AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This time when Alex touched her arm to take her with him, she slapped at his fingers before swinging that same small hand at his face. The blow was hard enough to snap his head sideways, but she’d stumbled back even before noticing his perilous expression.
Alex jerked her forwards by the arms, lifting her off the ground to slam against his body when her fists began beating at him. When she continued fighting, he slung her over his shoulder. Having regained enough wind to do so, Elise began raining ineffectual punches against the solid breadth of his back. But he was already inside the barn, out of sight of any folk who might come to her aid. Alex slammed the door shut with a foot, so just a small window at high level was left to illuminate the dark interior.
‘Put me down...this instant...’ Elise screeched in breathless fury.
He dropped her to her feet, barring her immediate attempt to fly to the exit with an arm braced against the wall. She sprang away from him as though scorched, then retreated in time with his slow menacing advance.
Bubbling ire welled up in Elise, suppressing the frisson of fear that had instinctively made her want to escape him. She held her ground, tossing back her hood. Her loose chignon unwound, descending about her shoulders and her flushed face in a waterfall of honey-coloured waves. ‘You are a heartless lying bastard!’ Her chest heaved, but he made no comment, simply continued to close the gap between them. ‘I told you I loved you and trusted you and you have thrown it all back in my face with your...your vile deceit. You could not even do without your mistress for the short while you were here with me in Hertfordshire, yet you said you had finished with her.’
He was very close now and she could sense a sweetish violet perfume waft in the air between them. Her fists clenched, but she fought down the urge to again lash out in a jealous fury at that proof of his guilt. She took a pace backwards, then another, unwittingly allowing him to trap her against stacks of hay bales.
‘Well, I’m glad you and that woman had a sordid tryst because now I know you for what you really are,’ Elise flung at him. ‘A cheating lecher!’ She yanked off the ring on her finger and hurled it at him, making him deflect the missile away from his face with a hand that snatched the diamond before it hit the ground.
She watched him drop the gem into a pocket, then swung her head sideways to use the heel of a hand and smear wet off her cheeks. But she’d not yet finished her tongue-lashing. ‘If you think I am grateful that you’ve patronised me with a marriage proposal you may think again. I don’t care about scandal and ostracism. I have my family. I have all I need. I don’t need you or any of your grand gestures...’ Her voice cracked and she drew in one huge breath. With supreme effort she turned to look directly at him, her eyes settling on his terrifyingly remote expression. But for the muscle jerking rhythmically in his jaw she might have imagined he’d been unmoved by her tirade.
‘Have you finished?’ His voice was icy and quiet.
Elise jerked a nod, not knowing what else to do.
‘Good...it must be my turn to say something. I have not lied to you or betrayed you in any way. Nevertheless, I see now that marrying you would be a mistake.’
‘I’m glad we are in agreement,’ Elise uttered clearly, while feeling that the wind had been whipped from her sails and the moral high ground, for some reason, was no longer hers. Gathering her skirts in shaking fists, she made to haughtily pass him.
A vice-like clasp on her arm put her back where she’d been. ‘I’ve listened to all you’ve had to say. You’ll return me the courtesy whether you like it or not.’
Elise shoved at him and he pushed back, just hard enough to tip her over on to some hay bales directly behind. Before she could lever herself upright he followed her down, bracing an arm either side of her. Slowly she fell back away from him until her body was supported on her elbows.
‘So...where was I?’ Alex smoothly enquired, his eyes roving her tear-stained complexion, settling on her soft pink mouth. ‘Ah, yes...I remember...reminding you of your manners.’
Elise folded forwards in fury, unwittingly bringing their faces close. ‘My manners?’ she hissed at him, eyes sparking golden fire. ‘Do you think it is right...or respectful...to have a squalid assignation with a woman while your fiancée is shopping for her trousseau on the eve of her wedding?’
‘Indeed not,’ Alex answered solemnly. ‘Had I been guilty of such I would deserve to be castigated by you and horsewhipped by your father.’
