The Baron's Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

His cane moving back and forth in front of him, he started toward the door. “I will consult with my solicitors when I return to London to see how we can legally free you. Mason will see you out. I have much to accomplish today.”
    …
    Shocked silence followed the closing of the library door. Marion wavered between agony and anger. How dare the man dismiss her! If she didn’t love him so much, she would shoot him. Gathering the shreds of her pride around her, she straightened her shoulders and left the room. Nodding briefly at Mason as he helped her into her pelisse, she sailed out the front door and hurried to her carriage.
    Her anger slowly dissipated as she rode closer to home. How could he so easily insist on ending their marriage? Did he no longer feel the love they once knew? A shroud of melancholy wrapped around her, and she shivered, despite the warmth of the sun pouring through the window.
    She’d loved that man from the time she was six years old. Tristan had always been her knight in shining armor. Even though she had been surrounded by a brother and sisters, whom she loved dearly, it was Tristan, and his family visits, that had brightened her childhood. When they hadn’t been playing games together, she had followed him about, and he had never become irritated with her as had her brother and his friends.
    He had been the one with the patience to teach her to fish, to climb a tree without killing herself, and the trick for skipping smooth pebbles over the top of the water. She shook off her wandering thoughts as the carriage came to a halt in front of the manor. As much as she loved her family home, this was not where she wanted to be. A home of her own, a beloved husband, and children were her dreams. At one time she had had the home and husband, and then lost them. Now it appeared they had vanished once again.
    “Thank you,” she answered absently as their butler, Everleigh, helped her remove her pelisse.
    “The dowager duchess requests your presence in the drawing room, my lady.”
    Slowly, she climbed the stairs, still confused and hurt. The sound of female chattering greeted her as she opened the door. Her mother and Penelope sat across from each other, a tea tray between them. So involved in their conversation, neither noticed her enter the room. Marion took the opportunity to study the two women.
    In the beginning of his search for a wife, Drake had sought a much different type of woman as his duchess. Of course, the fact that he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off Penelope, which had led to their impromptu engagement, had served him well. With her American upbringing, Penelope brought just enough spontaneity to her brother’s stiffness. Something he had desperately needed. After her brother had admitted Penelope was the center of his life, he’d done a complete about-face with regard to his wife’s odd ways.
    “Oh, there you are.” Mother returned the tea cup to the tray and regarded her over her shoulder. “We have been waiting for your return.”
    Marion dragged her feet to the settee and slumped onto the seat. “It did not go well, I’m afraid.”
    Both women eyed her speculatively.
    “Tristan insists on a divorce.”
    “That is impossible! What must the man be thinking?” A bright red hue crept up her mother’s face.
    “I don’t believe he is thinking at all. I told him it was not something he could even obtain. And furthermore, I had no desire to divorce him.”
    Penelope reached over and grasped her hand. “Perhaps you need to give him some time. He needs to adjust his thinking. I’m sure once he realizes how wrong such a move would be, he will come around.”
    “Except his butler informed me they were preparing the house to return to London.”
    “My dear, I sincerely hope you do not plan to give up?” The dowager’s eyebrows rose almost to her hairline. “I did not raise my children to succumb so easily to such foolishness.”
    “Frankly, I don’t know what to do.