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‘No! I’m not going back there to be humiliated again!’
He glared at her, tall and dangerous-looking in the dim light. ‘Nobody is going to do anything at all to hurt you, Beth. Don’t be silly.’
‘Silly? Is that what you think I am…silly? Because I object to being made to look a fool? How you must have been enjoying yourself these past few months, David, enjoying the way you were deceiving me for your own despicable purposes. No wonder you wouldn’t tell me what that quarrel with your brother had been about. That really would have let the cat out of the bag, wouldn’t it? And that was something you didn’t dare risk or it might have upset all your plans!’
‘I have no idea what you mean. I appreciate the fact that you’re upset, but once we’ve had time to talk then you’ll soon see that this has been a huge mistake.’
‘Oh, will I, indeed? Why? Because you’re going to tell me yet more lies? I don’t think so!’
She whirled round to walk back down the road, but he caught her again and half dragged her up the drive, stopping beside his car to open the door. ‘Get in.’
‘And if I refuse?’
‘Then, Beth, reluctant though I am to do so, I shall be forced to make you. Now spare us both that indignity and get inside.’
Beth hesitated for a moment, wanting desperately to tell him to go to hell, but there was something about the set of his jaw that warned her he would do exactly as he had said. In silence she slid into the seat and sat numbly, while he climbed behind the wheel and started the engine with an angry roar and drove out on to the road.
‘Where are you taking me, David?’ she demanded, harshly. ‘Haven’t you done enough for one night without abducting me into the bargain?’
He swore softly, cutting her a hard look as he turned the car on to the main road. ‘All I want is to talk to you so that we can work this out.’
‘Talk or lie? I don’t think there is anything you have to say that I want to hear! I heard enough back at the house. In fact, I heard more than enough and frankly I don’t want to hear another word you have to say because it will all be lies!’
‘I have never lied to you, Beth. Once we’ve had a chance to talk then I’m sure we can work this misunderstanding out.’
‘Misunderstanding?’ Anger rose, bringing with it a biting pain that made her want to lash out and hurt him as he’d hurt her. ‘I’ve heard it called some things, but a “misunderstanding”? You used me, David, to try to end a feud that you had started by sleeping with your brother’s wife, and you call that a “misunderstanding”?’ She laughed harshly, her face a deathly pale mask. ‘I have to admire your nerve even though I hate you for what you’ve done!’
‘I have done nothing, Beth. Nothing!’
‘No? Oh, forgive me for sounding sceptical, but do you honestly expect me to believe that? You married me, David, so that you would have the perfect cover for your plans. I gave you an outward aura of respectability, helped lull everyone into thinking it couldn’t happen again, but what were you really planning on? Resuming your affair with Maggie once Matthew’s suspicions had been allayed? Under cover of this nice respectable marriage of ours anything would have been possible! No wonder you didn’t want me to tell anyone the truth about this marriage, or about who really was the father of my baby! How could you have done that, David? How could you have used not only me but my child?’
Tears slid from her eyes, running silently down her cheeks at that cruellest of betrayals.
‘No!’ He slewed the car to a halt, turning in his seat to face her, his grey eyes burning with anger. ‘You know damned well that isn’t true, Beth!’
‘I don’t know anything apart from what I heard. Want me to remind you? “I seduced your wife, so you planned on seducing mine?” That seems to sum it all up, David!’
‘What you heard me saying wasn’t the truth. It was what Matthew had always believed, but it never happened. I never had an affair with Maggie, although lord knows I would have sold my soul to the devil at one time to do so!’ He ran his hands through his hair, his voice hollow as he continued. ‘The truth is that Maggie was always in love with Matthew. I never existed for her except in the role of a friend. It took me a long time to accept that, but once I did, I wasn’t foolish enough to think that I could change it, nor would I hope to change it in the future.’
