To Win His Wayward Wife (5 page)

He’d left. He’d left her on their wedding night. Not only had he left her room after saying nasty things to her, he’d actually left the house on their wedding night to spend it with someone else.

Never one to be given to fits of vapors, Madison found it odd when one hot, salty tear slipped from her eye and left a wet path down her cheek before dropping off the edge of her chin only to be absorbed by the thick carpet at her feet.

Chapter 4

“Where’s my wife!” Benjamin demanded as soon as Townson stepped foot into his own study. Benjamin had gone out for a carriage ride around the city last night to think things through and when he came back ready to apologize, he found his wife was missing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Townson said evenly.

Benjamin crossed his arms so he wouldn’t strangle the insolence right out of Townson. “Yes, you do. She’s here. I know she is, and so do you,” he said through clenched teeth.

“No, I don’t,” Townson said calmly, taking a seat. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Madison isn’t here.”

“Then where else would she be?” he snapped angrily.

Townson gave him a dubious look. “I don’t know. At your house perhaps. She is
your
wife, not mine. I may not be a genius but that makes perfect sense to me.”

Benjamin ground his teeth. “Call
your
wife in here. I’d like to ask her a question.”

“You have no business commanding me in my own house, Gateway. I’ll not remind you of your manners again,” he said coolly, piercing him with his steely stare. “But since I have nothing to hide, I’ll call Brooke in here and
I’ll
ask her if she knows anything.”

“Fine,” Benjamin said tersely. Brooke would be more likely to be honest with her husband than him anyway.

Townson went to the hall for a minute before coming back to sit behind his desk. “Addams is on his way to get her. Don’t worry, I told him not to mention your presence.”

Benjamin nodded.

Silence filled the room as they waited for Brooke’s grand entrance. Benjamin scanned Townson’s impassive face. Was it possible he was telling the truth? Perhaps Madison wasn’t here after all. It was dark when he’d gone into her room early this morning. She could have been completely buried under the covers, trying to hide in case he was looking for her.

His stomach tightened into an uncomfortable knot. He’d been wrong to be so hateful to her the night before. He should have just righted her gown and eased her fears rather than let his mouth run away with him. She hadn’t deserved his brutal words. She’d been nervous and uncertain. It had been printed on her face for all to see.

The unmistakable sound of slippers sliding along the hardwood floor brought Benjamin to the present and he sat in silence as the door opened and Brooke walked in.

“Andrew, I’m glad Addams found me. I’ve been needing to talk to you—” Her voice died on the spot when she saw Benjamin sitting by her husband’s desk.

Thankfully Townson was no fool and after an extended blink, he looked back to his wife and drawled, “I believe you’re not the only one. Go get Madison and send her down.”

“No,” Brooke said sharply, shaking her head in defiance.

“No?” Townson echoed. “Brooke, listen to me. I know your intentions are good, but I cannot continue to harbor her here when her husband has every right to have her in his house.”

“How can you speak of her like she’s a fugitive?” Brooke countered fiercely. “He’s the one in the wrong,” she accused, pointing a finger at Benjamin.

 “Darling, I know you don’t like him, and that’s your right, but the fact is, she’s his wife. Legally she cannot stay here,” Townson responded quietly.

Brooke shook her head stubbornly. “But—but—but he—”

 “What she means to say is he doesn’t want me,” Madison said coolly, walking into the room.

“That’s not true,” Benjamin countered hastily, leaping from his seat.

“Really?” Madison inquired with a cool reserve. “Then why did you go seek out the company of another on our wedding night?”

Benjamin felt every eye in the room turn to him. Brooke’s were full of accusations. Townson’s full of fury and questions. And Madison’s, well, Madison’s were full of hurt. Hurt he’d caused by his harsh words and careless actions. The hurt he saw in her eyes hit him harder than any punch Townson had ever thrown his way, including the one that broke his nose.

“Answer her,” Townson barked.

“I didn’t,” Benjamin bit off. “I went for a ride, nothing more. I didn’t even speak to another person except Billings, my coachman.” He was relying on her being able to read the honesty in his eyes because that was all he could offer her just now.

She shrugged. “It’s of no consequence,” she said flippantly. “Your nighttime activities are of no interest to me.”

