Page 59 of Redemption

“Rhea?” Blake said hoarsely. “You know Rhea?”

“Yes. Did you think I would call on your wife without you being present?” Percy snapped as he rubbed his jaw and looked up at his friend. The expression on Blake’s face made him grunt with disgust. Regret crossed the viscount’s face before he stuck out his hand to assist Percy to his feet. Percy hesitated a second before accepting his friend’s silent gesture of apology. When he was standing again, he scowled at Blake.

“You need to have a little more faith in your friends and your wife. You chose well.”

“Did I? I wonder,” Blake said in a voice dark with pain.

“I have no doubts about the woman I met being in love with you.”

“I’m no longer sure of that.”

“Then you clearly have a problem.”

“One I don’t think I can solve,” Blake said in a tight voice.

“I don’t recall you ever being at a loss for a solution, especially where women were concerned,” Percy said with a touch of irony as he removed his sparring gloves.

“This is different,” Blake muttered. “She’s my wife.”

“Do you love her?” His question made the viscount stiffen for a moment before he nodded.

“Yes,” Blake said quietly. “But what stands between us is something I don’t think I can easily dismiss.”

“Perhaps it would help if you considered things from her point of view.” Percy narrowed his gaze at his friend as anger darkened the viscount’s face.

“That sounds as if you know what’s come between us,” his friend bit out with a look of restrained rage.

“I have no knowledge of why you and the viscountess are at odds, but if you love her, you'll work to overcome this problem that stands between you both.”

Blake didn’t answer him. Instead he began to remove his leather sparring gloves. Percy proceeded to do the same as silence filled the space between them. He’d removed his gloves completely when Blake jerked his head toward him. The scowl on the man’s face made Percy shake his head in disgust.

“What?”

“I’d like to know your intentions where Rhea is concerned.”

“I intend to make her my wife,” Percy said without hesitation.

“Do you love her?” At the question, he hesitated, unable to answer. He simply wasn’t willing to step out onto that limb at the moment. When he didn’t reply, Blake eyed him with contempt. “If you can’t answer the question, Percy, it means you’ve decided to marry her for other reasons, and she deserves better than that.”

The contemptuous note in his friend’s voice stung, and Percy clenched his jaw as anger surged through him. It wasn’t his place for his friend to judge him.

“My intentions where Rhea are concerned is none of your affair.”

“You’re wrong. As my sister-in-law, I have every reason to care about her happiness,” Blake said in an icy voice. “So help me God, Rockwood. If you hurt her in any way, you’ll answer to me.”

For a long moment, Percy stared stoically at his friend. Then with a breath of disgust passing viciously past his lips, he turned and walked away from the viscount. Blake was right. Rhea did deserve to be happy. He just wasn’t sure love was part of the bargain, for either one of them.