The Secrets of a Lady

Griffin squeezed his eyes shut. He understood that sentiment perfectly. He had always tried to keep his pains and embarrassments private, as well.

“I’m glad he did.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “How much more do you know?”

Arching an eyebrow, he stood slowly. “That you left London in some small level of disgrace. What more is there?”

A tiny shiver wracked her body, but she didn’t turn.

“Audrey?” He moved toward her to take her shoulders and forced her to face him. At the tears glimmering on her cheeks, he frowned. “What more is there?” Her chin dropped. “Nothing.”

“It’s clearly not nothing.”

She shook her head. “Please don’t make me tell you.”

Taking care to move slowly, Griffin drew her against his chest and held her there, reveling in the way she fit so perfectly in his embrace. “I need to know.” There was only silence for a moment as the woman in his arms struggled with the words. Griffin could tell she fought against revealing the truth. She wanted to protect him, didn’t want him to feel guilty for Luci’s ruinous slander. As if he couldn’t. If only he hadn’t been so obsessed with Audrey, or if Luci hadn’t been so hateful, perhaps he could have prevented Audrey’s pain.

“Luci… she arranged to have a man attack me. He caught me on a balcony and kissed me. He hurt me. But the way he held me, it looked like I was kissing him, pinning him against the veranda wall.” Her low whisper forced him to strain to hear her words. “When my mother and Luci came outside and found us there, Luci said it proved what a wanton I was.” Griffin closed his eyes as white-hot hatred raced through his veins. He longed to break something, to wrap his hands around Luci’s lily-white neck and squeeze.

“Go on,” he choked out with as much control as he could muster. He didn’t want Audrey to think his anger or disgust was aimed at her.

“Luci told my mother that if she took me home immediately and never brought me back for another Season that the story wouldn’t get out. What was Mama to do? Your wife held all the cards. So, my mother agreed and we went home.” A small sob escaped her lips as her fists came around his back and she held him closer to her.

Closing his eyes, Griffin held back a snarl of displeasure. “I never knew Lucinda would go so far.”

“I did.” Pushing back from his chest, she wiped her eyes. “I knew from the moment she told me she would have her revenge that she wouldn’t rest until I was destroyed. Even though I had no chance to be with you, she refused to see me happy. So she took away any chance I had to marry well and sent me home in disgrace.” She pulled away, leaving Griffin empty in her wake.

“When did she vow to get you?”

“The day I… kissed you,” she said with a blush as she fiddled with the little clock on the mantel. “Your wedding day.”

“Damn her.” He turned away so she wouldn’t see his furious face. One by one, he clenched his fingers back into a fist. “Damn her to hell for all the pain she caused.” Audrey shook her head as she spun on her heel to face him. Her face was free of any of the malice he, himself, felt.

“No, don’t say that. My troubles with her shouldn’t color your memories. You shared five years with her, and the baby who died with her would have been a gift. Don’t damn her now, try to remember how happy you were with her then.” Shutting his eyes, Griffin tried to do as she asked and remember a happier time with Luci. To his surprise, he couldn’t. Not even their wedding day, when his focus had shifted to Audrey’s kiss.

His courtship with Luci had been swift and proper, and now it seemed like a dream. No, his memories of Lucinda were only of the grief she’d caused him.

He remembered his wife’s laughter when he’d discovered her infidelity. Her wickedly phrased threats and promises to ruin his reputation and his family name. Her smile when she told him she was pregnant with another man’s baby, and that there was nothing he could do about it.

“Griffin?”

He opened his eyes to find Audrey had come closer to him, holding out her hand to touch his arm.

“What is it?” she whispered. “You look so angry.”

“I’ll tell you,” he promised. He took the hand she held out to him to raise it to his lips. Her presence calmed his rage. “But not tonight. Tonight I want you to tell me why you ran away from the marriage your parents arranged for you after my wife spoiled your chances in London.” Her face fell. “My brother has been talking.”

Leading her back to her chair, he sat down beside her. “Does that bother you? Does it bother you that I know so much about your past?” “No,” she said with a shake of her head. “It troubles me that I know so little about yours, especially when there are so many innuendos. But if you say you’ll tell me another night, I trust you.” A thrill passed through Griffin at those words. Audrey trusted him. Despite everything Luci had done to her and despite his own barbarian ways of protecting her.

Her sigh brought his focus back to her face. She stared at the floor as she plucked at the hem of her sleeve. Her voice was almost a whisper when she said, “When we returned to the country, my mother was very upset. She was determined to marry me off before my problems could hurt my sister Ginny and her chances to wed well. She and my father made an arrangement with Squire Jonas Teetle.” “Jonas Teetle?” Griffin repeated, trying to put a face to the name Audrey had said. When he did, he winced. “Wait, Tepid Teetle?” “The very one.” She sighed again. “Pale as snow, weak as lukewarm tea, Jonas Teetle. He needed a wife, preferably one with a fortune and a prestigious bloodline. According to my parents, I needed a husband without a hint of scandal… or personality… to him. In their eyes, we were the perfect match.” She said it with such little feeling that Griffin had to chuckle. “You make it sound like heaven.”

After a surprised pause, Audrey joined him in the laughter. “Oh, heaven on earth.” The sarcasm dripped from her every word.

“So what happened to destroy your little utopia?”

She smiled. “By that time, Noah had returned from an assignment with a mild injury. He could see how miserable I was. To keep my mind off my troubles, he asked me to help him. It started off with my filing papers, then more. By the time he’d healed and was ready to return to fieldwork, I was aching to escape with him. So I did.” She finished her story with a little shrug, as if she’d said something perfectly commonplace.

“You know, you didn’t take up gardening, Audrey,” Griffin said with a shake of his head. “You behave as if this is normal.”

“To me it’s become normal,” she explained. “My mother was furious at first, but then Ginny came out with great success and she began to see that losing me was really for the best.” Again, Griffin winced at the pain in her voice. “Have you spoken to her since you left?”

She was quiet for a long, charged moment. “No. We have exchanged a few letters, but I never see her.”

Her tone left no opening for questions and Griffin took her hint and didn’t ask. She’d already given him a hefty glance into her past, more than he ever would have asked for.

“Audrey.” He cocooned her hand between both of his, surprised at how small and delicate her fingers were.

She pulled back half-heartedly. “I should go to bed now, it’s very late.”

“Come to my bed,” he burst out.

Though it wasn’t a smooth request, that didn’t change the fact that it was what he wanted more than anything. He watched as Audrey’s face paled a shade, then colored to a deep red.

“I shouldn’t,” she stammered though she swayed just a little in his direction.

Frowning, he let her hand go. “Have the past few hours changed your view? Are you sorry now for what happened between us?”

“No!” Her tone was emphatic enough to be believed without hesitation. “But I can’t join you tonight.”

“Why?”

“Hannah already suspects something has happened between us.”

He tilted his head to examine her expression more closely. From the embarrassment in Audrey’s eyes, he had no doubt Hannah more than suspected something had happened. She knew.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured him with a light touch on his upper arm. “She won’t breathe a word. I already have her promise.”

Griffin let out a sigh of relief at her reassurance. The last thing he wanted was for Noah to confront him about