The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel, #3)

by Sarah MacLean

“I’ll be damned if he’ll make me weak again.” Caleb did not hesitate. He never did. It was a failing of his being American. “He can only make you weak if you allow it.” Her gaze snapped to his. “You stand strong and remember why you’re here. And if he punishes you, you punish him right back. But I’ll tell you one thing, if he’s all you’ve described, he’s going to give you a fight for the divorce.” For all he knew about her past, he had never witnessed it. She shook her head. “He hates me.” The words were honest and real—words she’d clung to every time she’d doubted herself in the last three years. Which was often. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you.” Memory flashed, Malcolm’s fingers running over her skin earlier in the week, the shiver of anticipation that came with the touch, the way Sera had ached to lean into it. To the memory of it. To the way those fingers had once made her sing. To the way they had made her feel for the first time in years. Not that she was interested in feeling. And besides, “Want isn’t worth the trouble.”