued spying for her father. And there is circumstantial evidence to prove it. How else do you make sense of how Carfield knew we were visiting the mines? She must have told him!”
“That’s it?” James rolled his eyes. “That’s the evidence that points to your wife’s guilt? Come on, Phineas… anyone could have told him! The people at the inn probably recognized you or the crest on your coach. It hasn’t been that long since the Eavestones owned that land. They’d remember you, and if Carfield had asked them to send word if you ever visited—which wouldn’t surprise me at all—then they must have written to him right away.”
