He nodded once.
The blood in Juliet’s veins heated to an instant boil. “How could you?”
“I’d just slip it on before entering you,” he said as if that were the answer she was seeking.
Juliet clenched her hands around the fabric of her dressing robe in order not to make his three little girls orphans. That wasn’t what she’d meant at all and he knew it. “Yes, I understand that. And I even understand you were able to do so because of my impaired eyesight and unbelievable amount of trust in you. But what I don’t understand is why you wore it.”
“Because―”
“Don’t you even think to say it was to contain the mess,” she cut in. “Putting aside the fact you’re not the tidiest person who ever lived, I just don’t believe it, quite frankly. There’s something more and I want to know what it is.”
“You already said it. I don’t want you to conceive.”
A new sense of understanding washed over her. One that made her so sick, she could hardly stand. Tossing his dressing robe at her feet, she wrapped her right arm around one of the posts of his bed and planted her left hand on her hip for balance. He’d been manipulating her. Of course she’d known when they’d first married he’d been manipulating everything. But she’d thought it had all stopped the night of Caroline’s dinner and it hadn’t. He’d continued to manipulate long after that event and he still was. Worse yet, what he was manipulating was something she had no control over, which caused her the most pain of all. She’d wanted to be a mother and he’d made the decision entirely on his own to take that possibility away from her.
“I want you to leave,” she whispered.
His brows knit. “Leave?”
“Yes, leave.” Trembles, caused either by hurt, betrayal and misplaced trust or blatant bitter hatred for the man standing in front of her, she didn’t know which, wracked her body. “Get out!”
He winced. “Juliet, is there a problem?”
“Is there a problem?” she repeated on the verge of hysteria. “Yes, there’s a problem. You!”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. You’ve taken away the one thing I’ve dreamed of my whole life.”
“What? A role as a wife and mother?” His eyes grew sharp, impaling her. “Quite the contrary, Juliet. I gave you that. I not only gave you a husband, something you seemed unable to snare in London, despite your many years at a school known for its ability to make even the most unruly girls into proper young ladies capable of snagging the loftiest titles; but I also gave you three daughters. Have you forgotten them?” His voice turned hard as steel. “Are my girls not good enough for you, Juliet? Is that it? They’re not born of your womb, but Abigail’s, so they’re fine to play house with, but not good enough to consider yours?”
“I’ve never thought of them that way, and your accusing me of such is most insulting. This has nothing to do with them.”
“Doesn’t it?” he countered, taking a menacing step toward her. “Isn’t this about your craving to grow a child in your womb?”
Juliet fought back her tears. “No. I’m angry because you decided you’ve had enough children, so you took it upon yourself to take measures to prevent more without consulting me, your wife.”
He blinked. “I did that for the benefit of everyone involved. Trust me.”
“How is that in everyone’s best interest?” she demanded.
His eyes sparked with something fierce, but unnamable. “Because you get a husband and the girls get a mother who will be around to guide them into adulthood. That’s what our marriage has always been about. You know that.”
She nearly blanched. He was right. That was the biggest—nay, the only—reason behind their marriage. She pursed her lips. “I know I shouldn’t be surprised to learn all of this since you have such a habit of making decisions for everyone based on the certainty that only you know what’s best, Lord Presumptuous. But this time you’ve gone too far.”
“How so?”
“Because you’ve taken away my dreams without so much as consulting me about it first. If not for your slip tonight, I might have never known.”
“Does that even matter? Fighting about it isn’t going to change anything. Whether you’d found out or not, I’d not be willing to intentionally get you with child.”
“Even if I wanted one?”
He threw his hands in the air. “I don’t see what the problem is, Juliet. You have three daughters who love and adore you. Is that not enough? Must you have more?”