A Viking For The Viscountess (22 page)

His hand moved up her spine to the buttons of her gown. “I could kill him outside.”

This time, she understood that he was indeed teasing her. She turned to look at him and saw the warmth in his eyes. “I’ll think about it.” She forced herself to step away from his touch, though she liked having his hands upon her.

In the Norse tongue, he murmured, “Are you well, Juliana? Has she taken care of you?”

He was referring to her grandmother, and Juliana gave a nod. “Well enough, I suppose. Though I miss Hawthorne House.”

“We will return there, when this is finished.” But the grimness in his voice suggested that he believed his time was running out. “And when I go, you will have all that you need to take care of your son.”

“What about you?”

His expression held a hint of regret. “If the gods are willing, I will die with honor and take my rightful place in Valhalla,
kjære
.”

“You won’t die,” she insisted. The idea of not seeing this man again bothered her more than it should. She had grown too accustomed to being with him each day.

He gave her no answer, but returned his hand to her spine. “Look, Juliana. He is watching us.”

She glanced across the room and saw William staring at them. From the confused expression on his face, it was clear that he’d not expected her to be here.

Her instinct was to flee, to walk out of this ballroom and avoid the truth. But when he turned his back on her without approaching, she knew. The truth had been there all along. They had never been married. He’d seduced her and left her behind, making a mockery of her virtue. Once again, the ill feeling returned to her stomach.

“Have courage,” Arik said. “Come.” He gripped her hand, leaving her no means of escaping this. The people of the ton were watching them, waiting to see how this scandal would unfold. But before they could reach William, Marcus stepped forward.

“Miss Nelson,” he interrupted. “I know that you believe my brother has wronged you. But I would ask that if you wish to speak with him, that you do so in private. Not here.”

She agreed with that, but Arik pressed her behind him. “You are the man who forced Juliana and her son to leave Hawthorne House.” He spoke the words with a thinly veiled anger. Marcus eyed him, then Juliana.

“Lord Thorgraham, it has been many years since we’ve met. I am glad that you have safely returned to England.” Marcus extended his hand, but Arik ignored it.

Instead, he stared down at the man, his eyes holding coldness. “What kind of a man forces a woman and child out of their home?”

“I allowed them to stay for six years,” Marcus answered calmly. “It was not a decision I made lightly, I assure you. She and her son had no right to be there.”

Juliana stared back at the man. “Did you know that William was alive? And that he tricked me into a false marriage?”

Marcus stiffened. “I will not speak ill of my brother. But yes, I suspected as much. He has been known to do as he pleases. As for whether he was alive, no, I could not be certain until I saw him with my own eyes.”

The haughty tone in his voice made her aware that the man hadn’t actually wanted his brother to return. Undoubtedly, the estates were under better care beneath Marcus’s guidance.

“William never wrote to anyone in all those years,” he continued. “I suspected he was unable to travel back to England, owing to the war.”

“If you knew that he never married me, why did you wait so long to make us leave?” It startled her to realize that this man was not the villain she’d made him out to be. The true villain was across the billiards room, flirting with a young debutante.

“I did not know it for certain until recently.” He met Juliana’s gaze and answered, “But you remained far away from London society, and you were wise enough to keep to yourself. As you said, what kind of man would force a woman and child out of their home? I had no choice, once I became engaged to Miss Whitemore, for she would not approve of another mistress in residence at Hawthorne House.”

Juliana’s throat tightened with emotion, and she now understood that Marcus had been more than lenient with them. He might be a cold-hearted man who rarely spoke with kindness, but he could have forced them to leave far sooner—especially since she had never married his brother.

She sighed and admitted, “Let him be, Arik. William bears the blame.”

Her Viking stared hard at Marcus and pushed his way past the man. He reached beneath his waistcoat for the battle-ax, revealing the deadly blade as he crossed through the billiards room.

Oh dear. This was not going to go well.

Juliana hurried forward. “Arik, not here. Not in this place.”

But he ignored her and went to stand directly in front of William. Seeing him again brought back all her feelings of insecurity. Of how he’d kept her hidden from the rest of London at Hawthorne House. How he’d visited her a few times, only to take her to bed and teach her what he wanted.

Humiliation burned through her cheeks, but she forced herself to stand before him. “You’ve been gone for many years, William. I thought you might have sent word that you’d returned to England.”

He didn’t look at her at all, his attention focused on Arik. There was a flash of fear in his eyes when he spied the battle-ax. “Lord Thorgraham, I believe.”

His utter disregard for her, as if she were invisible, was a blow she should have expected. But it hurt to know that her worst fears were true—that he had never cared at all for her. That he’d used and discarded her.

The rage in Arik’s eyes was staggering. He looked as if he was ready to take off William’s head with the weapon. Instead, he spoke only two words. “Outside. Now.”

“Is there a problem, Thorgraham? You seem rather upset about something.”

She could hardly believe what he’d said. Upset? As if she were nothing but an afterthought? And what of their son? She had written letters to him, telling him of her pregnancy. Had he ever received them?

Arik took a step forward, staring down at the man. “You abandoned Juliana and your son, leaving them barely able to survive. It does make me angry, yes.”

His tone was so calm, it held an edge like a dagger’s blade. And worse, Lord Hawthorne didn’t even react to the news of Harry. Instead, he met Arik’s gaze openly. “I don’t believe you have anything to do with this. Miss Nelson and I were acquainted for a time—”

“Don’t you mean your
wife
?” Arik corrected.

At that, William risked a glance toward her. He shrugged and admitted, “That was simply a farce. She was a fetching young girl, several years ago. Even so, I would never stoop to wed a fisherman’s daughter—even if her mother was once the daughter of a baron.” He shrugged, not even deigning to look at her. “Juliana and I had our bit of fun. It was never serious.”

