Malcolm ignored the pang of disappointment that these women had discovered the statue that marked the underwater ballroom before Sera had. His gaze tracked to his wife far below, and he answered the question. “It is.”
If I vowed to always hunt you, would you take flight?
She had taken flight last night and did so still, far below, earthbound, looking as though she might do it in earnest at any moment—turn into a dove and leave him, forever.
What if she did not want him? What if he could never have her?
He hated the questions that came with the harsh memory of the night before, when she’d lingered on the past, invoking without words the child that they had lost. The history they had never been able to make.
They could make a future, though. He believed it.
They had a chance, did they not?
Please, let them have a chance.
She looked up then, as if she had heard the unspoken thought from three stories below. He met her gaze and held it, unwilling to let her go.
She looked away.
Lady Felicity pointed to a manor in the distance. “And what’s that over there?”
He looked up from his wife and followed her line of sight. “It’s the seat of the Dukedom of Montcliff.”
Felicity nodded. “I’ve never liked that man.”
His brows rose at her frank assessment of his reclusive neighbor. “No, not many do.”
“Not many people like you, either,” Lilith said.
The honest words startled him, and he turned to face the girls—Lilith, with a knowing smirk on her lips, and Felicity, wide-eyed in what could only be described as joyous shock. He let silence reign for a moment before dipping his head. “That, too, is true.”
“Why?” Felicity asked.
“Are you two banding together?” They looked to each other and shared a grin, and Haven decided that he liked them. “Is this the bit where I am put on trial?”
“It’s a fair question, don’t you think?” Lilith pointed out. “We should know precisely what sort of fish we are buying.”
“If we wish to have fish at all.”
Ignoring the odd metaphor, Haven spread his hands wide. “By all means, then. Ask away.”
He’d never seen such glee. Lady Lilith actually rubbed her hands together.
Felicity lifted herself up to sit on the low stone wall, in the space between the parapets, then leaned forward with her elbows on her thighs, posture to the wind, as though they’d been friends for a lifetime. “They say you’re a terrible husband.”
He lifted his chin at the shocking statement.
“Good Lord, Felicity,” Lilith said, low and full of wonder. “Your mother would perish on the spot if she heard that.”
“My mother doesn’t have to marry him,” Felicity said, not looking away from Malcolm.
“It seems we’re jumping right in,” Lilith said, dryly.
No one would ever say Felicity Faircloth was not a worthy opponent. He leaned back against the parapet and confessed, the words coming shockingly easy. “I have not been the best of husbands.”
“They say you are unfaithful.” His lips flattened into a long, thin line, but he did not scare away this young brave woman. Instead, Felicity Faircloth continued. “And that’s why Lady Eversley knocked you into a fishpond.”
“They are correct.” Lilith’s nose wrinkled, and he could not blame her. “It was once. I had just discovered that Sera . . .” He trailed off. It was not their business. “I was angry. I have never done it again.”
They were silent for a very long time, and Lilith said, “You know, I think I believe him.”
Felicity nodded. “As do I, strangely.”
Miraculous. Now if only they could convince Seraphina to do the same.
Felicity pressed on. “Shall I tell you what I like about your wife?”
He did not need to hear a list of Sera’s qualities. He knew them well. He had listed them more than once. More than a thousand times. And still, he wanted to hear them. He wanted to speak of her with another, as though invoking her here could summon her close. “I do not imagine I could stop you, my lady.”
She grinned. “That is likely true. I’m terrible at keeping quiet. It’s why my mother was so thrilled to receive your invitation. You are her last great hope.”
“I’ve no interest in being coddled,” he said. “Dukes get too much of that as it is.”
Felicity nodded. “Very well, I shall tell you. I like that Seraphina knows what she wants. And I like that she is not afraid to pursue it. Even when it is most definitely not done.”
Divorce was that. He nodded. “She’s always been that way.”
“Women are not always able to have what we want,” she said, and there was a wistful quality in her tone. “We are too often judged for pursuit.”
The words sent a chill through him. He had done that. He had punished her for pursuit. And then, finally, he had punished her for refusing to pursue him.
“Did she pursue you?” Lilith, this time.
“She did,” he said, hating the fist that caught hold of him at the words. The way it twisted in his gut.
“They say she caught you unawares. Hoodwinked Haven and all that.”
These women lacked fear, and Haven could not help but admire that. “That is what they say.”
“But it couldn’t have been for the title,” Felicity pointed out. “Else why flee? Why not stay and flaunt it?”
How often had he asked himself the same question?
“For all that pursuit, she does not seem to like you very much any longer, Your Grace,” Lilith added.
“No, she does not,” he said. That much was clear to everyone.
“I like that about her,” Felicity said quietly. “I like that when it became clear you did not want her, she did not stay.”
Except he had wanted her.
He still wanted her.
Not that he had ever told her as much. Instead, he’d shamed her for her passion. For standing on her own. For reaching for what she wanted. He’d kept it from her. From them both.
“I like that she knows herself. That she believes in herself. That she did not allow herself to be less than what she deserved,” Felicity added. “I should like to be more like her than not.”
“Then perhaps you ought not marry the Duke of Haven,” Lilith said, all dryness. “History would suggest he is not the most accommodating of men when it comes to helping his wife reach her goals.”
The words were not meant for him at all. And still they stung like nettles. “Mmm,” Felicity said, thoughtfully. “I think that might be the case.”
Christ. Why did it take two unmarried women to teach him what he should have seen years ago?
“And that’s before the other problem,” Lilith continued, returning Mal to the moment.
“What other problem?” he asked, the question more forceful than he planned.
The women continued, as though he was not there. As though they were still discussing the estate. Or the weather. And not his personal flaws. “Oh, certainly, that bit is clear as crystal.”
“What bit?” he demanded.
Lilith turned to him, considering him for a long moment. “As this entire scenario is uncommon in the extreme, Your Grace, I wonder if you might find yourself willing to answer a rather—inappropriate—question?”