Just One Kiss (19 page)

“What?” Edward roared, and Daphne had to fight not to flinch as his bellow filled the carriage.  “You’re not taking
my wife
anywhere!”

“She’s asked me to take her back to Coventry,” Anthony smirked.  “Isn’t that right, Daphne?”

She had been hoping to escape the ordeal of speaking throughout the whole carriage ride back to the house, but as her brother had called on her to talk, she offered waspishly: “I think it would be for the best, yes.”

“Daphne, you’re mad,” Edward gaped.  He reached for her hand, but Daphne drew away from his touch- that was where her weakness lay, and she would not let him exploit it!

“I think that it might actually be the sanest decision I’ve made since your return from the continent, my lord,” she said coldly, every word clipped and hard.

He didn’t believe her.  Daphne could see it in his eyes.  He didn’t
really
believe that she would leave him.  If anything could have convinced Daphne so certainly that she was doing the right thing then it was her husband’s insulting arrogance.

“Daphne,” he said slowly and quietly, as though he was talking to a child, and a particularly dim child at that, Daphne felt her hackles rise.  “When we get home you can tell me what happened?  I know my mother’s not perfect, and I’m sure she was partly to blame as well-”

“
As well
?” Daphne echoed harshly.  “As well as me you mean?  Because of course
I
had to be the one at fault!” she hissed bitterly.  “Of course you would take your mother’s side over mine!” she added, her voice becoming louder and more erratic.

“Daff
,” Edward growled, completely
ignoring
Anthony who was clenching and unclenching his fists threateningly.  “I walked into the middle of a disagreement between the pair of you, what was I supposed to do?” he demanded angrily.

Take my side!
  Daphne wanted to scream at him, but she managed to save her dignity by remaining silent, until she c
ould trust herself to murmur: “H
ear the full story before casting
judgment
.”

“So tell me the full story!” Edward fumed, but there might have been just a hin
t of desperation in his voice as
the carriage pulled up outside their house.

“It’s too late,” said Daphne, shaking her head sadly, as she accepted her brother’s help to get out of the coach.  She swept past the men and
into the house, Edward following
hot on her heels, but a growled remark from Anthony made him turn on his brother-in-law.

“You put her up to this, didn’t you?” he snarled, but Anthony simply gave his head a pitying shake.

“You were meant to defend her,” he sighed.  “Why couldn’t you just do that, Edward?” he frowned harshly.

Edward hesitated.  “Next time-” he began, but Anthony cut him short.

“You don’t get it, do you?” he glared.  “There isn’t going to be a next time, because there has already been six years of ‘times’ for Daphne - instances like the one that you just witnessed that she’s had to suffer though.  Today was your one time, Edward, and you blew it,” Anthony spat, turning on his heel and disappearing into the drawing room.

Edward watched the door click shut, and then he snapped to, racing up the stairs after his wife.  He found Daphne in her bedroom with a maid, packing.  The servant Edward instantly dismissed.

“I won’t lose you,” he blurted, once they were alone.

Daphne sighed heavily and gazed out of the window, looking away from her husband.  “You can’t lose something you never had, Edward,” she whispered sadly.

Edward baulked.  “What does that mean?” he demanded, his voice raw and strained. 
She
was
his. She belonged to him, with him.

Daphne lifted a hand to her brow wearily.  “What is it that you think you’re losing, Edward?” she sighed, sounding suddenly exhausted.  “Because I don’t understand how it can be anything that you ever actually wanted.”

“My wife!” he growled, a vein pounding in his temple.  “You’re my wife.”  But Daphne was sadly shaking her head.

“I don’t think you even know what it means to have a wife,” she said softly, and then added quickly, because Edward looked almost ready to explode, “and perhaps I don’t understand what it is to have a husband either, but-”

“We could learn together?” Edward blurted.  He simply
couldn’t
let her go!  He thought he might very well get down on his knees and beg if it would make her stay, make her
understand
that what they had could be enough,
had
to be enough given that he wasn’t going to go seeking a divorce!

“Perhaps we could,” Daphne conceded hesitantly, and Edward felt his heart leap, and then abruptly fall again when she continued: “but not here, not like this.  Perhaps, if you wanted, you could visit me at home though?” she said shyly.

Court her?
  Edward mused.  Court her properly for the first time?  Perhaps he could do that…?  Although, damn it, what was the point!  He
had
his wife.  They were married, perhaps not in the most ideal circumstances, but they were man and wife – and, to his delight, Edward had discovered that they were more than compatible in the bedroom.  So, what would courting Daphne actually
achieve
?

“You still owe me a son, Daphne,” he suddenly said churlishly.

Daphne started, and then her hand wandered to her stomach.  “I may already be carrying him,” she breathed shakily, which made Edward start too.  It was still quite unlikely, but by no means impossible...

“All the more reason not to go,” Edward said, grasping at that idea.  He winced when Daphne shook her head.  “People will talk!” he continued, growing increasingly desperate now, as it finally began to sink in that she was serious about going back to Coventry with Anthony. 

