AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alexander fought to keep from rolling his eyes. He could not believe that in all the time he had courted her, he had failed to see her for what she was. He had either been too blind to see it, or she was good at pretending. He did not know which answer he wanted to be true, because they both seemed horrible.
"You were right in saying that we were meant for each other. That we should go back to being together and become lovers once again." He headed for where he had set a bottle of whiskey and two glasses and poured some, hoping it would make her comfortable and help loosen her tongue. Although her ego would probably do the work before the drink was even touched.
Alexander walked back to his seat and placed her glass in front of her, taking in the look of skepticism she had on her face. He knew she would not feel that way for long if he played his cards right.
"So, what exactly has caused this change of heart? Pardon me for not being so easily convinced but you were quite hostile toward me the last time we spoke so I find it hard to believe that you do not care anymore," Isabella said, sporting a thoughtful expression.
"Well, you succeeded in getting what you wanted. My wife has left me," Alexander said casually, gritting his teeth when Isabella laughed.
"I knew that your wife was weak from the moment I met her. She did not seem like the type to fight for something she wants, unlike me." She smirked.
Alexander was shocked by her words. He did not know that Isabella had met Caroline. Wouldn't she have told him about it if she had met her at any point? "I did not know you met my wife, when did you see her?" he asked.
"Oh, it's not important. Before I came to see you the first time, I looked for her first. I wanted to see what kind of woman she was. To see who had ended up with the man I was to marry. When I saw her, I knew she was nothing compared to me, and you were probably frustrated by her, which is why I came to see you." Isabella shrugged it off, casually speaking as though it was nothing serious that she had just admitted to stalking Caroline.
It baffled Alexander how delusional she seemed. Isabella continued speaking. "After you rejected me the first time, I followed her around to try to get her alone so I could talk to her. I tried to talk sense into her and convince her to leave you of her own accord, but I guess she was too foolish to get the message," Isabella said. "Or perhaps she was bold. Maybe she thought she was exactly what you needed and that she was enough to make you forget about me."
Alexander was livid that she was speaking of Caroline in such a mocking manner. He was angry that she had even trailed after her in the first place and spoken to his wife. He had been sad and wondering why Caroline had not let him speak and now he knew why. He was also angry that Caroline had not trusted him enough to come to him with the matter. He would have alleviated her fears and would not have felt bad for Isabella. Maybe then, none of this would have happened. He kept his anger in check, however. There was nothing he could do about that anymore.
"I even told her that you would never accept her," Isabella laughed as she said this, failing to see the bunched fist that Alexander tried to keep hidden. "You should have seen her face when I told her that I knew you had not consummated the marriage and that you probably had no plans of doing that. She turned a bright red when I said that you would never welcome her into your bed." Isabella laughed once again, lost in her own world.
"You were right. It took me almost two months to finally bring myself to sleep with her," Alexander said. He knew Caroline was seething behind the screen and prayed she would not think he was mocking her and choose now as the time to come out of hiding.
Isabella stared at him with a seductive look that once made him worship her but now filled him with disgust. He felt his body crawl as she looked at him suggestively. "Why? Was it because you missed me?" she asked.
"Well, yes. I mean, I did love you and I had planned to marry you," Alexander said, staring at her intently. He was disgusted by his words, and even more so that they were true to some extent.
"I knew it," Isabella said with glee. "I knew exactly what type you were and that you were very different from all my other lovers."
Her words made him freeze. "Other lovers? There were others?" Alexander asked, baffled.
"Oh right, I forgot that you thought you were my first and only lover," she said, covering her mouth as though she had misspoken. "Come on, Alexander, don't be naive. Of course, I had other lovers before you. You are married, or rather, separated, but you should know by now that there is no way I would have been able to teach you all had I not had someone before you. Where did you think I got all that knowledge from?” She rolled her eyes at him.
"I had several lovers before you, but all of them left me and married someone else. Although it was to be expected. One cannot expect much from cads and rogues, but you, my dear Alexander, I always knew, from the time I met you that you were different and that somewhere deep down, you did believe that we would marry," she offered him a smile.
"You did not think that we would marry?" Alexander asked her. His intentions, while he had been with her, had always been noble and he thought she knew that. He wondered if her doubt was from the fact that he had never taken their relationship public, but that was no longer important. He just needed to keep her talking until she said what he needed Caroline to hear.
"No, of course, I did, at some point at least. Until I met Lord Westworth." Now Alexander was confused. He had expected the revelations to be for Caroline but now he was getting some of his own.
"Lord Westworth? I thought you said he was your father's friend and that your father was forcing him on you?" he asked.
"In a way, yes, but he was not forced on me. I had let it slip to my father that I would not mind marrying someone like him and that was why he arranged our meeting," Isabella finished, not looking contrite at all.
Alexander was furious once again. He could not believe that he had ever thought that Isabella was a good person. How he would have suffered if he married her!
"Why would you do that when you knew for certain that I had every intention of marrying you?" he asked her. Everything that had come out of her mouth since they started talking had simply proven why he should be thankful their relationship ended.
"Well, Lord Westworth is extremely wealthy, and I have never wanted to be your wife or anybody's wife for that matter and have to depend on whatever stipend you chose to give me," she said. "I have always wanted a life where I had enough money to do with as I please. You could not offer me that, but Lord Westworth could."
Alexander could not keep his thoughts from showing on his face at that.
"There is no need to look so offended, Alex. Although Lord Westworth is a nice man who does not question how much I spend, he still has a limit he is willing to give to me, but all that will not matter soon. He is an old man, and he will not have much longer to live. When he dies, all that he owns will be mine. I will be a very wealthy widow, Alex. It is one of the perks of marrying a man who has no family. There is simply no one available to inherit his wealth other than I."
Alexander was shocked at how cold she was. He knew she did not love her husband but talking about his death in such a manner was something he had not expected from her. She had thought it all through before she married him.
"You are surprised, aren't you? You must admit, however, that it was a very good plan. Unfortunately, I had not considered how much I would miss you. I did not factor you into my plans because I did not think I would miss you at all, but it turns out that I am very attached to you." Isabella sounded irked at that. Like he was an unfortunate oversight.
Alexander was too stunned to say anything for a while. He wondered if she could hear herself speak. In what world did she think he would take her back, separated or not. "So, you came back because you were attached?" he asked finally.
