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When she reached the lower level, she could hear movement from the library, but otherwise the house was quiet.
She walked into the library, and Colin looked up.
He had a decanter in one hand and a glass in the other. His tuxedo tie hung loose around his neck. Despite looking uncharacteristically careworn, however, he was still devastatingly attractive.
“Drink?” he offered.
She shook her head.
“As you wish,” he said, returning to the task of pouring himself one.
His abruptness was startling. It was unlike Colin to be anything but effortlessly well-mannered, even when he was vanquishing an opponent.
“You were an absolute boar to Tod.”
“Was I?” Colin returned. “I suppose you mean the animal and not that I bored him to death, however appealing the thought might be.”
Belinda pressed her lips together.
Colin turned back toward her and took a sip of his drink. “Were you also afraid I’d gore him?”
“Only with your rancid wit.”
“Ouch.” Colin shook his head. “And what about the way you wound me, my dear wife?” Belinda blinked.
“I’m a servant who awaits your next word and hangs on your every glance.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Colin quirked a brow. “Is it?”
He set down his glass and come toward her.
Belinda forced herself to stand her ground. “Our agreement does not give you license to be rude to Tod.”
“Doesn’t it?” Colin asked. “And what about the fact that you almost wed him while you were still married to me?”
“I didn’t know that we were still married.”
“But now you do.”
He was talking circles around her, and she tried to formulate a response that would expose his illogic. Just because she knew now what she didn’t know then, she wasn’t at fault, was she?
Colin appeared to anticipate her argument as he came to a stop before her. “It happened without your knowing, but now we must all be cognizant of the fact that it did happen, and also that you remain married to me.”
Colin was jealous. And it rendered him surprisingly vulnerable.
The realization flashed through Belinda’s mind unbidden and unwanted. To stay mad at Colin, she didn’t need a surprising insight into his perspective.
He touched her upper arm and a shot of sensation went through her. She knew Colin had noticed the reaction in her, too.
“It’s always there between us, isn’t it?” he murmured.
It was hard to argue with the truth.
He gave a self-derisive chuckle. “Definitely inconvenient at times.”
