Adams, Eve - Patience is Their Virtue [Brides of Bachelor Bay 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (19 page)

“When you told the brides of Adam’s heritage and then of his relationship to his own manservant, we were all shocked. Our own mayor, holding a secret like that from the entire town. Why, it’s just such an upsetting blow. It really does play against his credibility, doesn’t it?”

She looked at Adam, but he kept his dark gaze down, his expression solemn.

“You could only imagine my shock, as well.” Miles smiled. The gesture did nothing to warm his cold, gray eyes. “I insisted that the entire council meet immediately to discuss this. We simply can’t have a man like Adam Steele in a position of power, not now that we all know the truth.”

Her mouth fell open. “He’s a good man. His blood is just as red as yours. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be Mayor.”

Adam flicked a glance her way before pulling his attention back down. “Constance, please tell her what you told me.”

When Constance pulled out the leather-bound journal and opened it to a page marked by a silk ribbon, Patience tried to charge her. Raven held her back.

“That’s mine!”

Constance cleared her throat and read from the journal. “It seems my ex-husband and his new wife are expecting
.
” She closed the journal and paused for dramatic effect. “To be a divorced woman is a scandal in its own right, but to marry a man without regard to what your soiled reputation would do to his…Tsk, tsk. Just how many more secrets are you hiding, Patience?”

Patience turned to run away, but her legs gave out and she collapsed as her world faded to black.

He couldn’t believe it. His own wife, the woman he thought he knew and loved, betrayed him.
Ruined
him. The devastation threatened to take over and have him break character by showing emotion in public.

Damn her. How could she do this to him? To Raven? He couldn’t even look at her in the office. The way her lower lip trembled would have been his undoing.

He paced at the foot of her bed. She hadn’t even stirred since she’d fainted. If it weren’t for Raven’s quick reflexes, she would have crumbled to the floor. All the men rushed to her side, but Constance, that bitch, simply stood there, a smug smirk on her face.

What the hell was she thinking saying something like that, especially in front of the likes of Constance Kendall? Patience knew better. Constance must have done something to provoke her. She wouldn’t betray her family like that.

He knew her better than that.

Or so he thought.

But, then again, she’d never told him that she’d been married before. She wasn’t even a widow. Oh, no. She was divorced. Perfect.

“Just fucking perfect,” he muttered.

“Adam,” she whispered.

His anger dissolved as soon as he heard his wife's sweet voice. He hurried to her side and sat down on the bed as he took her hand. “I’m here.”

“Adam.”

“Patience, baby. I’m right here.”

“Forgive me.” She opened her eyes to slits and rested those gorgeous blue-gray eyes on him. Her blazing red hair spilled across the pillow and gave her even more of a glow.

“Let’s not talk about that now. How are you feeling?”

“Like a fool.”

He brushed the hair away from her face and caressed her porcelain cheek. “Aside from that.”

Her eyes shined with tears. “I didn’t tell her. You have to believe me.”

“Then how did she find out?”

“It was a simple slip.”

Adam stood and moved away from the bed. He had to move to work out this agitation clawing at him like a wild beast. “It was more than that by far, Patience. By now, the entire town knows.”

She sat up and swung her legs over the side. “Then let them know. Why hide it?”

“Why hide it, indeed.”

She visibly swallowed as she looked up at him. “You have every right to hate me, Adam. Not only did I betray your trust, I kept a secret from you.”

“One hell of a secret, my dear. Why? Can you tell me that? Why keep something like this from me? Do you have any idea the damage you’ve done?”

He’d believed in her, and it shattered him to know that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him about her past. What else had she kept from him? The knowledge that she’d managed to find a way into his heart only irritated him further.

She charged him and jerked him around. Anger, stark and vivid, blazed in her pretty eyes as she flashed them at him.

Oh, shit.
They were ice blue.

“I am your wife.”

“Apparently you’ve had practice with that justification.”

Surprise and hurt flickered in her gaze. Her shoulders lowered as she seemed to deflate. She turned away from him and melted back down on the bed.

She had him angrier than he’d ever been. Although he felt like a heel for that comment, he wasn’t about to apologize.

“What do you want from me?”

He labored his breathing as he moved to the door. Without turning around, he told her, “Why don’t we start with the truth?”

Throwing open the door, he paused as the first of her sobs ripped into him. He drew in a breath and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

He jogged down the stairs, walked into the study, and slumped down in the chair facing the fire. Goddamn her for what she did to him. He wanted to hate her. Oh, how he wanted to hate her.

But he didn’t. And why? He had no idea.

“She’s crying,” Raven stated as he walked into the study.

