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For a moment there was no sound. Nothing changed except the temperature in the room, which seemed to suddenly drop to freezing. Her big eyes stared up at him, nearly uncomprehending yet she was wounded to her soul. “I…I don’t think I heard you—”
“I lied.”
She sucked in her breath, as if he’d physically slapped her, then closed her eyes for a minute, gathering strength, like clouds roiling before the storm. “We’re not married,” she clarified, her eyelids flipping open to reveal a face ravaged by fury, a face as white as death. “And never have been.”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, God,” she wailed, her gaze turning toward the ceiling in abject misery. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why?”
“I couldn’t.”
Blinking hard, her lips flattening, her chin jutting in anger, she whispered, “I knew it. I just knew it and I let myself be fooled by you!”
“Nikki—” He took a step toward her, but she lowered her gaze and pinned him with all her righteous fury.
“You bastard. You miserable, low-life, lying bastard. You let me believe—”
“I had no choice.”
“No choice?” she hurled back at him as she scrambled off the bed. For a second she hadn’t moved, had seemed caught in a freeze-frame of time, but now she was all motion, her feet landing on the floor and her hands skimming the ground for the clothes. “No choice!” She snorted out his feeble excuse.
“They were going to kill you.”
“They?” she repeated, her skepticism brassy.
“The men who were chasing you.”
“Oh, now the story’s changed. Lord, I’ve pulled some dumb ones in my life—well, at least, I think I have—but this must take the cake!”
“Yes.”
“Convenient,” she said, yanking on her jeans and her blouse before pulling a sweater over her head. She didn’t bother with underwear as she grabbed the handle of her suitcase and started for the door.
His fingers locked around her wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home,” she said succinctly. “The one I remember.”
“You can’t.”
“I can damn well do what I please.” She sneered down at the hand manacling her wrist. “Let go of me, McKenzie. Unless you want me to call the police and have you up on charges of kidnapping me and holding me hostage, as well as assault.”
“I never hurt you.” She blanched and he swore under his breath. “Not physically.”
“Just take your damned hands off me before I scream,” she warned, her eyes narrowing in pure hatred. A piece of his soul seemed to shred, but he held firm, his face tightening into a mask of impatience.
“You could at least let me explain.”
“You had your chance. Over and over again. I begged you to tell me the truth, pleaded with you to be honest, and how did you respond? With lies and promises and God only knows what else!” She was nearly shouting by this time, her breathing uneven, her anger seeming to crackle in the air.
“So now you don’t have time for the truth.”
“From you? Never. I wouldn’t know what to believe.”
“For God’s sake—”
She kicked him then. With the toe of her soft Reebok. She nailed him in the shin and jerked away, but he sprang on her like a cat and snarled, “Just a minute, darlin’.”
“Go to hell.”
