“Yes, and he tried to negotiate full access to my money, but my grandfather and his lawyers wouldn’t budge. Denshire had a substantial fortune of his own, so eventually he accepted the terms with the appearance of graciousness, but I found later that he was furious. He never got over that.” She sighed. “I wish he’d withdrawn from our betrothal then. It would have been humiliating, but I would have been far better off.”

“Heiresses aren’t easy to come by so he didn’t want to let you get away,” Lucas said cynically. “I imagine he thought that when he needed more money, he could persuade or bully you into giving it to him.”

“He did think that, which was poor judgment on his part,” Kendra said. “But the first few years of our marriage weren’t bad. I paid my own bills and contributed what I thought was a reasonable amount to the household expenses. Christopher was born and I spent a great deal of time with him in the country while Denshire was busy with a gentleman’s activities in London. We got along as well as most couples do, until Denshire ran short of money.”

“Gambling?”

“Mostly, though I’m sure he had a full range of expensive vices. He became very demanding.” She touched her left cheek, and Lucas wondered if her husband hit her when she didn’t obey him. Very likely.

“I didn’t see Denshire except when he came to demand money. I was fool enough to agree the first time, but never after that.” She touched her cheek again. “He became more and more furious. I eventually decided the situation was intolerable and asked for a legal separation. That triggered his retaliation.”

“Which led to scandal and disgrace?”

Her mouth tightened. “Exactly. Another trigger was my grandfather’s death. He left the bulk of his fortune to me. He’d come to loathe Denshire, so the trust keeping the inheritance from my husband’s hands was even more stringent than before. In retaliation, Denshire decided to divorce me and do it in such a way that my name would be utterly blackened.”

“The only ground for divorce in England is adultery by the wife,” Lucas said in a neutral voice. “Were you having an affair?”

“Of course not!” she scoffed. “I didn’t even want the man I had, much less another one!”

Lucas frowned, seeing that this discussion was getting into difficult territory. “Since the divorce was granted, there must have been some compelling evidence. What really happened?”

“Three of his good friends testified in court that there was a drunken dinner party at our house and that I begged them to lie with me,” she said tautly.

He winced. “I assume they were lying?”