“I’m not your employer,” he repeated withemphasis.
“And if I left, wouldn’t you be the one to select my replacement?”
A muscle tightened in his forearm under her fingertips. “I’d leave it up to him.” He paused. “As long as he didn’t pick a—someone … unsuitable.” The word almost sank under the weight of hisjudgement.
Millie laughed. “Way to let go,mein Herr.”
“It’s no laughing matter.” His voice was mild, but the words carried a passion. “You should see some of his would-be nurses, would-be secretaries, would-be trophy wives. People don’t become trustworthy just because we’re foolish enough to trust them.”
Their feet crunched on the lane. A light, warm breeze like a soft breath caressed her skin. It also lifted strands of George’s hair briefly before it dropped them back on hisforehead.
“Rather a grim view of people,” Millie said.
He snorted. “Thisfrom you?”
“I like to expect the best fromeveryone.”
“Refresh my memory, Millie. Did you expect the best from your ex-husband? How did that pan outfor you?”
“Hardly the same situation.”
“Exactly the same situation.” His voice was mild but serious.
“Henry didn’t marry me for my money. I wasn’t rich.”
“No, but he still took advantageof you.”
GOD! This man!She suppressed a groan. “No, he didn’t. I had no advantage to give him. He was just busy following his dream.”
“You had your dreams and he took those from you, isn’t thatenough?”
She would have told him to mind his own business if her voice hadn’t suddenly deserted her. Her dreams, her once beautiful dreams of designing gardens and researching wild plants.
This was the one thing that could still upset her, make her feel foolish and weak and a doormat. For ten years. The one thing that could make her blush with deep shame.
George wasn’t looking at her though. “I know what law school costs.” Again, there was that passion in his voice. “London is expensive. What did you earn from both your jobs, thirty-five thousand a year? Which you spent on him. Rent, bills, food, clothes. How much would a housekeeper have cost him, another thirty to forty thousand a year? Factor in the free secretarial work, organizing his papers, his diary. And let’s not forget the free counselling service, the emotional support and motivational pep talks. Stress counsellors and therapists charge a hundred pounds an hour. So in your ten-year marriage,” George paused, calculating. “He’s taken you for amillion.”
She had never placed a value on her time. Tonight, walking in the dark, George was shining a harsh light onher past.
“And at the end, did he even have the grace to thank you for the years he’d taken from you? No, he blamed you for what taking care ofhimhad done to you? You said he compared you to other women? I could punch his lights out, justfor that.”
She pulled her hand free of his and turned away; her shawl fell to the ground.
Who the hell gave George the right to judge her life? Her choices? Yes she’d made mistakes but it wasn’t his place to take her side, to fight for her. To defend her. It wasn’t his place.
He wasn’t her husband to fight for her.
Her chest tightened painfully on a long lost memory
A few years ago, a sleazy friend of Henry’s had come-on to her at a Christmas party. She’d mentioned it to Henry and wanted to go home. He’d told her she must be imagining it and refused to leave; those were colleagues and contacts he wanted to cultivate. Later, that sleazy man cornered her in the kitchen, alone, pushed her against the wall and felt her up. She’d slapped him then walked out. Henry had followed her into the street. Outraged that she’d made a scene. When she told him what happened he’d accused her of mishandling the situation, giving the man the wrong signals, causing trouble for him with an importantcolleague.
So, she’d gone home alone and Henry had sulked for weeks until she apologised, swallowed her humiliation and acceptedthe blame.
Tears Millie had held back for years, now escaped as she stood in the lane, her hands toher face.
She felt George’s arms around her, gathering her to him, pulling her head againsthis chest.
How, how, how? Why had she been sopathetic?
