Free Terri Brisbin by The Duchesss Next Husband Page A

do whatever it took to get her husband back. If that meant somewhat tumultuous physical activities, she was not opposed to them. Actually, with the way her body felt at this moment, all warm and relaxed, she was even willing to engage in such behavior.
    Then she realized what he’d said. Could she ask him? Bah! She needed to be bold to win the day, so she did.
    “Your passions got away from you, Windmere? Truly?” She felt guilty about hunting down a compliment, but she asked, anyway. Convinced that things between them were different now, she felt confident about his answer.
    “I confess to that, Miranda. One moment I felt in complete control and then the next, well, you know what happened next. I cannot explain it, but I can only apologize for such forceful…attentions.”
    Miranda decided that she needed to know, once and for all, the cause for the change in her husband. It went deeper than simply behaving differently; it went to something inside him.
    “Is this need of yours for more forceful attentions,as you call them, related to your recent dismissal of your mistress?”
    Sophie’s note had included specific details of their parting, including the number and cost of the gifts given to the woman to ease his way out her door. “Information or ammunition,” Sophie had written. Miranda decided that, if things were going to be different between Adrian and her, now was the time to use it, and she watched and waited for his answer.
    Her husband turned red and coughed several times. Not the choking kind that he suffered from time to time, which seemed to come from the base of his lungs and threaten his consciousness; no, these were more surprised-by-her-words coughs. He finished by clearing his throat and taking a mouthful of his coffee.
    “How do you know of that? Of her?” he asked quietly.
    Both of them knew this was outside the bounds of what they should ever be discussing. If Miranda were smart, and she did not think herself a beetle-headed ninnyhammer, she would rise from her chair and bid her husband good day, leaving him and the insulting topic behind. If she were not now infatuated with the possibilities between her and Adrian, she would accept his apology and return to the normal behavior between them. If she were not ever optimistic in spite of years of learning the folly of it, she would never press him for this admission.
    “I did not think it was a secret. I know of her in the customary ways.”
    Servants’ gossip.
    Ladies’ gossip.
    Gossip.
    Miranda knew when he’d begun seeing Mrs. Robinson and even where and when he spent time with her. She knew where the woman’s house was—one rented with the duke’s funds, she was assured—and which jeweler he favored for purchases to meet “Caro’s” fancy tastes. Thinking of it now, while also remembering the personal things he’d done to and with Miranda herself this last day, made it hurt in a way it had not hurt before.
    “So is this change in behavior simply the result of not being able to relieve your baser needs on your paramour, then? Will your wife suit your purposes until you find another fancy piece to take Caro’s place?”
    Horrified that she’d spoken such words, Miranda blinked and looked away. The silence stretched on until she glanced back at him. He opened and closed his mouth several times, as though changing his mind at his answers. She was certain that this was the first time he’d been asked such a personal question.
    He must have remembered himself in the next few moments, for he straightened up and his face lost the glow and ease of the last few days. The Duke of Windmere now glared at his audacious duchess.
    “Exactly that, my dear.” He put his cup down on the table and walked back to the fireplace. Leaning his arm on the mantel, he continued without ever meeting her eyes. “A short aberration that will not happen again. Iplan on rectifying the situation upon my return to town.” He did look at her now, with those