“Oh, yes, they are,” he retorted sourly. “You’re to be a major part of those activities. Therefore, they better be of some interest to you.”

She leveled a cold stare at him. “Sir, do you honestly expect me to share your bed after last night?”

Benjamin felt heat creep up his face. Surely she did not wish to discuss this in front of her family. Turning to their audience, he said, “Can you please excuse us?”

“Don’t bother,” Madison said while the earl and countess shook their heads, denying his request for them to leave the room. “Nothing more needs to be said on the subject. I shall stay here that way you are free to come and go as you please without concerning me.”

“Madison,” he said tightly, “I’m sorry, but that option is not available to you.”

“Yes, it is,” she said pertly. “Can I stay?” she asked her sister and brother-in-law.

Brooke nodded enthusiastically and Townson slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry, Madison, but I cannot let you stay here against his wishes.”

“But—but—but,” Madison sputtered.

“Grab your things and let’s go,” Benjamin said, coming to her side.

Madison shifted her eyes from her sister’s direction to his. Her eyes were reminiscent of looking out a porthole on a ship during a storm while sailing across the ocean. So much hurt and fury swirled together Benjamin was almost hesitant to touch her elbow and steer her from the room.

Just as his fingers brushed her delicate elbow, her fiery eyes snapped back to Townson. “I’d like to collect my favor now,” she said firmly, making everyone in the room freeze.

“Pardon?” Townson asked after a minute. His face was completely expressionless except for one quirked eyebrow.

Madison nervously licked her lips. “You owe me a favor. I’d like to collect.”

“Madison, I don’t mean to sound like a braggart, but I don’t believe I’m in your debt,” he said softly.

“Yes, you are,” she countered with a pointed glance at Brooke.

Townson looked to Brooke and then to Madison and back to Brooke once more before comprehension lit his features. “That was you?” he whispered.

Madison nodded.

Benjamin and Brooke exchanged confused looks before Brooke broke eye contact and turned to her husband. “What is she talking about?”

“Umm…well, as it turns out,” he cleared his throat and fidgeted with his cravat a second.

“Oh, please,” Madison said, rolling her eyes. “Brooke, do you remember when Andrew showed up at Covent Garden? Well, I’m the one who told him to go there.”

“That was
you
?” Brooke squealed before turning to her husband. “I thought you said it was a servant.”

“I never said that. I said I
thought
it was a servant. That’s completely different. She stood in the corner of my dark study wearing a hood,” he explained.

“Sounds more like a woman of ill repute,” Brooke quipped.

“Well, I actually thought she was at first,” Townson admitted.

“Seems to be a common misconception,” Madison muttered, making a new wave of shame wash over Benjamin.

Thankfully, her sister didn’t hear that remark because she said, “Wait, you went to welcome a prostitute into your bed before I’d even left the country?” Her voice had taken on a sharper edge and her eyes were boring into her husband in a way that made Benjamin glad he hadn’t married her.

“No,” Townson said defensively. “In fact, if you ask her, she’ll tell you I wasn’t overly welcoming of her.”

“That’s true,” Madison added in his defense. “He wasn’t. He actually was rather rude at first. And, if that’s not convincing enough, he kept readjusting his dressing robe. As if I’d be interested in what it covered,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes again.

“You’ll never know,” Brooke said rather smugly, making her husband shake his red face in embarrassment. “But why did you make me embarrass myself by going to his townhouse when you knew he’d be at the garden?”

Madison looked at her sister like she was a simpleton. “I didn’t intend for you to embarrass yourself. When I told him where we were going, I assumed he’d try and catch you outside the house where he’d been sitting on a bench for the past two days. When we went outside and I didn’t see the lummox there, I worried he’d stayed home and was going to try a different tactic. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t home first. Sorry, I didn’t know you were going to get a set down by the holier-than-thou butlering footman.”

Brooke laughed. “All is forgiven,” she said with a smile.

“Now that we’ve established who came to my house that night, that I had no intentions to be unfaithful to my wife, I was uncomfortable being dressed in only my dressing robe in the company of another
and
that Madison thinks I’m a simpleton who cannot follow simple directions,” he flashed her a quick smile, “we need to discuss what will happen now. Madison, being the one I owe the favor to, what do you want me to do?”

