Veronica had spent hours dwelling on it, wondering if it could be true and what she should do about it. She’d never asked Sebastian if he would be faithful. She’d just…assumed it. They’d been so happy together. So…seemingly…in love. And Grandpapa had approved of him. She’d even asked her grandfather the night Sebastian had proposed. “Am I making the right choice, Grandpapa? I’m frightened.”

The old man had nodded and hugged her. “You’re making an excellent choice, V. You couldn’t pick a finer man. I’ve known Sebastian since he was a boy.” They’d all known him since he was a boy. He was Justin’s closest friend. He wasn’t an adulterer, was he? Until this moment, she hadn’t known he’d been a man with a mistress, either. What else didn’t she know about him?

Finally, that night after their wedding, after Veronica and Sebastian had ushered the last guests to their coach, Veronica had decided she would simply speak to her husband directly. She would ask him if what his mother had said was true and inform him she would not countenance a mistress.

Veronica waited until they were alone in their bedchamber that evening. He’d pulled her into his arms, but before he could begin kissing her neck, which she’d already learned drove her immediately wild, she stopped him.

“Who is Melissa?” she’d asked pointedly, looking him directly in the eye, watching him closely for his reaction.

The color immediately drained from Sebastian’s face, and he stepped back. Nausea had seeped into Veronica’s belly. Was this why Sebastian hadn’t wanted Veronica to meet his mother before the wedding? And why the devil hadn’t Justin told her?

“Where did you hear that name?” Sebastian asked, a thunderous look on his face.

Veronica had swallowed hard but held her ground. She was determined to be clear about her conditions. “That hardly matters. Is it true? Is she your mistress?”

“She was my mistress,” Sebastian replied curtly.

Veronica had nearly doubled over. Sebastian had a mistress? Her Sebastian? The man she’d loved since she was a girl? The man she’d just taken vows with the day before? “I demand you get rid of her,” Veronica replied next, shaking with nerves. She hadn’t intended to sound so imperial, but she was shaking with fear. If he said no…if he refused…she would be forced to…to what? They were already married. She would just have to separate herself from him, exactly the way she’d always wanted Mama to separate from Father. Veronica could not—would not—pretend to be happily married to a man who refused to be faithful. Even without an heir, she would not welcome such a man into her bed. Their entire future hung in the balance of this conversation.

An inscrutable expression settled on Sebastian’s face and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “It’s taken care of,” he replied in a monotone voice.

Veronica had expelled a deep breath, one filled with relief. The riotous nerves that had made her feel as if she would cast up her accounts had settled, but she needed one final assurance. “I have your word?” she prodded. “You won’t have anything further to do with Melissa?”