Page 49 of A Scandalous Bargain
On leaden feet, he went to the window and watched Dearborn walk to the end of Grosvenor Square and disappear. The fury Thomas worked so hard to suppress rose within him. Whipping around, he strode to the corner and ripped the portrait from the wall.
“Even in death, you torment me.” He broke the frame against the hearth. The gilded wood broke in several places. Taking a jagged piece of the frame, he speared it through the center of the painting, right between the two of them. He used the fragment like a knife, tearing the canvas across her face and rending her in two.
Growling low in his throat, he tossed the wreckage onto the hearth, but not into the fireplace itself. Chest heaving, he stared at the mess he’d made and silently cursed himself. He should have preserved that for Regan.
Why? So she could remember the mother who’d found her a nuisance? Besides, there were other portraits, including a miniature that hung in Regan’s bedchamber.
What was his mother-in-law trying to accomplish? Did she want Thomas imprisoned—or hanged—so that she could take Regan for herself? It wasn’t as if her efforts would return Thea to her. Perhaps having her daughter’s daughter would soothe her loss. Thomas could understand that.
Even so, he had no idea if any of this was for Regan’s benefit or to ameliorate his mother-in-law’s grief. Or perhaps it was simply to punish Thomas. The latter had been Thea’s goal. She’d even brought up the idea of divorce. He laughed hollowly at the disaster his life had become—the very thing he’d fought so hard to avoid.
“My lord?”
Thomas turned from the hearth to see Baines, silently lurking yet again. Only this time, the butler’s features were lined with concern, his mouth drawn into a deep frown.
Waving at the debris of the portrait, Thomas said, “Have this cleaned up.”
Then he strode from the sitting room intent on finding the nearest bottle of brandy.
