“No. You’re right.” He looked outside, frowning. “Is that Lady Arundell’s carriage?”

“It is. Anne loaned it to me for the afternoon.”

“Generous of her.” Jasper picked up his bag. “Shall we?”

“Yes, of course.”

Setting his hand at her back, he guided her out the door and down the front steps to the waiting carriage. The footman looked straight ahead as he opened the door for them and set down the step. Jasper assisted Julia in himself before climbing in after her to sit at her side. He dropped his bag onto the floor.

“Back to Grosvenor Square?” the footman asked.

“By way of Hyde Park,” Jasper said. “And take your time.”

“Yes, sir.” The footman shut the door.

Julia’s pulse quickened as the carriage sprang into motion, rolling away from Belgrave Square.

Jasper met her inquiring gaze. “I need to say a few things. And I don’t expect we’d have any privacy at Lady Anne’s house.”

“Probably not,” Julia conceded.

She loved her friend, but between Anne and her mother, privacy at the late Earl of Arundell’s residence could be difficult to come by. Julia had scarcely been alone except for on her visits to see Mr. Finchley and her parents.

But she was alone now. Alone with her husband.

The air between them crackled with a palpable tension.

She had to remind herself to breathe. “What is it you wish to say to me?”

Jasper devoured her with his gaze. The thought of seeing her again had spurred him on for miles on end, by rail and hired coach, all the way from North Yorkshire to Mayfair. He was tired and irritable and fully aware that his suit was in need of pressing. But none of that mattered now he was with her.

Her skirts were bunched against his legs as the two of them sat side by side on the upholstered seat, angled to face each other. Sunlight shone through the cracks in the curtains that covered the carriage windows, glinting in her blue eyes and over her ebony hair.

His heart clenched with love for her. “First? That I’ve missed you, too, quite desperately. Nothing has been right since you left me.”

“I didn’t leave you. I told you—”

“You left me. And with good reason. I kept something important from you, when what I ought to have done was tell you everything the moment we decided to marry.”

“You couldn’t take the risk. I understand. The children—”

“Yes, the children. They were the root of it. But I can’t pretend I wasn’t motivated by other impulses. The fact is, I wanted you badly. I didn’t dare take a chance that the truth would drive you away.”

She searched his face. “Have you told me the whole of it?”

“I have,” he said. “God help me. The secret’s not easy to bear. I would have spared you the burden of it if I could.”

“You’re bearing it,” she said. “Indeed, it seems to me that since you took on Captain Blunt’s identity you’ve been a veritable Atlas. Don’t you ever rail against having to atone for the man’s crimes? You’re not, after all, the one who committed them.”