Free The Stranger I Married by Sylvia Day

“My wife is a mystery to me, which deepens my dilemma.”
“Isabel is a mystery to everyone. Why do you think so many wish to possess her? The challenge is irresistible.”
“Do you remember her marriage to Pelham?” Gerard asked, wondering why he had never bothered to inquire before. “I would like to hear of it, if you do.”
Markham accepted the mug offered to him by the attendant, and nodded. “There is not a peer my age who has forgotten Lady Isabel Blakely as she was in her youth. She is Sandforth’s only daughter, and he doted on her. Still does, as far as I know. It was known that her dowry was substantial, which attracted the fortune hunters, but she would have been popular, regardless. We all awaited her coming out eagerly. I had plans to offer for her even then. But Pelham was wily. He did not wait. He seduced her fresh out of the schoolroom, before any of us had a chance at wooing her.”
“Seduced?”
“Yes, seduced. It was obvious to everyone. The way they looked at one another... Theirs was a grand passion. Whenever they were in close proximity, the heat was palpable. I envied him that, the worship of a woman so obviously ripe and willing. I had hoped to have that with her, but it wasn’t to be. Even after he began to stray, she still adored him, although it was clear it pained her greatly. Pelham was a fool.”
“Hear, hear,” Gerard muttered, silently examining the flare of jealousy he felt.
Markham chuckled, and took a long drink. “You remind me of him. Or rather, you did before. He was two and twenty when he married her, and just as cocky as you. In fact, Pel used to note often how much you reminded her of Pelham. When you married, I assumed that was why. But then you kept on with your distractions, and she with hers. You confounded all of us, and angered more than a few. It seemed a waste to have Pel finally remarried, only to have it be to a man who had no interest in her.”
Gerard stared down at his hands, which were reddened and callused from hard work. He twisted the thin gold band he wore, a piece of jewelry he and Pel had bought as a lark, joking that it would never see the light of day. He wasn’t quite sure why he wanted to wear it, but now that it was on, he found he liked it. It was an odd feeling, the feeling of belonging to someone. He wondered if Pel had felt it when she wore the ring he’d bought her this afternoon, and if that was why she had rejected it so summarily.
The viscount laughed. “I really should hate you, Gray. But you make it damn hard.”
Gerard’s brows lifted into his hairline. “I haven’t done anything to stop you from hating me.”
“You’re thinking, and brooding. If those aren’t signs that you have changed, I’ve no notion what would be. Cheer up. She’s yours now, and unlike me or Pearson or any of the others, she cannot set you aside.”
“But there is Hargreaves,” he reminded.
“Ah yes, there is that,” Markham said with a broad grin. “As I said, fate does have a way.”
* * * * *
    “I am horribly disappointed that your errant spouse is not at home,” the Duchess of Sandforth complained.
“Mother.” Isabel shook her head. “I cannot believe you rushed over here just to ogle Gray.”
“As if I wouldn’t.” Her Grace smiled with the wide grin of a naughty cat. “Bella, you should know by now that overwhelming curiosity is one of my vices.”
“One of many,” Isabel grumbled.
Her mother ignored that. “Lady Pershing-Moore came to call, and you cannot imagine how dreadful it was that she knew every minute detail of Grayson’s appearance, while I did not even know he was in town.”
“The only dreadful thing is that woman.” Isabel paced the length of her boudoir. “I’m certain she has filled as many gossip hungry ears as she could manage in one day.”
“Is he as fine as she says?”
Sighing, Isabel admitted, “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“She swore the way he looked at you was indecent, is that true, too?”
Isabel