Falling in Love Again by Cathy Maxwell Read Free Book Online Page A

husband had. “ I’m the Viscountess Craige ,” she had raged at the unsympathetic bailiff and army of bill collectors last week whenthey had stormed Craige Castle and taken over her beloved home.
    This moment of confrontation was all she’d imagined. Except….
    In her mind’s eye, John had remained just as he’d been on their wedding night, a tall, solemn youth with bright blue eyes. She barely recognized this dark-haired Corinthian with the devil’s own looks and glittering, dangerous eyes.
    He still combed his unfashionably long hair straight back from his face, but she didn’t recall his features being so hard, so strong—so masculine. Everything about him, from his finely tailored jacket in Spanish blue cloth to the high gloss of his black top boots, spoke of money and privilege, while the thigh-hugging buff leather of his pantaloons proclaimed strength and power.
    Rumor had it that when White Hall had ordered the heroic Colonel Barron home to assume the responsibilities of Viscount Craige, the French had cheered and the Spanish señoritas had cried. Mallory decided the rumors must be true. Not even she was immune to his fabled magnetism.
    Their eyes met. She was conscious of a strange flutter of excitement rising from somewhere deep inside her. Her knees threatened to go weak. Her pulse beat faster.
    But not even her wildest dreams of their meeting after so many years of absence had prepared her for the drunken lord who looked up at her from nuzzling a half-naked woman’s neck and said in wine-slurred speech, “So glad to meet you, my lady. I’m Applegate, a friend of yourhusband’s. Only a few minutes ago, I’d asked Craige what your name was and he said he’d forgot.”
    Applegate turned toward her husband and chastised mildly, “Her name’s Mallory. You really should be more careful, Craige. A man don’t have to remember much in this life, but he should remember his wife’s name.”
    Mallory, and everyone else in the room, stared at her husband. She expected him to deny that he’d forgotten her name, or at least appear slightly embarrassed. Instead, he raised his eyes heavenward and muttered something that sounded like, “What else can go wrong this day?”
    The stark truth struck her: the man didn’t even remember her name !
    No wonder he’d shamefully neglected Craige Castle and his responsibilities to Mallory and her mother over the past seven years. Suddenly, Mallory hated being the center of attention. Her face flushed with hot embarrassment. Stand proud, stand tall, she ordered herself, and wished she didn’t feel as if the earth had disappeared beneath her feet. His wedding ring felt like a lead weight in her skirt pocket.
    Then John did something even more outrageous. He laughed.
    It started off as a chuckle and then rose into warm, full-bodied masculine laughter. The crowd around Mallory stared at him in open-mouthed surprise…and then, slowly at first, they joined him—until before she knew it, she was surrounded by the sound of giggles, snickers, and hearty guffaws.
    A man’s voice boomed, “Only Craige could get away with this!”
    â€œCraige needs to hire a secretary to ensure his appointments with his wife don’t overlap the ones with his mistress!”
    â€œOr that he remembers his wife’s name!” The laughter grew louder.
    Humiliation and anger shot through every fiber of Mallory’s being. Five hundred years of proud Craige blood sang in her veins. She struggled for control. But when Lady Ramsgate tilted her head back in a high feminine trill and put her arms around John’s waist, rubbing her breasts against him right there in front of Mallory— and he allowed it —something snapped.
    In three quick steps, Mallory placed herself directly in front of her husband. She could feel her fury blazing from her eyes. She no longer had control over her