They were as caustic to each other as ever, it would seem. From great passion also came great hatred and great ruin.
To say nothing of great pain.
“I do not want to be chained to you any longer, Needham,” Nell spat. “I do not know how to make that any more apparent than I already have. I want to marry Tom. He is the man I wish to spend the rest of my life with.”
He shook his head, refusing to accept her words. He had seen her with Tom earlier. Sidmouth fawned all over her. Treated her as if she were fashioned of the finest porcelain. Nell had never been fragile. Nell was the woman who danced on the table, who always landed on her feet.
Or in his arms.
Alwaysin his arms if he had anything to say about it.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you feel nothing for me.” He clenched his jaw so hard, his head began to throb. “Go on, Nell. Tell me.”
She said nothing, staring at him, seemingly speechless.
“Tell me how you despise me,” he urged. “Do it, Nell. Tell me how I betrayed you and how you will never forgive me. Tell me Sidmouth truly makes you happy. I want to hear more of your pretty lies.”
Her slap took him by surprise. Not so much the sting of her small palm connecting with his cheek, but the violence of her action. She had scratched him before, true. But she had never hit him.
“You have no right, damn you.” She inhaled on a sob, and he knew he was the source of her pain, just as she was the source of his. “No right to come back here and make me feel…”
He seized upon her words. “Make you feel what, Nell? Make you remember I am your husband? That you promised yourself to me and me alone? You did not marry Sidmouth. You marriedme.”
She paled. “To my eternal shame. I was young and foolish, easily swayed by a handsome face. I should have known you were not the sort of man I could trust.”
“You can trust me, Nell.” How could she not see the truth for what it was?
She shook her head. “No, I cannot. You proved that to me better than anyone else ever could. I will not forget what I saw. You cannot explain it away. Nothing changes what happened. Perhaps you have suddenly found a conscience. Mayhap you have realized you want an heir. Whatever the reason for your return, it is futile. I will not have you in my bed. I do not want to be married to you. I want another.”
Her assertions drove him to the point of madness. “Is that so? Do you mean to tell me you feel nothing for me?”
“Nothing,” she echoed. “Nothing at all, Needham. Undoubtedly, that will be painful for your vanity, but that is the truth of it.”
He did not believe her. Because he knew her. And he also knew the passion beating between them, even now.
But he also knew he had pushed both of them enough for one afternoon.
“Tell yourself that if you like, but we both know you are lying.” He sketched an ironic bow. “I will see you at dinner, darling.”
Chapter Four
NELL WOULD BEdamned if she would dress and calmly descend to dinner with Needham.
If he thought she would play the role of dutiful wife now that he had suddenly returned, he was wrong. Instead, she requested a carriage and prepared herself to visit Tom. She did not care that she was foregoing her evening meal, or that the drive to the village would be a good hour. The weather was decent, and the longer she was away from Needham Hall and her husband’s infuriating presence, the better.
She had prepared herself with remarkable speed for her journey, her lady’s maid quite accustomed to whipping her into order in precious little time. She poked her head out of her chamber with precisely ten minutes until the dinner gong. With all her guests having been summarily chased by Needham, dinner was not the grand affair it ordinarily was. The corridor was empty.
No Needham in sight.
On a sigh of relief, she slipped into the hall, making her way down it and then the stairs. Through the grand entry hall with its centuries’ old weaponry gracing the walls. To the front door. Reeves, the butler who forever looked at her with an expression of thinly veiled distaste, politely told her that her carriage was waiting.
With another look over her shoulder to determine there was no irate Needham looming behind her, she swept into the courtyard. Two sets of stone steps led her to the carriage. But when the door opened, the very man she had been seeking to avoid was already seated within.
She stopped at the sight of Needham sprawled on the bench, his emerald gaze glittering at her with unabashed intent. Drat him. He looked perfect as ever, his dark beard shading his strong jaw, those full, sensual lips she should not remember kissing quirking into the same half grin that had once made her go weak.
If only she had never married him.
If only she had never loved him.
