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“Rick Lambert?” The voice froze him in place.
He spun. “Chloe Powell?” His blood turning to ice, he stared at the blonde woman, a vision from his past he’d hoped never to see again.
“I didn’t know you were back in the States.” She smiled, as if genuinely pleased to see him. “So good to see you again.” She reached for his shoulders and hugged him. “I’ve missed you somuch, Ricky.”
Straight as an iron poker, he clenched his fists against his thighs to avoid wrapping his fingers around her throat and strangling her. For the life of him, he couldn’t utter a word and kept peering at her, at the pale blue eyes he’d loved so much in a previous lifetime.
“I heard you were living abroad. Are you here for a visit?”
What type of game was she playing?
“No. I live in Fort Lauderdale now.”
As innocent as ever, she tilted her head, studying him. “I’m so glad you turned the page and have done well for yourself.”
Struggling to control his escalating fury, he inhaled and gritted his teeth. If she wanted to act as if she’d forgotten the past, he could play the game, too. “How about you?”
“I had a lot of problems after that fateful night.” She held his gaze, her smile morphing into a painful grimace.
“Ah.” So now she remembered.
“I suffered deeply.”
Would she accuse him again?
“I got pregnant. My father wanted me to abort, but I refused. Ben and our other friends stood by me in friendship.Youran away, leaving me alone to deal with the mess.”
He narrowed his eyes, daring and threatening. “What would you expect a twenty-year-old to do when his girlfriend accuses him of rape, and her father files a police report against him? When his so-called friends claim he was drunk, and his own father believed those lies? How could you, Chloe?”
“My assailant was masked. Just like you were. You’d laughed and promised I’d be yours that night, and our friends said they saw you coming out of my room. What was I supposed to believe?” Tears filled her eyes.
“Couldn’t you believe the boy you claimed to love? The one who promised to marry you?”
“I didn’t understand what had happened.” She lowered her head. “Deep down, I knew my Ricky wouldn’t have treated me so savagely, holding my wrists, biting my lips and breasts, drawing blood ...”
“Enough. Spare me the details. Youdidn’tunderstand ... and yet you accusedmeof raping you.”
“Not me, my father. Especially after I discovered I was pregnant and refused to have an abortion. I thought it was your baby and couldn’t get rid of it. Ben offered to marry me when I told our friends I was pregnant. Dad was impressed with him.”
“And you too, right?”
She hung her head. “Only at the beginning, Rick. Once we were married, I discovered he was ruthless. His lovemaking was similar to my rapist’s.”
He shook his head. “I often suspected Ben was the one. Did you leave him?” After so many years of misgiving and suffering, maybe he would learn the truth tonight.
“No. I stayed with him for the sake of my son. His son, too. Ben gave him his name at birth. Physically, Jason resembles him a lot. Once we married, Ben asked my father to withdraw the charges against you.”
“How noble of him. I’ll bet you and your father were impressed.”
“Yes, at the time, I was.” Her anger depleted, she blinked, shoulders sagging, her stance the image of misery. “Then, I hated them both. I missed my loving boyfriend.”
Rick almost felt sorry for her, but he stiffened. “You never tried to defend me, to deny your previous accusations.”
She scoffed. “I was a naïve eighteen-year-old. Instead of consoling me, my father called me a slut and slapped me. Later, he wanted me to abort. Like you, I was a coward.”
A coward abandoning his pregnant girlfriend? Was that the image he’d projected?
He closed his eyes, reliving the past that had managed to resurface. Soft hands cupped his cheeks, and warm lips pressed on his. “I still love you, Rick,” Chloe whispered.
