“There weren’t that many.”
“How do I know that?”
“Because I’m telling you—”
“I saw those pictures. If you did that once, it’s likely you did so again.”
He winced, and I knew I was right.
“God. God.” I headed toward the stairs.
“It’s not what it looks like—”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “Youpromisedyou’d be honest. That was the deal. You also promised to be faithful.” Tears blurred my vision. Blade pressed into my side, a reassuring weight. I slid my hands into his fur.
“I have been.” Maxim slid his hands through his hair, down his cheeks. “That was years ago, during my first season—”
“When you told me you were either at practice or learning English in your apartment?” My voice was shrill and grating. I cringed.
I never fell apart. Ever. Not when I broke my arm after being thrown from a horse, not when Dillon admitted to cheating, and not when Dillon accosted and hurt me. Yet now, tears welled and spilled. I dashed them away as I glowered.
“I went to a few parties,” Maxim began hesitantly.
I snorted. “That’s more than a party. That was anorgy.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What does it matter? It’s thedistantpast.”
“So, it wouldn’t matter if I’d screwed my way through, say, all the fraternities at U of H?”
“Did you?” he growled.
“So what if I did?It’s the distant past.”
He gnashed his teeth, and Blade stepped between us, a rumble deep in his chest.
“Don’t use the dog against me,” Maxim snapped.
Blade’s rumble grew louder.
“I’m not,” I said. “He’s worried about me because of how you’re acting. Get out of my way so I can go to bed—without you, youlying…liar!”
Maxim blinked at me, as if unable to believe my words. “You’d take that woman’s word over mine?” Hurt crept into his expression, his voice.
“No.” I sniffled. “I takethose picturesand yourownwords against what you told me before.You lied to me, Maxim.”
“I needed you, Ida Jane. I needed this.” He waved his hand between us. “Would you have agreed to marry me if you knew about those nights from five years ago?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “You never gave me a chance to decide for myself.”
He shuffled closer. “I couldn’t take that chance.” He cupped the back of my neck, his thumb running down my cheek. I shuddered, loving his touch, desperate to lean into it, but too upset to trust in it and him.
“To be honest?” I stepped away, met his gaze. His shuttered. Right. “I’m going to bed.”
“I want this settled—”
“Not now.” I swallowed down the hysteria bubbling up in my chest. “I can’t do this with you now.”
* * *
