She folded her arms as she moved to stand before the fire that could not penetrate the chill in her entire body. “Are you running out of the money my husband paid you?” she asked. “Have you spent it all already?”
Walters had still had that sweet, boyish expression as he led her inside, but now she watched it shift. Vanish. Harden. There was no more kindness in his eyes now, no more gentleness. Now she saw the true man behind all the lies.
The monster.
Her heart leapt at that sudden, easy shift, and for the first time she wondered if she had made a foolish mistake by coming here.
“I had other plans, Amelia,” he said. “Ishouldhave refilled my coffers with your dowry, only that husband of yours ruined everything, didn’t he?”
“I’ve never been so happy that he did so.” She shook her head. “Here you are, practically admitting that you were only after me for my money. Based on everything else I know, I must believe our entire relationship was a cruel machination designed to manipulate me to your side.”
“Indeed,” he said with a little bow. “You have uncovered the truth at last. I’d tell you good show, but you were stupidly convinced of my character for far too long to congratulate you on finally seeing the light.”
“Are youproudof this?” she asked, stunned by his attitude. There was no remorse to him whatsoever.
He smiled. “I am. Why would I not be? I have played the role of a lifetime, many times. Do you know how easy it is to convince silly little girls like you or Elizabeth or…or others that love is right in front of them? Stupid, desperate girls who want love so badly? You wanted a prince. I provided him. That there was a price shouldn’t surprise you—that is the way of our world.”
Amelia flinched, but she couldn’t deny that what he said was true. She had recognized that fundamental truth about herself more and more over the last few weeks. That her past made her crave the kind of belonging Hugh had so easily provided. Only what he offered had been real. Even though he’d lied to her in the beginning, in the end, the feeling between them was true.
She had to have faith in that or else she would collapse.
“You bastard,” she said, pulling herself back to the problem at hand. “You exploited the hurt and the naivety of young women who cared for you.”
He shrugged. “Exploit or be exploited, my dear. There is no other option in this ugly world we live in.”
“Of course there is,” she said. “There were a hundred other options than to use me, to harm Lizzie so deeply.”
He nodded slowly. “Ah yes, Lizzie. Sweet, little Lizzie with all her shyness and uncertainty. She was fun. And very lucrative, in the end. His money, the money you came here to confront me about, it gave me the opportunity to look more gentlemanly for the next catch.”
“Me,” she whispered.
“Do you ever wonder why I bedded her and not you?”
She turned her face. “You are disgusting.”
“She was uncertain,” he explained. “And I knew that if I claimed her innocence, she would not run. But you…youwere panting for it. That night I proposed, you leaned so far into me, just begging for that kiss, I could hardly breathe. I didn’t have to seduce you—you were aching for a wedding night and would have done anything to get there.”
She pivoted, but like in the park earlier that day, he caught her. His fingers dug in, just as they had then, and terror filled her. Hours ago, she had been in a public place where her screams would have brought assistance.
Here they were alone. She had no idea if her driver would hear her if she cried out, or even if he could get inside.
This had been a terrible, emotional mistake. One she regretted down to her toes.
“How was it in the end?” he asked, his face closer to hers. “To be bedded by a man you despised?”
“I do not despise Hugh,” she spat, yanking at her arm.
He lifted his eyebrows. “You don’t, do you? He must have been very satisfactory, because I’m seeing it all so clearly now. You’ve convinced yourself you’re in love with him, haven’t you?”
“Let me go!” she snapped. “I’m leaving.”
“No, you aren’t,” he insisted, his tone almost bored. Like this attack on her person was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that mattered at all. “You are such a little fool. You’ve traded one liar for another.”
She stopped jerking to escape and stared at him evenly. “Don’t you dare compare yourself to my husband. You are not half the man Hugh is. Not a tenth.”
Walters didn’t blink or flinch. Without warning or preamble, he simply threw his free hand back and hit her hard across the left cheek. She staggered, stunned as pain roared through her face and up into her ears. His grip on her arm tightened, as if to keep her upright, and he smiled at her.
“I would expect his whore to say nothing less. You are a loyal little lapdog, aren’t you?” He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a pistol. He lifted it to point it at her as he slowly let her go and backed away.
