Anger consumed Victor’s body. Anger at Montgomery, a man for whom horsewhipping would be too light a punishment. And anger at himself for his cowardly, selfish behaviour.
‘I am so, so sorry, Felicity,’ he said, taking hold of her clenched hands. ‘That was what I witnessed, you being attacked, and instead of coming to your aid, I thought only of myself. I ran and left you to your fate.’
She swallowed and her lips curled into a quivering smile. ‘I did eventually come out of shock and fight him off. Then Jenny arrived and jumped into the fray. Between us he would have had a difficult time explaining all the scratch marks on his face and neck.’
‘Oh, my poor, poor, darling,’ he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. ‘You should have come to me, told me what had happened, and I would have dealt with that…that bastard in the manner he deserved.’
‘That’s why I didn’t tell you,’ she said quietly. ‘I thought your anger would know no bounds and I worried that you might do something that would get you into trouble with the law.’
Shame washed through Victor. She had been through all this trauma and was still thinking of others, while he was nursing his misguided grievances and blaming her for all that had happened. But she was right. If he’d known the truth at the time he would have done whatever it took to make sure Montgomery paid for his crime, and if he ever saw the man again he would live to regret what he had done.
‘Plus, I wanted to keep everything quiet for Jenny’s sake. She was so remorseful that she hadn’t believed me and embarrassed that she had been duped by a rake. She called off the engagement, of course, and told her mother she had realised she did not love him.’
‘That man has much to pay for,’ Victor muttered through clenched teeth.
‘Well, for Jenny it all ended well. She moved back to her family seat in Sussex and it wasn’t long before she was being courted by a lovely young man from a nearby estate. They married in the spring.’
She smiled as if that was all the happy outcome she could have wished for, then sighed lightly.
‘I avoided seeing you for a few days while I calmed down, and then I heard that you had left the country without saying goodbye.’
She gulped down another tear and Victor did not think it possible to feel any worse. ‘I didn’t know what to think, and then when rumours came back about your behaviour on the Continent, I assumed that I had been as naive as Jenny and, like Jenny, had made a lucky escape.’
‘I am so, so sorry, my darling,’ he repeated, kissing the top of her head. ‘I have been such a fool for not trusting you, for not knowing that the woman I loved would never betray me.’
She looked up at him. ‘And I should have trusted you. I should have told you what I was planning to do, but, well, I thought you might try to stop me.’
He nodded. ‘I would have. I’d never want you to be in such danger. Between us I’m sure we could have come up with another scheme, one that didn’t result in us wasting so much time apart.’
He gently stroked her cheek to brush away the remaining tears. ‘We’ve wasted so much time. Let’s not waste a minute more.’
And with that he took her in his arms and kissed her.
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