“You’re not exactly rational where Sugar Beth is concerned.”
“And you are?”
He came out of the chair. “Don’t start this again.”
“Why not? Shoving it under the rug isn’t working.”
“You’re so completely out of line.”
“I don’t care. I’m sick of it.”
His lips thinned. “You know what I’m sick of? I’m sick of having to walk on eggs around you, afraid I’ll say the wrong thing and hurt your delicate feelings.”
“Then stop doing it.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He reached for the remote. “You need to get hold of yourself.”
She knocked the remote from his hands and sent it skidding across the carpet. His eyes widened in shock. She turned on him. “You need to be honest! If you want Sugar Beth so badly, go get her!”
He looked stunned. “Is that what you think of me?”
“I’m tired of pretending.”
“I’ve been faithful to you for fourteen years.”
“Let me find a medal.”
“I married you, goddammit! I knew you’d gotten pregnant on purpose, but I never once threw it in your face.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re too decent for that. I was the liar.”
“You said it, not me.”
“Because you’ve never had the guts to.”
“You are
Her fury turned to despair. She sank down on the edge of the couch. “I saw the way you looked at her last night.”
“You saw what your imagination created. You’re paranoid.”
An eerie sense of calm came over her. Her hands fell limply in her lap, and she pressed her fingers together. “I’m jealous. I’m so jealous I can’t see straight. But I’m not paranoid. After all these years, you still haven’t gotten over her.”
“That’s bullshit. For God’s sake, I married
“You wouldn’t have if I hadn’t gotten pregnant.”
He hesitated for a moment too long. “Of course I would have.”
The pain cut deep.
“I would have,” he said, as if repeating the words would make them true.
She drew a deep, unsteady breath. “I don’t know who I am anymore. Maybe I never did. All I know is that I’ve worn myself out trying to be worthy of you.”
“That’s garbage.”
“I don’t think so.” She stood up, gazed around at the antiques she’d collected. She loved this room, this house. She loved being surrounded by objects that spoke of the past. “I’m going to move into the apartment over the shop for a while.” Her voice came from far away. She hadn’t planned this, hadn’t even thought of it until that very moment. But the idea beckoned like a shady grove.
His voice hit a low, dangerous note she’d never heard. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“We need some time.”
“You need counseling, not time.”
“I know you’re angry.”
“Anger doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling right now. What do you expect me to tell Gigi? That her mother has up and left her?”
“I don’t know what you’re going to tell her.”
“Just dump the whole thing on me, is that right?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, that’s right. For once, I’m dumping everything on you.” She rose from the couch, walked to the door.
“Don’t you leave this house, Winnie! I mean it. If you leave, you’re not going to like the consequences.”
She pretended she didn’t hear him.
GEORGETTE HEYER,
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Colin answered the door. Ryan stood on the other side, which wouldn’t have been unusual except it was ten o’clock on Monday morning, and he looked like hell. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
Colin hadn’t spoken with Ryan since Saturday night. The lapse had been deliberate, since he’d had a fairly good idea of what direction their next conversation would take. Ryan was Colin’s best friend. Their old relationship of teacher and student had happened so long ago that neither of them thought much about it anymore. They played in a basketball league together, occasionally jogged on weekends, and Ryan helped him coach the boys’ soccer team.
“Has the plant burned down?” Colin said. “I can think of no other reason you’d abandon your customary workaholic habits.”
“The plant’s fine. We need to talk.”
Colin wished he could avoid this particular tete-a-tete. Sugar Beth had appeared on schedule this morning, predictably ignoring the fact that he’d fired her, and then she’d made herself scarce while he’d holed up in his office, staring at his computer screen. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Making love with her yesterday had been better than anything he could have imagined, which, considering what he’d been reading lately, was fairly astonishing. She’d been bawdy, spontaneous, thrilling, and unpredictable. Afterward, she’d shown no interest in engaging in a postcoital examination of their relationship, which should have relieved him. Instead, he’d experienced this unhealthy compulsion to make her spill her secrets. Although he knew who she’d been, he didn’t entirely understand who she’d become, and the mystery enticed him. Maybe this was why so many men had fallen under her spell. She issued a subtle, irresistible challenge that lured them to their deaths.
But the image of Sugar Beth as a cold-blooded man-killer wouldn’t take hold.
Ryan gazed down at Gordon. “Where did the dog come from?”
“Just showed up one day.” He gave in to the inevitable. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Why not? I might as well make the hole in my stomach even bigger.”
“You should switch to a low-acid organic coffee.”
“And give up all that stomach pain? No, thanks.”
Gordon followed them into the kitchen, then waddled over to the sunroom and lay on the rug. Ryan pulled out one of the counter stools, only to push it back and begin to pace. “Look, Colin, you deserved some payback, no question about it, but this situation with Sugar Beth is out of hand. Now other people are being hurt, and you have to get rid of her.”
The faint sound of water running overhead pressed home the need to get rid of Ryan, and Colin only filled the mug halfway before passing it over. “Winnie’s upset, is she?”
“Winnie’s way past upset. Sugar Beth’s been seeing Gigi.”
News, indeed. Still, nothing Sugar Beth did could surprise him.
“Yesterday while we were at the concert, Gigi sneaked out of the house to meet her. Sugar Beth probably encouraged it. I don’t know how it happened. Gigi won’t talk about it.”
Colin silently cursed Sugar Beth. Did she go out of her way to create trouble? “I suppose it’s only natural for them to be curious about each other.”
“I can’t believe she’s involved Gigi in all this.”
