“For which of your sins?”
He drew a ragged breath. “Hubris.”
“Hubris?”
His jaw twitched. “I spoke in anger. You owe me nothing. You never owed me anything.”
Somehow that was worse.
“The child, Alicia,” he said softly. “We must speak of my child.”
“Yourchild?”
He flinched. After a silence he said, “Yes, mine.”
As if she would let him near anything innocent and pure. “Actually, not.”
“What are you saying?” His voice chilled.
She had wanted to suggest she had loved another. She had wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. She could not. “The law assumes the child belongs to Octavius.”
“You, who cannot lie, would lie to our child and the world?”
“I would.” She lifted her chin. “To protect my child.”
“Fromme?”
“Yes, from you!” Her lashes dampened as she struggled to master the wild thing in her chest.
“You know I would not harm a child.”
“Do I?”
He shut his eyes, squeezing them closed as if he could make the whole world vanish. An ugly vein pulsed at his temple.
He folded his hands behind his back and bowed. Horribly courtly. Ghastly polite. “I will take my leave.”
Oh Lord. This had not been what she wanted. She faltered.Ashbey. Ash. Give me a reason to trust.
He strode through the door into the hall.
“Ash,” she whispered.
“You are perfectly correct, of course. An association with my name would only harm the child.”
He squeezed the bridge of his nose, and winced. She lifted her hand.
He stepped away. “I will, of course, provide any funds you require.”
“Ash,” she whispered again.
“Goodbye, Lady Stone.” He paused at the door. “I never meant—” His voice cracked. “For three days, you made a broken man feel whole.” He dropped his head. “Good night.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ash stared at his study ceiling and fingered the collar of his Banyan. A trace of Alicia’s scent provoked longing sharp as pain.
Not only did she not want him, she’d gone so far as to return his banyan.
