Free Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) by Beverley Oakley

astonishment, there in the curtained alcove, stood the man she really would have chosen to marry above all others in the world—if there had been time—she reflected, tragically, clasping her hands across her swollen belly.
    “Lord Tunbridge.” Her gasp was unfeigned, the roiling excitement in the pit of her stomach on par with the desire in her wildly beating heart. “Teddy!” She half rose, as if he might take her in his arms and hold her to him. Like the last time they’d been together. Oh Lord, why had he been such a gentleman, refusing to allow himself to be seduced before he rushed off to do some apparently noble deed on the Continent? He’d said he’d be gone two months, and then he’d return to claim Araminta as his wife. If he’d only taken what Araminta had offered, they could have been enjoying wildly blissful days and nights together, and Araminta would have been the happiest newlywed in the entire world. She’d have been married to the handsomest, kindest, most honorable man to walk the earth, and her child would have had a father who would cherish him. One whom he could respect. Not cold and cruel Debenham.
    She gave a little sob, then looked up when he did not come to her. To her horror, he met her gaze with a cold, stony stare so unlike his so perennially good-natured expression. Stonily, he said, “I saw you from my box and waited until you were alone. I told myself I should not. That I would only torture myself, but in the end I could not stay away.”
    She forced herself to retain her dignity and not rail at him for she did not deserve this. “Yet you chose to remain on the Continent more than two months, my Lord.”
    His eyes bored into hers with the heaviest reproach. “What reason was there for me to return when I heard the news of your marriage? I had left England the most joyful man on earth, but within days, the news of your faithlessness had caught up with me.”
    Araminta bit her lip as she wondered how much detail had been contained in the news he’d received. She dropped her eyes and studied the embroidery on her slippers. Debenham was generous with her wardrobe. The pin money she received was more than sufficient, but he also did not demur when she presented him with the increasingly exorbitant bills of her milliner and mantua maker. Around her neck, the rubies and diamonds of her exquisite wedding gift, were cold. However, Teddy’s generosity would have cast Debenham’s in the shade, she was sure, and he would not have made her do the things Debenham enjoyed doing. Her husband’s enjoyment seemed to be heightened the more reluctant she was. Searching his face with tear-filled eyes, she said in a strained voice, “I tried to go after you the very night you left. I was mad with grief that you would leave me behind, and after Lady Marks’s Riverside Soiree, I took a hackney and went with my maid and my chaperone to your townhouse to entreat you to delay your journey or to take me with you. Perhaps your butler did not tell you? I thought I would die if I were parted for so long after what we’d shared. The fireworks. Do you remember?”
    His shoulders slumped, and he let out his breath in a soft sigh. “I cannot see fireworks without being reminded of the woman I once loved more than life itself...until she wed another within days of my departure, proving just how little she truly felt for me.”
    Araminta stared at him. His cold, measured tone was torture. The vibrant rapture she’d felt in his arms was the most sincere experience she’d ever had.
    “I was blackmailed,” she whispered.
    “By Mr. Roderick Woking or by Lord Debenham?” His tone became curt. “If I recall, you declared your betrothal to the former within a day of my leaving the country, but then you reneged on his offer in order to elope with the boy’s uncle . What kind of a woman does that make you, Lady Debenham?”
    Araminta’s mouth dropped open. “Do you truly imagine I wished to marry either of