The Perfect Wife by Victoria Alexander

adopt, guaranteed to inflame her anger, charge her spirit and increase her determination.
    She composed herself, tossed him her sweetest look and savored the indecision and doubt that flickered across his face in response. “Very well, then. It’s time to leave.” She nodded and stepped briskly toward the door, leaving him to trail in her wake.
    “Wait!” he called, in a voice well used to issuing commands, a voice used to being obeyed without question.
    Sabrina paused and tossed him a glance over her shoulder. “Is there a problem?”
    “A problem? Of course there’s a problem! I cannot be expected to go traipsing off on some ill-advised voyage without a moment’s notice!”
    Sabrina turned and favored him with the same patient look she would give a cranky child. “Lord Wyldewood, I do not expect you to go anywhere at all. I do not expect you to accompany me on this trip or anywhere else. I expect you to climb back into your carriage and return to your comfortable home. I further expect you to tell my daughter—and your son, for that matter—that I am a responsible adult, fully capable of handling my own affairs. And lastly, I expect you to understand that regardless of who marries whom, I shall be a member of your family by the tenuous bonds of marriage only.”
    She took a deep breath and stared him straight in his bottomless eyes. “And to me that means you have absolutely no right to tell me what I may and may not do.” She nodded pleasantly and stepped into the foyer. Wills stood with her traveling case in hand.
    “Very well,” Wyldewood said calmly, one step behind her. She turned and gazed up at him. A fist knotted deep in her stomach at the gleam in his eye and the expression on his face. It was the look of a man who had just accepted a challenge. A look, God help her, of a man confident of victory.
    “I believe we should be off if we are to sail on time.”
    Sabrina refused to show her dismay, struggling to maintain a pleasant, aloof expression. Especially when she noted Wills’s still holding the portmanteau and realized the men’s clothes she’d waited so long to wear again would have to wait much, much longer.
    “Wills, please give my bag to Lord Wyldewood. He will be accompanying me.” Wills’s lips quirked at the corners and amusement flashed through his eyes so swiftly, Sabrina alone noticed. Her back to Wyldewood, she shot the butler a quick scowl. “Take care of everything while I’m gone. I shall post a letter to Belinda as soon as possible.”
    It was not the good-bye she’d imagined, but with this intruder along, it was the best she could do.
    “Wills.” Sabrina nodded at her old friend and breezed out the door with an air of confidence, determined not to let Wyldewood’s presence effect her quest.
    “Wills,” Wyldewood echoed, and followed close behind. He assisted her into his town carriage and directed his driver to the docks.
    Wyldewood settled in next to Sabrina, and she glanced at his firm, strong profile. His face gave no indications of his thoughts. Was he irritated? Annoyed? At least inconvenienced? She certainly hoped so. It would serve him right. She was definitely irritated, annoyed and inconvenienced enough for the both of them. This was not the adventure she’d envisioned, Sabrina thought with a mental huff, and leaned back in the cushioned seat.
    The carriage rolled forward, and Sabrina gazed at the upstairs window of Belinda’s room. Her daughter stood behind the glass, holding back the curtains. Sabrina lifted a hand in farewell. Without acknowledgment, the figure at the window let the curtains fall back into place. A lance of pain pierced Sabrina, and she blinked back the tears that sprang to her eyes. She thrust the ache and accompanying guilt away and resolved not to dwell on thoughts of Belinda. She was, after all, doing this for her daughter, to ensure her future.
    Wasn’t she?
    What was this woman up to? Nicholas wondered, studying her lovely face.