“Did you believe that my lack of experience would make me too stupid to see through your deception?” She balled her hands. “While I may not be as sophisticated as the ladies of your acquaintance, I am aware of how the world works. Men like you think they can do whatever they wish. It was my fault for believing that you were different—that your vows meant something.”
Anger and something darker smoldered in Sebastian’s eyes. “And it is mine for thinking that you would trust in my honor, wife. Inme.”
“Trust?” she scoffed. “That,husband, must be earned. And the way to go about earning it is not by lying to me. Because you have been lying—repeatedly. Haven’t you wondered how I ended up at that dashed taverna?”
When he said nothing, she enlightened him.
“I ran into your old friend Georgios.”
At the betraying clench of Sebastian’s jaw, she felt a grim satisfaction. A friend of her husband’s, Georgios was a fisherman who also made his living as a guide for tourists. He’d taken Charlie and Sebastian on several excursions around the islands. Last week, when Sebastian had arrived home hours later than promised, he’d told her that he’d bumped into Georgios, and they’d caught up at a taverna, losing track of time.
As it happened, Charlie was in the village on an errand the following day and ran into Georgios. The kindly fellow asked after her husband, saying he hadn’t seen the marquess in over a month. At that instant, icy premonition had prickled Charlie’s insides.
Why would Sebastian lie about his activities? What had he been up to?
The chill had spread, as one by one, the memories hit her. The times Sebastian had been delayed coming home…or not shown up at all. His excuses had seemed innocuous: his horse had thrown a shoe, he’d been waylaid by an acquaintance, the meeting with his cartography society ran later than usual.
Once sown, suspicion proliferated like weeds in Charlie’s head.
Thus, she decided to verify his explanations. She’d hoped to put her mind at ease; instead, she’d smashed her marital happiness to smithereens. The man she loved had been lying to her. Repeatedly. Even worse, some part of her had always suspected that Sebastian was hiding something—that he had secrets.
While I trusted him with my heart, he played me for a fool.
“Georgios didn’t see you last week. You lied to me,” Charlie said flatly.
Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck. A telltale sign of unease.
“Georgios has a memory like a sieve,” he muttered. “If you were to ask him again?—”
“After you’ve talked to him and convinced him to cover for you?” she said acidly. “Why don’t you save us both the bother and tell me where you really were?”
Bronze stars glittered in his gaze, but his lips formed a tight, stubborn line.
In the silence, she felt the weight of the truth. It was heavy enough to crush hope. To pulverize her dreams into glittering specks of dust.
“If you love me, then trust me,” he said finally. “I did not betray you. I never would.”
Oh no, he didnot.
“It isn’tmylove that is being called into question,” she said with quivering fury. “Youare the one who broke his vows. The one who destroyed our marriage.”
“You are being dramatic?—”
Her vision flashed red.
“I want a divorce,” she snapped. “Is that dramatic enough for you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We are not getting divorced.” He had thetemerityto glance at his pocket watch. “Look, I have an unavoidable engagement with the cartography society. I wouldn’t go unless I had to. But I have been commissioned to do an important map for?—”
“Just go.” She couldn’t bear to hear any more of his lies.
“I will be back as soon as I can, Lottie.”
Hearing his pet name for her shredded her heart. He was the only one who’d ever called her by that name, and she loved how feminine and sweet it sounded. Loved that her husband saw her that way. But it wasn’t enough to keep his attention, apparently.
She’d given him everything that she was. And it wasn’t enough.
When will I ever be enough?