A hot flash of anger swept over her. Never serious? She’d given up years of her life waiting for this man, remaining true to him. She had raised their son and had let Harry believe that one day his father might return. And yet William intended to turn his back on them?

Murder was too good for the man. His betrayal affected not only her own future, but also that of their son. Her maternal protective instincts were raging with the full-fledged need for vengeance. He could not walk away from them without providing for Harry.

Juliana stepped forward and said, “Our marriage was serious to me. And I agree with Lord Thorgraham. We should take this discussion elsewhere.” Before she seized the battle-ax from Arik and used it to release her own frustration.

“I’m not going anywhere,” William argued.

At that, Arik seized the man by his cravat, half choking him. He lifted the man off the ground and began dragging him outside the billiards room. There were audible gasps from the onlookers, and Juliana didn’t doubt that this scandal would be talked about for the rest of the night.

Was it bad that she found it gratifying to see her so-called husband hauled away like a sack of grain? Really, he deserved it.

She followed them out of the room, and Arik continued pulling William by his cravat, as if it were a dog’s leash. The footman opened the door for them, and soon enough, they were standing on the stone steps.

“I say, Thorgraham, what’s got into you? She was my mistress, nothing more, and not a very good one at that.”

Juliana saw the clench of Arik’s jaw and took a step backward. He hadn’t released William, but he was studying the man as if determining how he wanted to kill him.

“I suppose she’s your paramour now,” William remarked. “But you’ve no reason to concern yourself with me. I finished with her a long time ago, and you are welcome to her.”

Arik slowly tightened his grip around the man’s cravat until William began turning purple. As her former husband began grasping at his throat, clawing for air, Juliana stepped forward. “I cannot believe I wasted so much of my life with a man like you. You deceived me with our marriage and left me to believe you were dead.”

“I could make that happen,” Arik suggested.

It was more tempting than she wanted to admit. But instead, she shook her head. “Let him go.”

He released his hold on the man, and William staggered to his knees, gasping for air. There was no mercy in Arik’s eyes as he stared down at the man. “You will provide for Juliana and your son. Enough that they will live their lives in comfort.”

“I have no son,” Hawthorne gasped. “If she bore a child, he’s not mine. I owe her nothing.”

She couldn’t speak a word, for his denial wounded her in a way she’d never expected. Harry was an innocent boy who had never harmed anyone. His eager nature brought joy into her life, and he did not deserve to be ignored by his father or treated as a bastard. Her anger was staggering, and she clenched her fists, struggling to control the rage.

“He is a child of your blood, and you will not cast him aside,” she insisted. “He deserves the life he should have had.”

“He’ll get nothing from me,” William remarked. “Not a bloody farthing.”

She swung out her fist and connected with his jaw. The blow hurt her hand, but before William could strike her in retaliation, Arik caught the man’s hand. “I should break all the bones in this hand, for what you did to her.”

Her rage was not merely for the way William had nearly hit her—it was also for the way he’d broken her during the months of their marriage, making her believe that she was not good enough for him.

“You will give her the lands and the dwelling at Hawthorne House,” Arik demanded, tightening his grip.

William let out a cry of pain, struggling to free himself. “The lands are entailed,” he argued. “Neither she, nor her bastard, can have them.”

At that, Arik’s face remained impassive. His knuckles whitened, and William screamed, grasping his hand in agony as if his bones were indeed breaking beneath the force of the Viking’s grip.

She supposed she ought to pity him or urge Arik to stop. Instead, she took satisfaction in watching William suffer. He deserved it for what he’d done.

At that moment, Marcus opened the door and hurried outside to join them. A pained expression came over his face when he saw his brother. When Arik released William, the man writhed on the ground, clutching his hand.

Marcus kept a visible distance and addressed him. “Lord Thorgraham, I understand that you have become Miss Nelson’s…
protector
. But it would be better to discuss this in a civil manner. Tomorrow morning, you will both come to my town house. I will see what arrangements can be made to offer compensation to Miss Nelson for my brother’s…indiscretion.”

An indiscretion? It was far worse than that. Lord Hawthorne had ruined her in the eyes of everyone and had taken her dignity. No amount of money would atone for that.

But when Juliana studied Marcus’s face, she saw regret and embarrassment in his eyes. It did seem that he was trying to help them, though she wasn’t certain she wanted anything from him.

William staggered to his feet and shot his brother a furious look. “Let Thorgraham provide for her and the bastard. If he wants her, the money won’t matter to him.”

Before Juliana could react, Arik’s fist connected with William’s jaw. The man reeled and dropped to the ground like a brick.

Marcus stood there, looking uncomfortable. “I cannot say he didn’t deserve that.” Then he took a step backward. “Lord Thorgraham, please accept my apologies for my brother’s actions. I will attempt to make things right on his behalf. But since I am not in command of the estates any longer, there is not a great deal I can do.”

Juliana realized that Marcus was hardly concerned about her welfare; he seemed more worried about offending a duke’s son. There was far greater social damage if their family offended the Duke of Somerford.

She gave a nod to show him that she’d heard his words. Yet inside, she felt hollow, as if her life had collapsed upon itself. William hadn’t wanted anything to do with her or with their son. Now, she wished she’d never seen him again.

“I want to go home,” she told Arik.

“Then I will take you there.” He guided her up the stairs and inside the doors. “Wait here until I return.”

She ordered the footman to bring the carriage around and tell her grandmother that she was leaving early. Numbly, she leaned against the wall, wishing she could disappear. No one spoke to her, though she knew they were gossiping. When Arik returned, he was holding a white cloth napkin with something folded inside.