“I know.”

“Perhaps you should—”

“I know what I’m doing!” In a burst of anger, he jumped to his feet and charged his brother. Raven stood there, unflinching, and stared at him with that stony expression he wore when they were in public. “She betrayed me, Raven. She betrayed us both.”

He lifted his brow.

“Don’t look at me like that. This is her doing.”

Raven shook his head.

Adam stepped back so he could pace. He waved his hands as he continued to argue with himself. “The entire town knows now. It’s no longer a secret.” He fell back down into the chair and pinched the skin between his eyes. “I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, but the timing couldn’t be worse. This ordinance goes to vote on Monday.”

Raven thinned his lips.

“And then this business about her being married before.” He stood and paced again. “Why wouldn’t she tell me that? You would think that is something a husband should know.”

“Have you told her about Mina?”

Adam stilled and jerked his gaze to him as his gut clenched at the mention of his first wife’s name. “This is completely different.”

“Is it?”

“I’m a widower. I’m not divorced.”

“Does that matter?”

Adam sliced his fingers through his hair. “Hell yes, it matters.”

“I disagree.”

They both whipped around to see Patience standing in the entryway to the study, her icy blue eyes narrow as she rested them on Adam. She did not look happy at what she’d overheard.

“I came here to tell you the truth.” She glided into the room and took a seat on the chair farthest away from either of them. “I ask the same respect in return.”

“That seems reasonable,” Raven said.

Adam glared at him and debated whether to tell them both to go to hell or sit and listen to what she had to say. It wouldn’t matter what she said, he reasoned. He’d still do his damnedest to not forgive her.

No matter how futile his efforts.

Constance’s Journal, Wednesday, April 19, 1865

Port Steele, Washington Territory

My triumph over disgracing Patti kept me in a euphoric mood all day. I finally had my revenge for her stealing Adam from me. She’s positively disgraced! Miles sees me exactly as I want him to—as a woman, an ally, and one with the perfect mind to help him to achieve his goals, as well as my own. If I cannot have the most powerful man in Port Steele, I will accept the second in command and simply grow him into that position. Once Miles rises above Adam in power, I’ll marry him and finally be the most important woman in this town. It is, after all, why I agreed to journey out to this awful land of uncivilized miscreants.

Patience accepted the tea Raven handed her. She took her time stirring in her sugar and milk to avoid the topic she knew they all waited for. Without anything else to distract her, she drew in a shaky breath and began.

“I was married once before.”

“That much we’ve gathered,” Adam growled, and the bitterness in his tone sent cool chills washing up her spine.

“Adam,” Raven warned.

Adam set his jaw and waited, his dark gaze almost black as it kept her pinned to the spot.

She had to look away to gather her thoughts. She only thought of one thing when he looked at her like that. The heated lust in his eyes couldn’t be mistaken, despite his cantankerous demeanor.

“His name is Walter. I met him when I was sixteen and fell madly in love with his charm. We married, and at first, everything was wonderful.”

Adam cleared his throat and frowned.

“We tried to conceive. He wanted a dozen children, at least. Month after month went by and nothing. And then he started to grow angry at everything I did. At first he simply yelled.” She pinched her brow into a frown as she recalled the horrors of her time with him. “And then one night when I broke the news to him that we’d failed again, he hit me.”

“He what?” Adam sat up straight, nothing short of murder burning in his eyes. “That son of a bitch hurt you?”

She nodded and kept her gaze hidden. “He said there had to be something wrong with me and that's why I couldn't conceive.” She closed her eyes against the pain of the truth. “No one wants a wife who can’t bear children.”

“Patience, that—”

Raven shushed his brother.

She went on before her bravado faded and she allowed the consuming ache to take her into silence. “I tried not to do or say anything to provoke him. When he started to see other women and parade them around in front of me, I did nothing for fear that he’d hit me. When he went off to war, I was happy to see him go. Deep down, I secretly wanted him to never return. At least then I’d be free of his tyranny.”

With a shudder, she closed her eyes and shook her head. “So when I received a letter, the guilt ate at me. I wanted him dead. I held it for days, praying for forgiveness, positive it was my fault for his death.”

“And then I read the letter. It seemed he wasn’t dead after all, and I waited for relief to wash over me. Instead I felt the weight of his oppression return tenfold, and it suffocated me. I couldn’t stand to be married to him. He informed me that he’d met someone else and had taken up sides with the South to fight the North and wouldn’t be returning. I took the letter to a judge in Boston, and he granted a divorce, I believe more due to Walter’s desertion than his infidelity.”

“How did you end up in Port Steele?” Adam asked.