Page 42 of When the Scoundrel Sins

The question hung in the air for several silent heartbeats before Quinn answered, “Yes.”

The viscountess’s eyes narrowed, as if she suspected he’d just lied to her.

But Belle could have told her he hadn’t. He was doing exactly what his aunt had asked of him—to sort out the men who weren’t fit for her. Unfortunately, Quinn’s opinion of who would make her a proper husband set standards so impossibly high that few would ever be able to meet them.

“Stop asking those foolish questions, and stop chasing the gentlemen away,” Lady Ainsley scolded. “We have two weeks until Belle has to announce her intended, one week after that to have her married.” Despite her anger, her eyes glistened with tears at the prospect, and Belle’s heart broke to see it. “I am doing everything I can to help her. Can you two say the same?”

Quinn clenched his jaw, remaining silent. There was no good answer to that question, and all of them knew it.

Lady Ainsley turned on her heel and began to climb the stairs. “Annabelle, come. We have an engagement party to plan.” She shot an icy glare over her shoulder at her two nephews. “Ifwe have anyone left to betroth you to.”

Instead of following, Annabelle remained. So did Quinn, although Robert wisely excused himself to return to the library.

“Divorce?” Belle bit out, adding frustration to the riot of emotions swirling inside her. “You thought asking aboutdivorcewas a good way to find suitors for me?”

“I’m protecting you, Belle.” His blue eyes were steely hard with resolve. “It’s a valid question.”

“It’s a terrible thing to ask, and you know it. A question no man could answer properly.” She gestured her hand at him. “And what about you, Quinton? If someone put that absurd question to you, what wouldyou—”

She froze in mid-sentence as an impossible idea struck her.

He frowned with sudden concern, reaching out to take her elbow to steady her. “Are you all right?”

“That’s it, that’s the answer,” she whispered, almost afraid to speak it aloud.

“What is?” he asked warily.

“Divorce.” Her heart had been so beaten and bruised in the past few weeks over the idea of marriage that she’d never thought to consider the exact opposite solution. “You’ll marry me and then divorce me. You said you wouldn’t leave a wife behind. This takes care of that.” For the first time in four years, the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders, and she felt as if she could breathe again. “The will stipulated that I had to marry in order to receive Glenarvon. It never said I couldn’t divorce and keep it.”

He shook his head. “We cannot.”

Desperation colored her voice, but she simply didn’t care. This was the answer she’d been hunting for weeks to find—years, in fact. “I know it’s not ideal. But it could be done if—”

“No.”

The force of that single word silenced her cold. She stared at him, her heart stopping as all the hope she’d felt only moments before ripped from her.

“Divorce takes an act of Parliament,” he bit out. “You know that. And it’s only granted on grounds of adultery.”

She stepped back from him as the familiar hopelessness returned, this time so fiercely that she pressed her fist against her chest to keep from shuddering.

“I don’t care,” she whispered. She was now despairing enough to consider going through hell in order to remain here in heaven.

“I do.” Heaving out a breath, he shook his head. “Damnation, Belle! What you’re asking of me…”

His broad shoulders slumped in frustration. For the first time, she realized with a piercing clarity that he was just as aggrieved by all this as she was. Especially if he meant what he’d said about wanting to protect her.

But that didn’t solve her problem.

“It would put you into an impossible situation,” she finished quietly, dropping her gaze to the floor. She didn’t have the strength to look at him.

“Both of us,” he acknowledged firmly.

“But if we—”

“I won’teverget a divorce, Annabelle,” he ground out, silencing her. “I won’t have either of us publicly labeled as an adulterer, no matter that we both know the truth. Six years ago, your reputation was ruined partly because of me. I won’t allow that to happen again. Certainly not like this.”

Her heart beat so hard that she winced with each jarring thud. Leave it to Quinton to be noble. She would have found it endearing if it didn’t leave her once more without a solution. “But it’s the only way left,” she whispered.