But then, grim reality had returned.
He leaned nearer to her, so close, she could smell the scent of his shaving soap. For a bittersweet moment, she swore his lips would brush over hers. And then he spoke, shattering the illusion.
“He paid me, you know. He paid me to fuck you.”
The words held the sting and the force of a blow. “You are despicable.”
The corner of his beautiful mouth kicked up. “No more despicable than you, my love.”
“Do not call me that,” she snapped.
Tilly wanted to slap him.
She wanted to kiss him.
She wanted to throw herself into his arms and pretend none of this was real.
“What shall I call you, then?” His mocking gaze held her in its thrall.
“Call me nothing. I want you gone. I never want to see you again.”
“If you never wanted to see me again, you should have made certain your husband had me killed instead,” he snarled.
Confusion hit her. She had always suspected Longleigh had played a role in the vanishing of the man she loved, but she had never found any definitive proof. If it existed, the duke had taken it with him to the bottom of the sea.
“Instead of what? What are you saying?” she demanded. “What happened to you?”
“If you think your denial absolves you of your sin, you are wrong. You are going to pay for your betrayal.”
Tilly’s mind felt as if it were stumbling over itself. Not the result of the champagne she had consumed, but the shock of discovery.
“I do not understand.”
“Innocence ill becomes you.” His smile was feral. “I want what is owed me, and in exchange, I won’t announce to London that you fucked your husband’s bastard son,Stepmama.”
“What is owed you? I do not understand. What is it you think you are owed?”
Money.
Did he wantmoney?
Was that the reason for his return?
One thing was certain. Longleigh had tried to make himdisappear. And until today, he had succeeded. What had it been? What had happened to the man before her? And why did he think she had been a part of it?
An emotion knifed through her, and she could not define it. Was it grief? Relief?
But his next words stole the air from her lungs.
“I want my son.”
Robby. Her sweet, innocent boy. The babe she had named after his father. A lie.
“You cannot have him,” she denied. “He is not an object to be taken.”
He shrugged. “Then you will be revealed.”
Her mouth went dry. The potential implications for herself and her son should such scandalous truths be made common knowledge were nothing short of ruinous. Longleigh’s brother would cause trouble, she had no doubt, even if the claims could not be proven. The gossip would be endless and humiliating.
