Jack took the small gla.s.s from the man and set it aside, then he chased the servants out, shutting the double doors behind them with a firm click.

There he paused, knowing he had just caused a scandal.

No, wait-two. There was also the earl in the fountain, news of which was sure to travel fast. Counting the maid's rumor itself, that made three.

He was not eager to hear what Eden had to say about all this. It had been a bold move, giving her that scorching kiss in front of everyone, but it was the best that he could think of at the time. Proof positive that he had indeed known his wife in the biblical sense and was the father of the child whose existence the world would soon discover.

At least it was a start.

Combined with the lesson he had taught Lord Pembrooke in the conservatory, giving every man around a small idea of what he could expect if he came too near Jack Knight's wife, he was confident that he had dealt a crippling blow to the rumors and helped to quell any talk that could harm his child's standing in the world.

He felt a great deal better.

Kissing Eden usually had that effect on him. Truth be told, he had relished the chance to flout Society again, and to let Maura see firsthand what she was missing. He hoped she had known a pang of regret-but for his part, he felt none.

He had made himself look like a blackguard, true, but he didn't care what these people thought about him. He only cared what Eden thought of him. And as he flicked the bra.s.s lock on the library doors, turned around slowly, and looked across the room at his playacting wife, he knew that this was the moment of truth.

"You can open your eyes now."

"I don't want to," she said, "because if I see your face, I'm going to scream.'"

She sat up swiftly like a woman waking from the dead, and swung her slippered feet down to the carpet. "How could you do that? You barbarian!" She leaned forward on the couch, her lovely face etched with ire. "What were you thinking? You don't behave that way!"

Jack blinked.

"Do you know what you've done? You've disgraced us! We're never going to be invited anywhere ever again!"

He paused. "Would that be so bad?"

"Oh! I've never been so mortified in all my life!"

"Mortified?" he echoed in a low tone.

"You humiliated me in front of the whole world!"

Jack could not have been more stunned if she had pulled out a pistol and shot him.

She rocketed up out of her seat, grabbed the draught of brandy, tossed back a swallow, and promptly proceeded to cough, for she never drank spirits.

Jack, meanwhile, tried to comprehend.

Mortified? Humiliated? Now she was embarra.s.sed of their love?

She hadn't been embarra.s.sed last night when he had made her scream with pleasure.

He lowered his head and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes in an effort to clear his head, because he could feel his emotions fraying like a rope in a wild Atlantic gale.

Think.

He was hanging by a thread.

Eden was angry about the kiss and he could understand that.

What he was unprepared for was this talk of humiliation-as though she was actually ashamed of him.

Just like his mother had been.

Just like Maura had been, opting for Lord Ancient-of-Days over all of his youthful devotion.

This cut much too close to the bone.

Perhaps if he could explain to her...

But no. Why should he have to?

As she stopped coughing and began pacing, railing in general terms about what a very bad fellow he was-throwing the earl in the fountain, threatening to kill people who flirted with her, and half ravishing her in public-Jack could barely follow her words, let alone absorb them.

He was suddenly so depressed that he didn't think he even had the heart to try to justify himself. Couldn't she once just give him the benefit of the doubt? Trust that perhaps he knew what the h.e.l.l he was doing?

He didn't deserve this, nor did he have the time to wait out another of her grudges.

One thing was clear. She loves this world, and I just don't belong here.

Eden might not understand his true reasons, but her anger was contagious; for when Jack saw how furious she was at him, he lost all motivation to explain himself to her.

Last night she had promised him forever, but it seemed that was only as long as he played by her rules.

With the raw emotion churning in him since the moment he had realized the rumor's implications for their child, and all the echoes of pain he was still carrying around from the trauma he had suffered on account of his own ill-starred birth, what he really needed right now was her tenderness.

Instead what he got was her rage.

He couldn't believe she was yelling at him.

It felt like a betrayal, far worse than finding her in the conservatory with some blue-blood weasel of an earl. His main ally, his beloved, was siding with the ton against him. For what?

Perhaps he was not thinking as clearly as he should right now, but he could not stand here and spell out the facts for her, the rumor and all. She was sure to hear it from someone else, he thought, so let her.

Lucien could explain it all in detail. Then maybe the genius's daughter could figure out the rest for herself.

"Don't you have anything to say for yourself?" she cried, her cheeks flushed with anger and brandy.

Head down, arms folded across his chest, Jack flicked her an insolent glance. "You could've put a bit more effort into kissing me back."

"Oh!" she gasped. "You're lucky I didn't slap you!"

"Slap me?" he echoed in a menacing murmur.

"It was a dirty trick! Just because you want no part of humanity, Jack, don't drag me down with you! You can turn your back on the world if you wish, just like Papa did, but I don't intend to join you in your exile, too. I've already had that part of my life, thank you very much!"

He stared at her. Did it never occur to Eden that maybe it was humanity that wanted no part of him?

"Say something!" she ordered.

