The Convenient Bride by Catherine Winchester

reach out and try to find a hand to hold amongst the sheets, when she turned over onto her other side, putting her back to him.
    Max ran a hand over his face, feeling like a fool for having gone to see Marie this morning. He should have been here when she needed him. Her need was surely greater than Marie’s, after all.
    “Lucy, I…” he didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. “We can try again.”
    He saw her shoulders begin to shake and reached out to try and comfort her but she pulled away from his touch, almost as if he had scal ded her.
    “Go away.” Her voice sounded ho arse from crying.
    “Lucy, please.”
    She didn’t answer his plea so he simply sat there, watching her. She looked so small and forlorn, a far cry from the spirited young woman that he was used to.
    Finally her shoulders stopped shaking and a while after that, her breathing became slow and he guessed she was asleep. Unable to do anything to comfort her, he left, intending to see if there was anything practical that he could be doing.
    He couldn’t remember ever having felt this helpless before.
    ***
    Marie greeted Giles Gibson with a kiss on his cheek.
    “Did you see her home?” Marie asked.
    “I did, but things didn’t go as planned. It seems she was so upset at what she overheard, she tripped and fell.”
    Marie smiled.
    Everything about today had been worked out with expert precision, from writing those damn scenes to read through, to the time Max was to arrive, then calculating how long it would take a horse and carriage to get here from the orphanage. Plus, knowing that this had to be done on a day when Lucy was working there, or the chances were that Max wouldn’t have come, no matter how much Marie begged.
    The doorman had also been bribed so that exactly five minutes after Giles and Lucy had left, the ‘message’ would be delivered to her suite. The note was actually blank, it was just her notice that Max could safely leave without running into Lucy.
    The fall had been a happy accident, but it surely wouldn’t improve Lucy’s feelings towards her husband.
    “That’s wonderful, Giles. In a few days you can send her flowers, preferably with an overly friendly note to upset Max, and then you can call on her to see how she is recovering and begin to woo her.”
    Giles had been easy enough to talk into her scheme. As the second son of a baron, he was virtually penniless since his brother would inherit everything and after a scandal, his family had finally cut off all financial help. Marie had agreed to let him stay with her and sleep with him in return for his help. Her address was a fashionable one, far better than he could afford on his own and besides, he had a very devious side to his nature and seemed to be looking forward to causing some chaos. Besides, Lady Stark was actually very pretty and he did so enjoy the chase.
    Maxwell S tark was the only man she had ever loved and even if her dreams of marriage might lie in tatters, she wasn’t about to give him up. She would drive them apart and then Max would come running back to her, she was certain of it.
    ***
    Every day Max came and sat with Lucy for two hours each morning and afternoon but she never spoke to him. She couldn’t bring herself to do much of anything but lie there, though she did manage a few words when his mother came to visit.
    She felt that she could have lived with his betrayal and discovering his lies, if only she hadn’t l ost the baby. That final blow just seemed too much to bear.
    She knew it wasn’t Max’s fault. She had known what kind of man Max was and if she hadn’t known about his illegitimate children with this woman, she should have; she had lived with him for long enough.
    No, it was her own foolish hopes, her own gut-wrenching grief that had caused her to fall down those stairs, and that was her fault for letting herself believe the lie.
    Each day Max tried to talk to her but she couldn’t answer him because she knew if she