“People always do,” Daphne laughed bitterly.  “Do you think I’m not used to it by now?”

Edward reached for her, but she shrank away from him. 
Why, why was it
hurting
so much?
  “Tell me what I can do to make you change your mind?” he panted, dragging a hand carelessly through his hair.  “Teach me what you need?  I can learn,” he implored his wife, however Daphne remained tearful, but unchangeable.

“You have to let me go, Edward,” she whispered, her voice uneven and trembling.

“But I don’t understand,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

Daphne nodded her head, as if it all made perfect sense to her, and
as
if she didn’t think that she
was talking in nonsense riddles.
  “And that’s why I have to go,” she sighed.  “You will understand, Edward,” she said softly, and then bit her lip nervously.  “At least, I
hope
you will.”

Chapter 20

“You’re doing the right thing, Daff,” Anthony said, as he watched his sister look back at the house that had been her home ever since her brother-in-law’s death.

“I know,” D
aphne nodded, and she did know. S
he had just hoped, that maybe, it wouldn’t really need to come to this, that Edward would say something or do something to magically put everything right again. 

Miserably, Daphne had fi
nally conceded
that wasn’t going to happen.  Edward had given up.  He’d left her alone to pack and then held himself away in his study all afternoon while Anthony
organized
their trip back to Coventry.  He hadn’t even said goodbye, and Daphne’s pride was too great to allow her to go and seek him out.  It didn’t bode well for what was to come though.

Daphne took a little lace handkerchief out of the sleeve of her dress and dabbed at her eyes.  She hoped desperately that she wasn’t making a huge mistake.  She knew she
was
taking a huge gamble.  She just hoped and prayed that it would pay off!  Edward would calm down, he had to, and then he
would
come after her,
wouldn’t he?

Life back in the country was hardly going to be fun for Daphne.  She absolutely dreaded to think what her mother would say when she saw her daughter with Anthony.  At least Daphne had her brother on her side now.  Surely he wouldn’t let their mother berate her too badly?  She chewed her lip and
hoped
not at any rate.  Daphne hadn’t been home since before her father’s death, and she was growing increasingly nervous about the move.

“Are you ready?” Anthony asked, offering a hand to help Daphne into the waiting carriage.

“Maybe I should go back and say goodbye?” Daphne hesitated dangerously.  “Or at least, write a note, or something?”

“You can write him a letter from Dunnely House if you really want to,” Anthony grunted, not allowing his sister to turn and go back inside the house.

“I didn’t say goodbye to Wilkins either,” Daphne said in a small voice.

“The butler?  I’m sure he’ll understand,” Anthony growled, urging his sister towards the carriage.

“Yes,” Daphne nodded, but she continued to waver.  “You’re probably right.” 
Besides,
she might be back in London soon, if Edward came after her.  Provided of course t
hat he actually wanted her back.
 
Daphne
thought
that he did.  That was the assumption that her whole gamble rested on – that Edward wanted her back enough to change how he treated her and how he behaved within their marriage.

She had experienced things with E
dward: his kiss, his touch, his body.
Daphne wasn’t sure that she could give
them up
for the rest of her life.  If he didn’t chase her back to Coventry then D
aphne wasn’t sure what she’d do.

She couldn’t remember actually climbing into the carriage, but she obviously must have done so, because that’s where she was now, sitting on a padded seat opposite her brother.  Daphne looked out of the window, back at the house, convinced that she saw a curtain twitching.  She had to clamp her mouth shut to stop herself
from
begging Anthony to halt the carriage as they started to move and were slowly driven away.

Daphne did not find comfort in the once familiar countryside of her home county as she and Anthony journeyed closer to Dunnely House.  Everything was just a little bit different.  Just enough had changed from her girlhood memories to make Daphne feel uncomfortable and a little ill at ease.

“It’ll be good to have you home again,” Anthony said, trying to lighten the mood.  He had been trying valiantly to do so ever since they had left London.  He wasn’t having much luck, but he had particularly bad luck at that moment; the carriage was just rolling past the drive that wound all the way up to the front of Packwood House.

Daphne flinched and turned her face away from the sight of what should have been her home.  What might still be her home
someday
?  She
had
to stop doing this!  Daphne told herself sternly.   She
had
to stop hoping, because it wouldn’t do her any good whatsoever.  She had lived her life in ‘hope’ for months after Edward had left her after their marriage.  It had just left her empty and broken inside. 

She had to get on with her life.  Not that Daphne knew how she was meant to do that exactly.  It was all backwards!  She had gone from being a married woman, a countess no less, to living under the same roof as her mother, in the house where she had lived as a child!  But what other choice had Edward given
her?  Oh she could have stayed. S
he could have
lived a half lif
e with Edward, sharing her body and nothing more
, but she was tired of settling. S
he wanted
everything
, or else she would just have to make do with nothing.