A Fool Again by Eloisa James

up, you were married,” he said, his jaw set.
    She snorted. “What did you do? Turn into Sleeping Beauty? Erasmus and I were married only after the banns had been read three weeks in a row. And during that time— that time—” But her voice caught, and she refused to show emotion.
    Something flashed across his face and he was on his feet. “Three weeks? Did you wait three weeks to be married, Genevieve?”
    She blinked and looked up at him. “Of course. The banns had to be read, and even if Erasmus had been a generous man—which he wasn’t—he wouldn’t have taken me if I had been in a delicate condition.”
    He turned and slammed his fist into the wall next to him. “I had no idea, Genevieve.” The anguish in his voice echoed around the room. “Your father’s coachman nearly knocked my brains out, if you remember.” He swung back to face her, and his face was livid with rage.
    â€œIt seems extremely unlikely to me that your recovery took three weeks,” she said, standing up and moving so as to put a small table between them.
    â€œI awoke the following afternoon.”
    â€œWell,” Genevieve said with an edge, “that left you exactly two weeks and six days to remember my existence. But instead you decided to make a long-anticipated trip to India, ignoring the deflowered girl waiting for you. Or perhaps your excuse is that you were so drunk that the whole evening vanished from your memory?”
    â€œI woke to a message from your father.” He walked toward her with the lethal gaze of a Bengal tiger.
    Genevieve reached backwards and felt her way around another small table, keeping her eyes on him. Who knew what he might do? “Indeed?” she murmured, edging toward the door. “And what did my father say?”
    â€œYour father informed me that he had long planned your marriage to Erasmus Mulcaster, and that Mulcaster was obtaining a special license to marry you immediately. He said, Genevieve, and I quote: ‘By great good fortune, Mulcaster has agreed to marry her immediately even though you debauched her.’ And by the time I woke up, Genevieve, you were married to Mulcaster.”
    â€œI was not!” she said shrilly.
    â€œI believed your father.”
    Genevieve stared at him, forgetting about making her escape. “My father was eminently trustworthy,” she said. “Why on earth should I believe you?”
    â€œI can’t pull the note out of my pocket.” His jaw was set. “It’s the truth. What did your father tell you? ”
    â€œThat if you made an offer for my hand he would strongly consider the proposal, even during the time the banns were being read. I waited—” She looked away. “You never came, and then we heard that you were gone.”
    â€œYour father was a busy man,” Tobias said, looking tired. “He wrote my father as well, and forgave my father’s debts to him on the condition that I leave the country and not return for at least ten years. To spare your feelings, should we happen to meet.”
    Genevieve couldn’t think of anything to say. She’d spent seven years thinking that Tobias had simply left the country without giving her a second thought. Seven years of thinking him a degenerate. Seven years of thinking about the importance of finding an honorable, gentlemanly man like Felton. An odd feeling was rising in her chest—could it be joy?
    â€œI didn’t know,” he said quietly. “I swear to God, Genevieve, I didn’t know. I thought you were married off to that old man. There was many a time in the last seven years when I cursed myself for not snatching you away with me, married or not. But I never thought that your father might have lied to me about the special license.”
    Genevieve leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her hands were trembling, so she spread them against the wallpaper and tried