"Very well. Now you know why I wanted to keep you in Ireland," he uttered softly, gazing at her in reproach. "I knew that bringing you here would ruin everything sooner or later. That they would come between us, with all their artificiality, and I would end up like this-the villain, as always. But like a doting fool, I could not say no to you. I could not stand your tears."

"Jack."

"What do you want me to say? Go ahead. Side with them against me. I half expected it," he added bitterly.

"I'm not siding against you, Jack."

"Of course you are." He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the ballroom. "These are the same people who cast me into the gutter when I was a boy. Now their approval means more to you than our love. But so be it. You got what you wanted from me. You used me and my family to get yourself into this world. Now that you're here, I've served my purpose, haven't I?"

She searched his face in disbelief. "That is not true, you cannot believe that of me. Jack-I am your family. You said it yourself a few days ago."

"Well, I was mistaken. My crew is my family. And it's with them that I belong." He paused, turning to reach for the door. "Good-bye, Eden."

"Don't you dare walk out on me now."

"I'm going to go," he said calmly, a rare note of defeat in his voice. "You do what you want. Dance to your heart's content. I'll be back in the autumn to take my child when he is born."

"What?"

"You heard me. Especially if it's a son. You know I need an heir to run the company. I'll hire a wet nurse to care for him. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I'm not raising my child here," he said in a bleak tone. "I'm going to take him someplace far away, where people don't set so much store on how high you were born, but on what you did with your life once you got here. Someplace no one can ever hurt him or make him feel like he doesn't belong. India, maybe, where Lord Arthur lives. Society's quite a bit looser there. There's always Jamaica."

"What madness is this?" she whispered, staring at him, her face gone pale. "You are not going to take my child away from me."

As her husband, it was, of course, his legal right.

"You can always have another," he said in a soft, cruel tone. "I'm sure you'll find no shortage of prospective fathers who'd be more than happy to oblige you."

"I am not like your mother, Jack, and I will not permit you to slander my honor."

He fell silent, watching her stand up to him, just like she always had. G.o.d, he'd miss her.

"Your dubious birth doesn't give you the right to act like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she added.

"Ah, but I am one, sweet. And that's all I'll ever be." With that, he walked out, beckoning a servant through the crowd of garden ladies who had gathered to eavesdrop outside the library door. They fled back from him when he came out, scattering like so many pecking birds. He ignored them.

"Fetch my brother, Colonel Lord Winterley, to take my wife home," he ordered the footman. The library door was still open, so he turned to steal one last glance at his beautiful wife.

She was standing as though rooted in place, her face white.

"You'll go to Damien's now," he instructed her. These flat parting words would have to serve as his farewell. With his stomach in knots, Jack closed the door on her and walked away.

Eden swayed on her feet as the shock of his departure sent a tremor through her. It took her a long moment to absorb what had just happened. He meant to leave now for South America, just like that?

No. There was no way she was letting him leave like this. She rushed to the door, only to hesitate when she heard the ladies' worried murmurs on the other side.

Would they disdain her now?

She was terrified to face them, for she was nowhere near as brazen as Jack, but she saw there was no way around this. There was only one door out, and to catch up to Jack, she'd have to meet the ladies head-on. She took a deep breath and steeled herself to face her scandal. "Right."

The minute she opened the door, they fluttered.

"Oh, my dear child, are you all right?"

"Did he hurt you?" one whispered.

"No, no," Eden a.s.sured them.

"You should lie down. Do you need the smelling salts?"

"No, thank you so much. Please, let me through. I just want my husband."

"We all want your husband, dear," a bored lady near the back remarked drily, though others t.i.ttered at her racy remark.

Eden shot a scowl in her direction. "Please, let me through! I need to talk to Lord Jack."

"But, dear, his behavior was disgraceful!"

"Yes, I know, but, you see, I need to stop him before he goes-"

"Now he is leaving you?" they cried, appalled on her behalf.

"Not if I can help it," she declared. Finally extricating herself from the knot of solicitous but nosy ladies, Eden strode down the corridor that flanked the ballroom, staring straight ahead.

She ignored the looks and kept her head high, though her cheeks flamed crimson. Their rude gawking and whispers helped her experience firsthand what Jack had gone through all his life.

A few people smiled at her, as though to a.s.sure her that they did not hold her culpable for her husband's outrageous behavior, but having their forgiveness for herself alone only made her furious.

They did not know Jack. He was no villain. He was her lion, her love. They did not understand him.

But you do, her conscience chided, and you should have known better. You should have been gentler with him.

In short, she should have kissed him back.

She'd had her chance to prove her loyalty and failed him. It broke her heart to see it now, but she knew the charge was true. She could have wept to know the hurt she had caused in the very place where he was most vulnerable. Outrageous as his scandalous kiss had been, now he felt betrayed. Finally, she saw that.

But how could he ever think she preferred the ton to him?

She could not live without him.

He was the rock of her life.

It was just so hard for him to believe that because no one had ever loved him before.