Something Wonderful Read online

  Jordan ushered his grandmother into her stately coach, snapped orders to her mesmerized coachman, and climbed in beside her. “Jordan—?” she whispered finally, staring up at him with joyous, tear-brightened eyes as the coach lurched forward. “Is it really you?”

  A sympathetic smile softened his grim features. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he tenderly kissed her forehead. “Yes, darling.”

  In a rare show of affection, she laid her hand against his tanned cheek, then suddenly jerked her hand away and demanded imperiously, “Hawthorne, where have you been! We thought you were dead! Poor Alexandra almost wasted away with grief, and Anthony—”

  “Spare me the lies,” Jordan interrupted coldly. “Tony looked anything but thrilled to see me just now, and my ‘grieving’ wife was a radiant bride.”

  In his mind Jordan saw the ravishing beauty who had turned to him on that altar. For one wonderful, mortifying moment he thought he’d barged in on the wrong wedding, or that Mathison had been mistaken about the identity of Tony’s bride, because Jordan hadn’t recognized her—not until she’d raised those unforgettable aqua eyes of hers to his. Then and only then had he known for certain who she was—just as certainly as he knew in that instant that Tony had not been marrying her out of pity or charity. The intoxicating beauty on that altar would arouse lust in any man, but not pity.

  “I was under the impression,” he remarked with biting sarcasm, “that a mourning period of one year is customary after a death in one’s immediate family.”

  “Of course it is, and we did observe it!” the duchess said defensively. “The three of us did not go out into company until April, when Alexandra made her bow, and I don’t—”

  “And where was my grieving wife living during that somber period?” he bit out.

  “At Hawthorne, with Anthony and me, of course.”

  “Of course,” Jordan repeated caustically. “I find it amazing that Tony wasn’t contented with owning my titles, my lands, and my money—he had to possess my wife, as well.”

  The dowager paled, suddenly aware of how all this must look to him right now and equally cognizant that in his present mood, it would be a grave mistake to explain that Alexandra’s popularity had necessitated her marriage. “You’re wrong, Hawthorne. Alexandra—”

  “Alexandra,” he interrupted, “apparently liked being the Duchess of Hawthorne and therefore did the only thing she could do to secure the position permanently. She decided to marry the current Duke of Hawthorne.”

  “She’s—”

  “A scheming opportunist?” he suggested bitingly, as rage and disgust ate at him like acid. While he had been rotting away in prison, lying awake nights worrying that Alexandra was wasting away in seclusion, tormented with grief and despair, Tony and Alexandra had been enjoying all his worldly goods. And in time they decided to enjoy each other as well.

  The dowager saw the harshness in his taut features and sighed with helpless understanding. “I know how dreadful all this must look to you, Jordan,” she said with a trace of guilt in her gruff voice, “and I can see that you are not ready or able to listen to reason. However, I should very much like it if you would at least explain to me what you have been about all this time.”

  Jordan sketched in the details of his absence, leaving out the worst of them, but talking about it only made him more furiously aware of the sick irony of the entire situation: While he had been in chains, Tony had happily usurped his titles, his estates, his money, and then he had decided to help himself to Jordan’s wife.

  Behind them, in a coach bearing the gold crest of the Duke of Hawthorne—an insignia which Anthony no longer had the right to use—Alexandra sat perfectly still beside Uncle Monty and across from Anthony, who was staring out the window. Her mind was racing in wild circles, her thoughts tumbling over themselves. Jordan was alive and well—except that he was much thinner than she remembered. Had he deliberately vanished because he wanted to escape from the pathetic child he had married, returning only when he discovered his cousin was about to become a party to bigamy? Her joy that he was alive and well gave way to bewilderment. Surely he could not have been so revolted by her as that!

  No sooner had that thought consoled her dazed spirits than sharper ones began to stab at her in rapid, relentless succession: The man whose return she had just been rejoicing was the very same man who had pitied and despised her. He had mocked her to his mistress. Jordan Townsende, as she now knew and must never forget, was unprincipled, unfaithful, heartless, and morally corrupt. And she was married to him!

  In her mind Alexandra called him every terrible name she could think of, but as their coach neared Upper Brook Street, her fury was already abating. Anger required mental energy and concentration, and at the moment her dazed mind was still nearly paralyzed with shock.

  Across from her, Tony shifted in his seat and the movement suddenly made her remember that she was not the only one whose future had just been drastically altered by Jordan’s reappearance. “Tony,” she said sympathetically, “I’m . . . sorry,” she finished lamely. “It’s just as well your mother felt she ought to stay home with your brother. The shock of Jordan’s return would surely have brought on an attack.”

  To her amazement, Tony started to grin. “Being the Duke of Hawthorne was not quite so delightful as I once thought it would be. As I said a few weeks ago, there’s little joy in possessing fabulous wealth if one can’t find the time to enjoy it. However, it has just occurred to me that fate has handed you quite a boon.”

  “What is that?” she said, staring at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses.

  “Only consider this,” he continued, and to her disbelief he began to chuckle out loud. “Jordan is back and his wife is now one of the most desired women in England! Be honest —isn’t this exactly what you used to dream would happen?”

  With grim amusement, Alexandra contemplated the shock that was in store for Jordan when he discovered that his unwanted, pitiful little wife was now the toast of the ton. “I have no intention of remaining married to him,” she said with great finality. “I shall tell him as soon as possible that I want a divorce.”

  Tony sobered instantly. “You can’t be serious. Do you have any idea how much scandal a divorce will cause? Even if you can get one, which I doubt, you will be a total outcast in Society.”

  “I don’t care.”

  He looked at her and his voice gentled. “I appreciate your concern for my feelings, Alex, but there’s no need for you to think of a divorce on my behalf. Even if we were desperately in love, which we aren’t, it wouldn’t matter. You are Jordan’s wife. Nothing can change that.”

  “Hasn’t it occurred to you that he might want to change that?”

  “Nope,” Tony declared cheerfully. “I’ll wager that what he wants to do right now is call me out and demand satisfaction. Didn’t you see the murderous look he gave me in church? But don’t fret,” he continued, chuckling at her look of terror, “if Hawk wants a duel, I’ll choose rapiers and send you in as my stand-in. He can’t very well spill your blood, and you stand a better chance of drawing his than I do.”

  Alexandra would have argued tempestuously that Jordan wasn’t likely to care that Tony and she had been about to marry, but argument required clear, rational thinking and she could not quite shake off the blur of unreality still surrounding everything. “Let me be the one to tell him I wish a divorce, Tony. For the sake of future family tranquillity, he must understand that this is entirely my decision and has nothing to do with you.”

  Caught between amusement and alarm, Tony leaned across and took her by the shoulders, laughing as he shook her lightly. “Alex, listen to me. I know you’re in shock, and I certainly don’t think you ought to fall into Jordan’s arms this week or even this month, but divorcing him is carrying vengeance too far!”

  “He cannot object in the least,” Alexandra replied with a flash of spirit. “He never cared a pin for me.”

  Tony shook his head, his