Free Married to the Marquess by Rebecca Connolly

, feel sorry for her and for what she must be going through.” Her tone was harsh and scolding, and Derek rather imagined this was what her children would experience when they came along and misbehaved. She would be a very good disciplinarian. “When I was told, yet again, that she would not see anyone as she was still mourning, I asked if the butler thought there was anything I could do to lessen her grief. He confided to me that he did not know, as Lady Whitlock had been crying in her room since breakfast, and nobody had seen her since.”
    A small, guilty feeling started in Derek’s chest and with each beat of his heart, it stretched further and further outwards until it encompassed just about every part of him. “Well,” he said uneasily, “perhaps she simply wanted some peace and quiet and to not be disturbed. She is in mourning, after all.”
    “That is why she stays at home, Derek,” Moira said with a slow shake of her head, her eyes never leaving his. “Why is she staying in her room, Derek?”
    “I don’t know,” he lied, trying to appear confused.
    Moira flicked her gaze to Colin first, who flushed a bit and looked away, then to her husband, who steadily met her gaze, but it was clear he was uneasy. For a long moment, she continued to stare at Nathan, and he at her, as if they were communicating silently. Then Moira looked back to Derek. “I think you had better tell me, Derek.”
    “I don’t think it is your business, Moira,” he said tartly, though without malice.
    She snorted. “Nor is it Colin’s or Nathan’s, and yet they know all. And you had better tell me yourself, or I will have Nathan tell me later.”
    Derek’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t…”
    “Oh, he would,” Moira interrupted with a smile that was not kind. “He doesn’t approve of whatever it was, and even if that were not the case, I have ways of making him talk that I cannot employ with you.”
    Fighting the impulse to look to Nathan for confirmation, Derek swallowed and gave in with a nod. He very briefly told her what had transpired that morning, and, along with the occasional add-in from Colin, who possessed a keen memory for exact words, the story was told without variation.
    When he had finished, it seemed that everybody stood yet further away from him. He glanced around and found Duncan and Geoff, who had not been privy to the details looking at him in shock. Colin and Nathan had no expression at all.
    “Well,” Moira said finally, as she glanced to Nathan, who nodded his affirmation of the details, “that was enlightening.”
    “Was it?” Derek could not help but asking.
    “Yes. Now I understand why Katherine cannot stand you.”
    Though the group had been silent before, the air became quieter still at her words, and nothing in all of creation moved.
    “I beg your pardon?” Derek asked softly, his voice taking on that dangerous tone that seemed its habit of late.
    “Oh, don’t you think you can put on airs with me,” Moira said with a shake of her head, her eyes bright. “I do not care how rich you are, how important you think you are, or that you have any title at all, let alone a high ranking one. If I could slap you right now, I would do so. But I don’t think I could stop with just one, and I am really not in the mood to be hauled off by my husband for beating the sense out of you in front of all your friends.”
    A number of his friends choked back a laugh, but they were all stifled rather quickly.
    Derek put his tongue over his teeth for a moment, and focused on breathing. “What gives you such righteous indignation, Moira?”
    “The notion that you would treat Katherine in that way, that you think so little of her and her situation to attack her in such a way. I know I don’t know her,” she said as she raised a hand to the protests that she somehow knew were rising in him, “but did you even think what it meant for her to come and face you after hearing those words?”
    Derek suddenly felt