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She moved toward him. “I’ll never forgive you for the lie you spread about me not wanting children. How could you do something so cowardly?”
He was taken aback by her attack, and he picked at the frayed bracelet on his wrist. “It…was an overzealous publicist.”
“That’s a lie.” Her anger erupted along with a flash of lightning. “You’re a liar and a cheat. You had dozens of chances to correct that story, and you never did.”
“Why are you being so hostile? What was I supposed to say?”
“The truth.” She closed the distance between them. They were nearly the same height, and she looked him squarely in the eye. “Except being honest would have made you look like even more of a jerk to the public, and you couldn’t stand that.”
He started to sputter. “Don’t talk to me about jerks? How could you marry that ass?”
“Easy. He’s hot and he worships me.” Truth and lie rolled up together.
“You’ve always hated him. I don’t understand how this could happen.”
“There’s a thin line between hating someone and finding the grand passion of your life.”
“Is that what this is about? Sex?”
“Definitely a big part of it. And I do mean big.”
That was just plain mean. The fact that Lance wasn’t super-endowed had never bothered her, but it bothered him, and she should be ashamed of herself. She wasn’t. “Bram’s insatiable. I’ve spent so much time naked lately, it’s a wonder I still remember how to wear clothes.”
He’d always refused to acknowledge any problems with their sex life, and he turned his back to examine the Moorish carving on the mantel. “I don’t want to fight with you, Georgie. We’re not enemies.”
“Think again.”
“If you’d just called me back…I have enough guilt. I don’t know how he did it, but I know he coerced you, and I want to help. I have to help you get out of this.”
“Fascinating. Except I don’t need help.”
“The fact that you married him…” He turned to face her again. “Don’t you see? Not only is it bad for you, but it cheapens what we had together.”
At first she was too stunned to respond, and then she laughed.
He puffed up, all injured dignity. “It’s not funny. If he’d been someone decent…Our relationship was true and honest. Just because it didn’t last doesn’t mean it wasn’t right at the time.” He stepped away from the fireplace. “If you married Bram of your own free will—and I’m having a hard time believing that—but if you did, you’ve tainted our relationship and demeaned yourself.”
“Okay, you have officially overstayed your welcome.”
Lance plowed on. “He’s a player. He’s lazy, aimless. The guy’s a drunk and a drug addict, for god’s sake. He’s nothing but a bum.”
“Get out of here.”
“You’re not going to tell me the truth, are you? You’re still too angry. Then tell me this…What would you have done if you were me? What if you’d met the love of your life while you were married to someone else? What would you have done?”
“Easy. I’d never have married someone who wasn’t the love of my life in the first place.”
He flinched. “I know you think what I did was unforgivable, but I’m asking you to look at it a different way. Try to see that what happened with Jade and me could never have happened if you hadn’t shown me what it means to really love someone—with your whole heart.”
His audacity made her want to laugh—scream—she didn’t know which. He pulled at his scruffy beard. “It’s hard to understand, I realize that, but without you, I wouldn’t have known what the heart is capable of.” He started to reach out for her, then must have seen something in her eyes that made him think better of it. “Georgie, you gave me the courage to love Jade the way she deserves to be loved. The way I deserve to love someone.”
A weird sort of fascination had taken hold of her. “Are you for real?”
“I’ve told you how sorry I am for hurting you. I never wanted to cause you so much pain.” She’d witnessed that same haunted expression when he watched television news, read a particularly moving book, or even visited an animal shelter. Lance had always felt things deeply. Once she’d seen him tear up at a beer commercial.
“You can’t imagine how much courage it took for me to leave you,” he said. “But my feelings for Jade…Jade’s feelings for me—they were bigger than both of us.”
“Did you just say ‘bigger than both of us’?”
