The afternoon sun streamed through the library windows as Felicity curled up in her favorite reading chair, a volume of Shakespeare's sonnets open in her lap. She had been trying to focus on the poetry for the better part of an hour, but her mind kept drifting to the morning's ride with Adrian and the way his eyes had looked when he told her she intrigued him.A commotion in the courtyard below drew her attention to the window. A elegant black carriage with gilded trim was pulling up to the front entrance, and Felicity could see Morrison hurrying down the steps to greet whoever had arrived unannounced.Curious, she set aside her book and moved closer to the window. A woman emerged from the carriage with the practiced grace of someone accustomed to making grand entrances. She was perhaps thirty years old, stunningly beautiful, with golden hair arranged in the latest London fashion and a traveling dress that probably cost more than most people earned in a year.Even from her vantage point two stories up, Felicity could see the woman's imperious manner as she swept toward the manor's entrance, followed by what appeared to be a small army of servants carrying luggage and hatboxes."My lady?" Annie appeared in the library doorway, slightly out of breath. "His lordship requests your presence in the drawing room immediately."Something in the young maid's expression sent a chill of apprehension through Felicity. "Is everything all right, Annie?""I'm not sure, my lady. The visitor... she seems quite upset about something."Felicity smoothed her afternoon dress—a simple but elegant creation in soft lavender silk—and made her way downstairs. As she approached the drawing room, she could hear voices: Adrian's low, controlled tone and a woman's voice, higher and clearly agitated."—absolute madness, Adrian! When I received word that you had married some provincial nobody, I couldn't believe it. Tell me it's not true!"Felicity paused just outside the doorway, her hand on the polished brass handle. Through the gap where the door stood slightly ajar, she could see into the room.Adrian stood near the fireplace, his posture rigid with tension. The beautiful blonde woman from the carriage was pacing back and forth like a caged lioness, her silk skirts rustling with each angry step."Lady Victoria," Adrian said with careful formality, "I wasn't aware you were planning a visit to Yorkshire.""Don't you dare 'Lady Victoria' me, Adrian Blackwood!" She whirled to face him, her blue eyes blazing with fury. "We've known each other far too long for such pretense. I came as soon as I heard the gossip in London. Please tell me you haven't actually gone through with this ridiculous charade."Adrian's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.""This marriage! This absurd notion of yours to wed some merchant's daughter!" Victoria moved closer to him, her voice dropping to a more intimate register. "Adrian, darling, I know you've been... difficult... since your accident, but surely you haven't forgotten what we meant to each other?"Felicity felt her stomach drop. The familiarity in the woman's voice, the casual way she called him 'darling,' the reference to what they had meant to each other—this was clearly no casual acquaintance."What we had was a long time ago, Victoria," Adrian replied quietly. "Before everything changed.""Nothing has to have changed!" Victoria reached out to touch his arm, and Felicity noticed he didn't pull away. "I know your injuries made you withdraw from society, made you feel that you couldn't... but I don't care about any of that, Adrian. I never have.""You don't understand—""I understand perfectly!" Victoria's voice rose again. "You think your scars make you unworthy of love, but you're wrong! I would have married you three years ago, scars and all, if you hadn't pushed me away. And I would marry you now, if you would just annul this absurd union and come back to London where you belong."Felicity's hand tightened on the door handle as the full import of the woman's words hit her. This was Lady Victoria—Adrian's former lover, a woman who believed herself willing to overlook his supposed disfigurement for love.A woman who clearly had no idea that his injuries were entirely fabricated."Victoria," Adrian began, but she cut him off."Where is she? Where is this provincial mouse you've supposedly married? I want to see the woman who thinks she can take what should have been mine."That was Felicity's cue. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she pushed open the drawing room door and stepped inside with as much dignity as she could muster."Good afternoon," she said quietly. "I believe you wanted to see me?"Lady Victoria turned sharply, and Felicity had to suppress a wince at the naked hostility in the other woman's gaze. Up close, Victoria was even more beautiful than she had appeared from the library window—porcelain skin, perfect features, and a figure that filled her fashionable dress to perfection."So you're the little nobody who seduced my Adrian into this farce," Victoria said, her tone dripping with disdain."Victoria," Adrian warned, but his former lover ignored him."Look at you," Victoria continued, circling Felicity like a predator evaluating its prey. "Pretty enough, I suppose, in a common sort of way. But hardly the type of woman a man like Adrian