Page 36 of Miss Vincent’s Vow

“I’m sorry I let you down,” he said, eager to make his apology. “I should have made a bigger effort to be with you this afternoon to receive visitors.”

Cassandra kept her eyes fixed on her lap. “You didn’t come back after showing Mr Barnes out. You seemed angry with me. Did I do something wrong? Shouldn’t I have seen him alone? I thought…I hoped…”

Jethro didn’t want to hear her confession. It wouldn’t help either of them. They were married to each other, and they needed to make the best of it.

“I should have been there. I’m sorry.”

“I wish you had been. They wouldn’t have said such things to me with you at my side.”

Jethro puckered his brow. “Is that why you are upset? Because of what someone said?”

Cassandra gave a huge sniff and nodded. “Of course. You didn’t think I was crying because you had let me down, did you? I would have run out of tears by now if I had cried every time we were at odds with each other,” she said, with the ghost of a smile.

He grimaced at her words, but his mood lightened. He had thought she was crying over Mr Barnes, but it seemed he was mistaken.

“What did they say to you?”

She shook her head wildly from side to side, her hands twisting round and round in her lap. “Don’t make me tell you.”

“I’m sorry if it’s painful, but I must know what someone said to upset you if I am to prevent it from happening again.”

She kept her eyes down, and the tears fell again, wetting the back of her hands. He longed to wipe those tears away—to put his arm around her shoulders and hold her tight, and tell her he would keep her safe.

But would she welcome his embrace? Not if she was in love with Mr Barnes.

His mother’s words came to mind. Never take advantage of those who depend on you.

And Mother was right. However much he wanted to wrap his wife in his arms, he would not exploit her current vulnerability. He would not offer what he felt would be unwelcome. He would have to care for her as best he could from afar.

“They hinted you married me because you had to,” she whispered. “Just like Sally did.”

Her words sunk in, causing his stomach to churn. He leaped up from the bed. “Who dared to say such a thing?”

“Mrs Frampton.”

“But why? Why would she blacken your character in such a way? Out of spite?”

“She resents the fact that my sister and I were supposed to go to her for help on our father’s death, and neither of us did.”

“And so, to prevent herself from being shown in a poor light, she undermines your rejection of her help by suggesting you had no choice.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry you’ve been caught up in the mess caused by the faithless woman who was once betrothed to my brother.”

“You are not the one at fault, Cassandra. No one who truly knows you would believe you would ever act that way. I certainly wouldn’t—and neither would Mr Barnes.”

“But others will listen to Eugenia. They will let her words affect their judgement of me. Of you.”

And Jethro knew it was true.

He paced up and down his wife’s bedchamber. There must be some way to eliminate the rumours before they became too ingrained. He needed a plan to combat the enemy.

A surprise attack. That was often the best way. Nip this stupidity in the bud before it could go any further.

“This is all my fault. If I had been present this afternoon, Mrs Frampton would never have dared address you like that. I would have thrown her out of the house before she had said more than two words.”

Cassandra let out a hysterical giggle and shuddered. “Then, painful though it was, I’m glad you were not there, for that would not have helped one jot. Can you imagine the rumours that would abound if you had ejected a respectable merchant’s wife from your drawing room? What was limited to the three ladies who heard Eugenia’s poisonous words would have spread over town in an instant.”

Jethro huffed. “There must be something we can do.”