“Let me stay here,” she said simply.

Townson let out a pent up breath. “Trust me when I say I’d love nothing more than to keep you safely here and away from him,” he said calmly, slicing a sharp glance at Benjamin. “But I cannot do that. Legally I have no right. I can use physical force to temporarily keep you here, but he’ll just take me to court.”

“Fine,” she agreed. “We’ll let the courts decide it.”

“The courts are going to decide you must return,” Townson said gently. “Unless he seeks an annulment,” he flickered a hopeful glance to Benjamin who shook his head in return, “you’ll have to return to his house eventually.”

“What if I seek an annulment? Could you help me petition?” Madison asked quietly.

“I can help you petition, but it won’t do any good,” Townson told her, shaking his head. “You won’t be granted one unless he agrees to it. And seeing as though he won’t, the courts will then force you back to his house.”

Madison nodded and shot pleading eyes at Brooke and Townson. Benjamin almost felt sorry for her. So much so, that if he’d have been an onlooker in this situation, he would have taken up in her defense and fought anyone who wanted to take her away against her will. But since he was the active party that wanted her returned to his home, he just shot her a triumphant smile. “Let’s go,” he said quietly in her ear.

“Wait a second,” Townson called, standing up. “Ladies, why don’t you go wait in Brooke’s sitting room, we’ll join you in a minute. I want to speak to Gateway alone.”

Benjamin didn’t want to let her go. He was ready to haul her out to his carriage right this minute. Unfortunately, Madison took Townson’s suggestion to heart and scampered from the room faster than he could react.

“This better be important,” Benjamin ground out after Brooke followed her sister out.

“It is,” Townson said, sitting back down. “You realize she’s scared of you, don’t you?”

“Why?” Benjamin demanded, flabbergasted. “She has no reason to be scared of me. I’ve never done anything to her to make her scared.”

Townson raised an eyebrow at him.

“All right, with the exception of last night, I’ve never done anything to affect her so,” he allowed.

“Really?” Townson drawled. “You don’t think she might fear you because you hired a man to ruin her sister and send her to flee the continent?”

Benjamin snorted. “You’re the man I hired and she seems to trust you just fine.”

“That’s because I’ve proven myself to her,” Townson countered. “She’s spent enough time in my company for her to know she has nothing to fear from me.”

“What are you suggesting?” Benjamin asked, knowing he probably wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Court her,” Townson returned with a shrug. “She barely knows you. Let her stay here at night and take her out during the day so she can get to know you. Take her for a ride in the park or the British Museum. Just spend time with her and let her learn she can trust you.”

“Absolutely not,” Benjamin said firmly. “She’s my wife. I’ll not have rumors circulating we’re living apart after only a day.”

“What if we go to Rockhurst?”

“If I don’t want her to live separate from me in London, what makes you think I’d let her go there?” Benjamin countered, crossing his arms.

“We’ll all go,” Andrew returned, folding his hands and resting them in his lap. “She can stay at Rockhurst and you can stay in the gamekeeper’s cottage.”

“Excuse me?” Why was he being made to stay in the gamekeeper’s cottage while his wife was to be a guest in a house that he knew had to have at least seventy five bedchambers?

Andrew shrugged. “I’ve just renovated it. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t care about how quaint the cottage is. I want to know why I’m to stay in it while Madison is kept somewhere else,” he said defensively.

“Because it’s what I’m offering,” Andrew said, his lips twitching.

“You’re enjoying this too much,” Benjamin ground out. This is the payback he got for what he put Andrew through last spring when he’d hired him to ruin Brooke. Damn if life didn’t have a way to sneak up on a person and bite them in the arse.

“Anyway,” Andrew continued, “you’ll be close enough to see her every day and nobody will be none the wiser.”

Benjamin ground his teeth. He wanted her back right now. He didn’t want to court her. But what if Townson was right? They all knew she wouldn’t be happy about going home with him today. Would she be more accepting of him if he played her game and courted her?

“Fine,” he ground out at last. “But if one word of this leaks, she’ll be back in my home before nightfall. Am I clear?”

Townson nodded. “Would you like to tell her or shall I?

“I will.”