Blackwood should marry. Tell me, my dear, what sort of trickery did you use to trap him? Did you compromise yourself in his presence? Threaten scandal if he didn't wed you?"Felicity felt heat rise in her cheeks, but she kept her voice level. "I'm afraid you have the situation quite backwards, Lady Victoria. I didn't trap your Adrian into anything. If anyone was trapped in this arrangement, it was me."Something flickered in Victoria's eyes—surprise, perhaps, that the 'provincial mouse' had shown some spine."How fascinating," Victoria purred. "And yet here you are, playing mistress of Blackwood Manor, wearing clothes that cost more than your family likely earned in a year. Forgive me if I find your claims of victimhood somewhat... unconvincing.""That's enough." Adrian's voice cut through the tension like a blade. He moved to Felicity's side, and she felt the warmth of his presence even though he didn't touch her. "Victoria, you will treat my wife with the respect her position demands, or you will leave my house."Victoria's perfect features contorted with shock and hurt. "Adrian! How can you defend her against me? After everything we shared, everything we meant to each other?""What we shared ended three years ago," Adrian replied firmly. "You made your choice then, Victoria. You can't unmake it now.""My choice?" Victoria's voice rose to a near-shriek. "I made no choice! You were the one who pushed me away, who refused to see me, who claimed you were too damaged for any decent woman to want!"The irony of the situation was almost overwhelming. Here was a woman who genuinely believed she was fighting for a scarred, crippled man she loved—while that same man stood whole and unmarked beside his wife, perpetrating one of the most elaborate deceptions Felicity had ever encountered."Perhaps," Felicity said quietly, "we should allow Lady Victoria to rest from her journey. I'm sure she has much to think about."Victoria whirled on her with renewed fury. "Don't you dare condescend to me, you little—""Victoria." Adrian's voice carried a warning that made even the imperious beauty pause. "My wife has been more than gracious in the face of your inexcusable behavior. I suggest you accept her offer and retire to collect yourself before you say something you'll truly regret."For a moment, the three of them stood frozen in tableau: Adrian protective and angry, Felicity maintaining her composure despite the emotional storm swirling around her, and Victoria torn between rage and disbelief.Finally, Victoria drew herself up to her full height, every inch the aristocratic lady she had been raised to be."Very well," she said with icy dignity. "I shall retire, as you suggest. But this conversation is far from over, Adrian. I didn't travel all the way from London to be dismissed like a servant."She swept toward the door, pausing only to deliver one final barb to Felicity: "Enjoy your victory while it lasts, my dear. Men like Adrian don't stay satisfied with provincial mice for very long."After Victoria's footsteps had faded down the corridor, silence settled over the drawing room like a heavy blanket. Felicity found herself studying her hands, uncertain what to say in the wake of such an emotionally charged encounter."I'm sorry," Adrian said quietly. "Victoria has always been... dramatic. But she had no right to speak to you that way."Felicity looked up at him, seeing new lines of tension around his eyes. "She loves you.""She loves the idea of me. The title, the wealth, the social position." His expression was grim. "Three years ago, when she thought I was truly damaged, she disappeared from my life without a backward glance. Her sudden devotion now is... convenient.""You don't believe her when she says she would have married you despite your supposed injuries?"Adrian's laugh was bitter. "Victoria Ashford has never done anything in her life that didn't serve her own interests. If she's here now, claiming undying love for a scarred recluse, it's because she's learned something that makes such a marriage advantageous to her."Felicity absorbed this information, filing it away with all the other pieces of the complex puzzle that surrounded her husband. "What will you do?""Nothing. She'll stay a few days, realize I'm not going to dissolve our marriage, and return to London with a dramatic tale of unrequited love to entertain the drawing rooms." He moved closer to her, his gray eyes intense. "The question is, how are you feeling about all this? It can't be pleasant to have a strange woman arrive and stake a claim to your husband."The question caught Felicity off guard. How was she feeling? Jealous, certainly, though she had no right to be. Protective of Adrian, which made even less sense given their arrangement. And strangely proud of the way he had defended her against Victoria's attacks."I feel," she said carefully, "like I'm beginning to understand why you prefer deception to truth. The truth seems considerably more complicated."Adrian's expression softened slightly. "Indeed it is, Lady Blackwood. Indeed it is."As they stood together in the elegant drawing room, with the afternoon light fading outside and the weight of Victoria's presence settling over the house like a storm cloud, Felicity couldn't help but wonder what other truths were waiting to complicate her already bewildering new life.
