The Ghost Who Loved Me by Karolyn Cairns Read Free Book Online

the depressive room, choking on his own bitter anger. He removed a small black velvet box from his suit coat, flipping it open to stare at the large diamond ring within.
    She was leaving.
    Elizabeth also appeared to have little interest in fighting the matter of her departure. Anthony was frustrated by her easy acceptance of it all.
    Anthony only followed Edward for a day or two and discovered where he kept his companion and lover Simon Ives, a former stage actor who lived in rooms under an assumed name. He gnashed his teeth to know she had no interest in using her husband’s illicit dealings to her own advantage.
    The lady who minded the desk of the residence swore to testify she thought the men far more than just friends, claiming His Lordship often stayed the night and the two men spent hours alone in the flat.
    A maid claimed she went in to clean one morning and saw both men nude and abed together. The duke paid her to stay silent of it. He got both of their names and sworn statements that would hold up in any court.
    Armed with such truths, Elizabeth could secure her freedom from Edward and never have to do battle inside a court. Only she was too fearful to do it. Anthony was determined to help free Elizabeth from her marriage.
    The lady thought her situation hopeless and told him it was out of the question when he began to suggest divorce. She was resigned to stay with her selfish husband, denying herself a life, if only to maintain the illusion the Duke of Westerleigh demanded of her when he married her.
    Anthony’s eyes filled with fury as he chucked the velvet box across the room, cursing under his breath at how wrong he must have been from the start. His initial misgivings about Elizabeth’s willingness to see this through to the end were proven to be right.
    She would not fight this.
    His room was overdue for rent, his coffers bleeding to maintain the illusion of a cultured gentleman he tried to project, unwilling to admit his parents had long since cut him off. His austere father had the temerity to suggest he seek employment the last time he asked for a loan.
    His mother tried to pacify him for a time, passing him her own allowance under her husband’s watchful nose. A rich wife was what he needed, his lady mother reminded often, but he had other thoughts.
    The funds he recently acquired would keep him in good stead if he invested them wisely. This short fall of cash he was experiencing was albeit temporary until the returns from his investments came in.
    For reasons of pride, Anthony rejected giving up. He prayed he knew Elizabeth’s heart better than she did. He would discover all he might about Edward and his kept companion. Elizabeth would see reason when she returned from her holiday, he prayed.
    Anthony ignored her cold words, knowing she couldn’t possibly have meant what she said. To remember the feel of her lips against his in shared passion, of what they felt in those stolen moments, what they talked about these last weeks, made him bristle in frustration.
    Elizabeth’s unreasonable sense of duty so infuriated him at times he wanted to shake her. She owed Edward Carlisle nothing. The man albeit blackmailed her into marriage to cover his homosexual lifestyle. He kept her imprisoned there so he could have his own happiness at her expense.
    Anthony made discreet inquiries to conclude the Earl of Camden was no thief as Edward claimed him to be but a merchant. He hid such from his family knowing his dabbling in trade would be frowned upon by many of their class. He did it to save the struggling estate.
    Somehow Edward used some foul leverage to force Elizabeth to say such things to send him on his way. He knew her heart in this. She wanted to be free of her husband. She wanted children one day, not likely with Edward Carlisle, given his proclivities with men.
    No, Elizabeth did not lie of how she felt for him. For whatever reason, she was leaving town for a time to appease Edward. He had to remain true