She Will Rejoice by Becky Riker Page A

cravat has come undone.”
                  She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her, “Naomi.”
                  The sound was so heartbreaking, so raw, that the tears that had been threatening began racing down her cheeks.
                  “I must speak with Mrs. Smythe,” she stepped out of the room.
                  She only made it a few steps before Finn caught up with her.
                  “Naomi,” he grasped her shoulders but didn’t turn her around, “please come back and speak to me.”
                  She shook her head because she could not speak. Finn did not let go.
                  “Please,” he drew her back to his chest. “I am so sorry, Naomi.”
                  Naomi willed herself not to turn in his arms and bury her face in her chest. She took a fortifying breath and stepped out of his grip.
                  She hurried away, determined to gain her room before bursting into tears. Had she heard her husband’s sob, she would have turned and run to him, but Naomi was too focused on her own pain to deal with Finn’s.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Finn watched his wife hurry from him. He knew he had injured her, and it was probably irreparable. He ran back to his study and slammed the door. He dropped to the chair and buried his face in his hands.
                  What was he thinking, allowing Victoria to come into his study? When she turned the key in the lock, he just laughed. Her advances felt good after the way his wife had rebuffed him the last few days, but he should have known better than to give in to that.
                  Finn looked up at the door. Confused, he walked over and turned the key in the lock. Then he tried the door. How had Naomi gotten beyond the locked door?
                  He unlocked it and opened the door.
                  “Dillon!” he yelled as he strode through the house, not caring that he caused the downstairs maid to jump and nearly upend the vase she was cleaning.
                  The butler hurried around a corner, “Sir?”
                  By the look on the older man’s face, he must have thought there was an emergency.
                  Finn forced himself to speak softly, “Have you a key to my study, Dillon?”
                  “Of course, sir,” he frowned.
                  “And did you use it today?”
                  A look that spoke of guilt crossed the man’s face, “No, sir, I did not.”
                  Finn had never known his butler to lie, but the look of guilt coupled with the fact that Naomi, did indeed, enter a locked room made him suspicious.
                  “I was asked to do so, but I refused the request, sir,” the older man looked almost angry.
                  Finn inhaled deeply, “How would a person enter a locked room without a key?”
                  Dillon angled his head, “Sir?”
                  Finn was not going to explain the situation to the butler. The man probably already knew too much as it was.
                  “Never mind, Dillon,” he turned around and made for the stairs.
    He was likely going to get a frosty response, and she probably would not give him a satisfactory answer, but Finn was going to ask the lady herself how she managed to bypass the lock.
                  His knock was not met by a verbal response. Instead, she opened the door as if she had been waiting for him to seek her out.
                  “What do you want?”
                  Her tone irked him, but he was going to say what he had to say, “May I come in?”
                  She stepped aside so he could enter, but then she took her seat on a settee and picked up a book.