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‘But you don’t have to live here,’ she answered hotly, suddenly furious at his manipulation of events.
‘And you do?’ He eyed her arrogantly. ‘Well, do you?’
‘Yes,’ she snapped tightly, ‘and if you were half as sensitive as I thought you were you’d just leave me alone. I don’t need—’
‘But I’m not sensitive, Amy, am I?’ he drawled slowly but with an iciness that was chilling. ‘And no doubt there are many other things in which I’m lacking too. But as for what you need or don’t need—’ the black eyes were like stone ‘—I really don’t give a damn.’
‘Then why are you here tonight?’ she asked desperately. ‘What’s the point in torturing me like this?’
‘Oh, come, come.’ He sounded almost bored. ‘A little dramatic, don’t you think? And I’ve told you why I’m here.’
‘I was talking to John, just talking,’ she said to his cold face. ‘You’re trying to drive me away from here, aren’t you?’ she stated with flat painfulness. ‘This is part of my punishment, this hounding?’
‘If it were, why should you expect anything different from me?’ he asked coldly. ‘I haven’t exactly noticed any love and consideration in your dealings with me lately, or maybe there’s something I’ve missed?’ The sarcasm was scathing. ‘You can’t have it all ways, Amy, or haven’t you woken up to that little fact of life yet?’
She stared at him helplessly without replying, but there must have been something in her eyes that revealed her anguish, because in the next instant he was at her side, his face black with a mixture of rage, confusion and something else, something banked and hidden behind the jet black of his eyes. ‘Damn you, Amy. I should walk away from here and cut my losses …’ He took her arm, forcing her down the steps and towards his car with such speed that she felt her feet weren’t touching the ground. ‘If you let him touch you again—’
‘Let go of me!’ She tried to pull away but only succeeded in jarring her arm so hard it made her eyes water. ‘Blade!’ There was real panic in her voice and as they reached the car he opened the door and pushed her inside in one movement.
‘Stop screeching,’ he said coldly, as he slid into the driving seat a second later as she sat rubbing her arm helplessly. ‘I have accepted your opinion of me is pretty low, but even I draw the line at abduction if that’s what you are worrying about. I’ll drop you home later but first I tell you the ground rules regarding lover-boy. OK?’
‘No, it’s not OK,’ she said furiously as the colour came and went in her face in rapid succession. ‘And how dare you manhandle me like that? I’m not some stray parcel that you can throw about—’
‘No, you’re my wife,’ he said with bitter rawness, his eyes flashing. ‘And I for one take that seriously. I thought at first that you’d looked on this as a game, our marriage, everything. But now, now I’m not so sure. Having seen you with John …’ The penetrating gaze swept over her white face and now that piercing discernment that made him such a formidable adversary was in full force. ‘I think there’s something more, something I can’t quite get yet. You were everything I wanted in a woman, Amy, everything I’d dreamed of, and for a time I lost sight of the fact that I’m an excellent judge of my fellow man.’ The arrogance was hot and fierce. ‘I still do when you make me angry.’ His face was reflective as he turned to look out of the windscreen into the darkness beyond. ‘You are the only person who can make me lose control like that.’ It wasn’t a compliment and she kept quite still, hardly daring to breathe.
‘But, when I’m thinking logically, I know I couldn’t have been fooled so completely. So—’ he looked at her again, his face proud and imperious ‘—I have to assume that something happened in those forty-eight hours when I was in France. Something momentous. It could be another man other than John, but my enquiries haven’t revealed anything to substantiate that. I know you left very early that first morning in the car and returned late at night from the servants but other than that—’ he eyed her coldly ‘—nothing. I don’t like mysteries, Amy,’ he continued expressionlessly, ‘I never have, and this one least of all.’
‘I want a divorce.’ He was getting too close. ‘That’s all that matters—’
‘No, my beautiful little wife, that is not all that matters,’ he interrupted harshly. ‘I have to accept now that you can be selfish and cruel, the facts speak for themselves, but one thing I know for sure is that you aren’t happy. You might have done something that is eating you up with guilt, whatever—I don’t know. But I will.’ She couldn’t bear the derision in his eyes. ‘Because I want my pound of flesh, Amy. Now that’s not nice and it sure isn’t the British way, but I’m not British.’ He laughed caustically. ‘And your body still holds a certain appeal.’ He laughed again and the sound chilled her blood. ‘As mine does for you. Don’t bother to deny it; that gets boring after a time.’
