Page 18 of The Duke's Only Desire

“When Norton heard the story about the contract and John’s death, he decided to pursue you.” He locked eyes with her down the length of the table. “A beautiful heiress, the daughter of an earl…of course he wanted to marry you.”

She didn’t move, instead remaining as still as a Greek statue, like one of those goddesses in Lord Elgin’s marbles.

“It was a whirlwind courtship, Norton made certain of it. The sooner he married you, the sooner he would get his hands on what he thought was your dowry, and there would be less time for you to learn the truth about him.”

“Which is?”

“That he’s half a pound away from rotting in debtor’s prison.”

Shay set down his wineglass and pushed himself away from the table. She didn’t move except to let her blue eyes trail after him as he went to the side table and poured two glasses of port. He set one in front of her and took a healthy swallow from the other.

“Norton is deeply in debt,” he informed her. “Well over ten thousand pounds. More likely closer to fifteen.”

She ignored the port. “How do you know that?”

“I asked Lucien to investigate him.”

“The Duke of Crew?” She knew who Lucien Grenier was, if not why Lucien had the underworld contacts to learn what he had about Norton. Shay had written to her about his best friends in his letters, and Crewe had been present for their wedding that morning, lending his moral support to Shay. Anger edged her quiet voice. “You had no right to do that.”

“None at all.” Except that he still cared about her, still felt responsible toward her. Thank God he had, too, because the information Lucien provided about Norton was worse than Shay had imagined. “I wanted to make certain he wasn’t attempting to take advantage of you. But that was exactly what he’d planned.”

He leaned a hip against the table and looked down at her. Her blue eyes had always reminded him of cornflowers on a summer’s day. Now they resembled ice.

“Norton had been grumbling to his chums that he didn’t love you, didn’t want to marry you except to get his hands on your money. He commented several times that he thought you spoiled.” He’d said a hell of a lot worse than that, but Shay would never repeat those cruelties to her. “Once you were married and he had your money, he planned to abandon you and take up permanent residence with his mistress, a Covent Garden actress with whom he already has one child.”

Her face melted, and she whispered knowingly, “Clara LePaige.”

He slid the glass of port closer to her, wordlessly confirming it.

She hesitated for a moment, then helped herself to the sweet, plum-purple liquid. When she swallowed, a faint cough rose from her lips, and she pressed the back of her hand against her mouth.

“I married you so I could protect you from Norton. I couldn’t stand by and let you suffer once he discovered your father had no money, not at that time. If you two had been married, he would have beaten you for it, had you committed to Bedlam—or worse.”

The soft parting of her pink lips told him she understood exactly what he meant.

“You didn’t have to force me into marriage,” she said quietly. “You could have told me what you’d learned. I would have called off the engagement.” She lowered her eyes to her port. “Orhecertainly would have when he learned Grandmama’s fortune was gone.”

He gave a faint shake of his head. “I know men like Norton. He would have found some other way to ruin your life, just for revenge.”

Her face blanched impossibly whiter, and her blue eyes glowed darkly, like sapphires in snow.

“But marrying me keeps you safe,” he added quietly. “You have the power of a dukedom behind you now. No one, not even Norton, would attempt to sully a duchess.”

Especially nothisduchess. He’d kill the bastard at twenty paces if he dared try.

He also wanted to keep her away from Malcolm. Although his uncle’s attempts to claim the dukedom for himself had come to nothing years ago, Shay knew Malcolm wouldn’t be happyabout the marriage. Eventually, Sophie would have to deal with his uncle as Duchess of Malvern, but Shay hoped to put off that confrontation as long as possible.

Sophie said nothing for a long moment, sitting absolutely still and letting herself absorb all he’d told her as she stared into her glass of port. Although, did she suspect how much he was still keeping from her?

“Not at that time?” She curled both hands around the glass of port as if absorbing its warmth. “You said my father had no money ‘at that time.’” She looked up, and her brow wrinkled in faint confusion. “What did you mean?”

Damnation.His tongue had slipped. But he might as well tell her now. She would find out soon enough anyway. “As part of our marriage settlement, I agreed to pay all your father’s remaining debts and settled an additional twenty thousand pounds on you.”

Her fingers tightened around the glass. “Twenty thousand is the exact same amount as the penalty in the contract, should I decide to leave our marriage.”

Leave our marriage.Shay’s lips twitched. What a nice way to say abandon her vows, just as their mothers had done.

“You can leave whenever you’d like,” he stated calmly despite the sudden twisting in his chest that she might do just that if given the opportunity, “and your father now has the money to honor the contract. But there will be no divorce. I will not go before Parliament to petition for one, for any reason.”