Free The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke

the same, and she did not want to be reasonable where he was concerned. "I appreciate your offer to allow me to redecorate your house." she said with complete insincerity, "but to my mind, it is an exercise in futility."
    "Your unwillingness to take on this project baffles me," he said. "I fail to understand why you are not overjoyed at the prospect."
    "Overjoyed?" She looked up at him, saw a teasing gleam come into his eyes.
    "Yes," he answered. "You love to redecorate. You always have. And this provides you with the perfect excuse to go shopping at my expense. Given such an offer, any other man's wife would be jumping up to shower him with grateful kisses."
    "You only wish."
    "Indeed I do. I live for the day. Of course, when that day arrives, I shall probably be overcome by the shock and expire on the spot. And then you'll be sorry you didn't shower me with kisses long ago."
    Don't tease me. Don't. Just go away . She drew in her breath and let it out slowly. "I can never make up my mind which side of your wit I dislike more," she said. "The razor-sharp kind that can cut others to pieces, or the clever, amiable kind that others find so charming."
    "There was a time when you loved them both. The irony is that neither of them have ever expressed my deeper nature." With that enigmatic comment, he bowed and walked away.
    "I mean it, Hammond ," she called after him. "We are not reconciling!"
    "The odds of it do look slim," he agreed. "I must place a bet for my side at Brooks's . I shall rake in a substantial sum when I win."
    She felt a pang of dismay. "They are betting on our reconciliation at Brooks's ?"
    He stopped and looked at her with surprise at the question. "Of course. And White's. And Boodles, too, I understand. Will Lady Hammond return to the marriage bed before the season is over? And what will Hammond do if she doesn't?"
    She gave a moan of mortification. "God save us poor women from gentlemen and their clubs."
    "Buck up, Viola," he advised, grinning. "It is quite a compliment to your stubbornness and strength of will that the odds are currently favoring you by a substantial margin."
    "Only because all the men think I am such a shrew you won't be able to stick it," she said dryly.
    He laughed, the wretch. Leaning one shoulder on the doorjamb, he folded his arms. "I will not discuss what is said in the clubs. No woman should ever know what men talk about among themselves. Your sex would be so appalled that we should never enjoy the pleasures of your company again."
    "A great loss to women everywhere."
    "It would be a great loss, for the human race would die out." He turned and disappeared through the doorway, but his voice echoed back to her as he walked down the corridor toward the stairs. "Wednesday, Viola. Two o'clock ."
    He always managed to have the last word. Hateful man. Spending time with him was the last thing she wanted to do. Still, it was better than living with him, and she did gain a three-week reprieve today. She just hoped waiting him out was a strategy that would work, for she had no other options.
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Chapter 5

Two days later John had cause to wonder if his idea to show Viola his town house might have been unwise.
    He had begun leasing the London residence for the season two years earlier, when he and Viola stopped pretending for society that they had any kind of a marriage. He was the one to take that final step away, deciding there was no point in keeping up a conventional appearance during the season when everyone in the ton knew they lived separate lives the rest of the year. More than that, he had been unable to tolerate one more tortuous spring of separate bedrooms. It hurt too much, knowing the door to hers was never open for him. Now, as his carriage took them toward his house, the only sound was the light spring rain that danced on the leather roof. Viola maintained the distant, untouchable demeanor that had become so characteristic of her over the years, the cold goddess he despised. It