"I have noticed that."

Emily brightened. "Still, I must tell you I thought your plot to lure me to Vauxhall was a wonderful notion. That was very clever of you, Simon. Do you know, it never even occurred to me to be suspicious when I got your note. Now I realize that a member of the criminal class would be highly unlikely to read and write."

"Your praise is heartwarming, I assure you. But looking back on the matter, I conclude that I must have been temporarily mad to concoct such a scheme."

"No, no, you wanted to teach me a lesson, did you not?"

"I had some vague notion of doing so, yes." Simon took another sip of brandy.

"And you came up with a truly brilliant scheme."

"Really? I did not notice you looking appropriately chastened. You stood there and bargained like a shopkeeper with a man you thought to be a cutthroat and when he attempted to frighten you by demanding your favors in exchange for his services, you promptly threatened him with your husband's wrath."

It dawned on Emily that Simon was genuinely furious.

"Now, Simon, I do not see why you are so angry with me. You are the one who arranged the meeting at Vauxhall."

"As I said, I must have been mad." He swirled the remaining brandy in his glass and downed it in a single swallow.

"Actually, I think it was the deeply romantic element in your nature that prompted you to construct such a wonderful plot," Emily decided. "It was just like an incident from a tale of romance and adventure and you knew I would respond to it. I expect that is because we are so attuned to each other on the higher plane."

"Christ, Emily, will you cease prattling on about metaphysics and higher planes? I swear by God that if I am not already mad, I soon will be."

Without warning Simon surged to his feet and hurled the empty brandy glass into the fireplace with a swift, violent motion of his hand.

There was a sharp, nerve-jarring explosion of sound that echoed through the bedchamber. The glittering shards fell into the cold ashes.

Emily gasped and sat very still in her chair as the last of the glass cascaded down the stone wall of the fireplace. She stared at the hearth and then turned her head slowly to look at Simon.

The rigid expression on his face and the fierce glitter in his eyes told her instantly that he was far more shocked by his own loss of control than she was. After all, she knew him to be a man of deep passions. But he did not always accept the truth about himself.

"Damnation." Simon stood staring into the fireplace. A great silence descended.

Emily's hands tightened in her lap. "I did not mean to annoy you, my lord," she said quietly.

"'Tis unnatural, do you realize that?" He swung around to confront her, his face demonic in the flickering candlelight. "Damn unnatural."

"What is, my lord?"

"The addlepated manner in which you persist in thinking of me as some sort of hero. Once and for all, madam wife, I am not a character from an epic poem. I do not make my decisions or carry out my actions for the sole purpose of indulging your frivolous romantic whims and fancies. I am not a creature of passion like yourself. Every move I make is carefully calculated. Everything is done to achieve my own ends. Do you comprehend that?"

Emily took a deep breath. "You are annoyed with me because you were obliged to rescue my brother tonight."

"Annoyed with you, madam? That does not begin to cover the present state of my temper. I let you manipulate and cajole me into doing something I have sworn never to do."

"You mean help a Faringdon?" She risked a glance up at him through her lashes.

"Yes, goddamn it. Yes, that is exactly what I mean. I do not know what came over me tonight."

"I do not think your actions so strange, my lord," Emily said softly. "You acted like the noble, honorable man I know you to be. In your heart you are aware that my brothers were not responsible for your father's losses twenty-three years ago."

"They are Faringdons. They are in their father's image, by God."

"No, my lord. My father would never have agreed to fight a duel over a lady's honor. Charles and Devlin are not like him. They have been raised by him and they have followed in his footsteps only because they have had no other pattern to follow. But they are different, I swear it. And somewhere deep inside you, you understand that or you would not have helped Charles tonight."

"I do not want to hear another word about why I did what I did, Emily. You can have no notion of why I acted as I did. Even I am not entirely certain." Simon flexed one hand into a fist and struck the mantel. "I vowed vengeance against the entire Faringdon clan twenty-three years ago. I swore to myself I would bring down the entire family."

"Then why did you marry one?" Emily demanded with sudden fierceness.

Simon narrowed his eyes. "Because it amused me. Because it served the purpose of separating your father and brothers from the source of their income. Because you begged me to marry you and because I rather enjoyed having a Faringdon woman groveling at my feet."

That stung. "I did not grovel, my lord. I presented the entire matter to you in terms of a business arrangement, if you will recall."

He ignored that. "And last, but not least, because I find your excessive passions, as you term them, quite amusing in bed. There. Now you know why I married you. It was not because our souls meet and mingle over tea on a higher plane, damn it."

Emily shivered. The dragon was breathing fire tonight. It was the first time she had ever seen him in such a mood and there was no doubt but that it was extremely intimidating. "Please, Simon, do not say any more."

"Why not, pray tell? Because it will break your silly, romantic little heart?"

"Yes, my lord."

"By heaven, you need to face reality, you little goose." Simon swung around and began to pace the room. "Not that I seem to have been successful thus far in forcing you to do so."

That was too much. Emily leapt to her feet. "Bloody hell, Simon."

"Stop saying bloody hell," he ordered. "Such language does not suit the Countess of Blade."

"I do not care what befits the Countess of Blade," she shot back passionately. "You go too far when you tell me I must face reality. You do not know how much reality I have had to face all my life. You have no notion of how much reality my poor mother had to confront. Rest assured that there were times when I hated my father just as much as you must have hated yours."

Simon turned his head abruptly to glare at her. "What the devil are you talking about now? I never hated my father."

Emily looked at him. "How could you not have been furiously angry after what he did to you?"

"You must be mad. Why should I hate him, for God's sake?"

"Because he put a pistol to his head and killed himself, leaving you behind with the full responsibility for your mother. Because he took the quick way out of the disaster he had created and left you to face it. Because you were only twelve years old, far too young to be able to undo the great damage that had been done. Dear God, Simon, how could you not have hated him?"

Simon stood, feet braced, and stared at her as if she had suddenly turned into a hydra-headed monster. "You are raving."

Emily turned her back to him. "If it is any consolation, I was in much the same situation."

"In what way?"

"The money ran out the year I turned seventeen. But by then my father discovered I had a head for economy and financial matters. He was ecstatic. It was clear I was expected to be the family's salvation. And I did not mind studying investments and making the decisions. Indeed, it was enjoyable, in a way. But I could never forget for a moment that the reason I had to become an expert was because my father was an irresponsible spendthrift. I still remember how he made Mama cry." Emily dashed a tear away from the corner of her eye with the back of her hand.