Adam no longer cared if he showed his true feelings, nor his vulnerability. He only cared for the truth.
“Rachel knew of this plan?” he asked, his voice wooden.
“But of course!” Trenton said, his face full of mirth. “She was, in fact, the one who suggested you come to London with us. She is a much smarter girl than she lets on, is she not? Leave those papers where you found them, will you Mr. McDougall?”
Adam looked at him in the eye, holding his gaze as he slowly, carefully, ripped the papers in half once, twice, and three times before following suit with the check.
“Ah well, I can always draw them up again, never fear,” said Trenton with a wave of his hand. “Farewell, Mr. McDougall! It has been a pleasure!”
His voice followed Adam as he shoved open the door, storming through the building and out into the busy streets of London. He looked around him in disgust. He wanted nothing more to do with this city, this family, or this business. He was a complete, utter fool. All he wanted now was to collect his things and go home. He could think of nothing else but to return to the Highlands and be rid of this blasted place.
Rachel had scarcely finished showing Eloise out the door when she heard a knock come once more on the front entrance.
“My goodness,” she muttered, as she assembled the teacups back on the tray. “What in heaven is happening today?”
Her heart fell further when Jackson showed in her apparent fiancé.
“Vincent,” she said in surprise, “What are you doing here? It is the middle of the work day!”
“Ah, but I couldn’t wait one more moment to hold my fiancée in my arms, now that we are finally, officially betrothed.”
Anger simmered in Rachel’s belly as she looked him square in the face. “Did you know about this? The public engagement that I have never actually agreed to?”
“Of course,” he said with a shrug. “Your father suggested it and I agreed that it was an excellent idea.”
“And neither of you ever thought to ask me?”
“Does it really matter?” he asked, picking up her cup of tea and finishing it himself. “The end result would be the same.”
“But—”
“Come here, darling,” he said, reaching out a hand to her.
“No, I’d really rather—”
Her words were cut off as he pulled her to him, his mouth coming down hard on hers. She was so taken aback, she hardly knew how to respond. His lips were cold, his kiss unfeeling, unlike the warm, loving kisses she had shared with Adam. How she longed for his touch instead, which brought warm feelings of pleasure through her body, rather than the cold slither of ice chilling her through from Vincent’s touch.
She reached her hands between them, positioning them on his chest. She pushed with all her might, and while she didn’t move Vincent far, she did manage to put space between their bodies.
“Vincent, I—”
Movement at the doorway caught her eye. “Adam?”
She heard the tread of his boot on the wooden floor as he continued past the doorway and strode down the hallway, and, forgetting all about the man in front of her, she raced after him, her slippered feet barely making a noise as she ran up the stairs, following him to his bedroom.
“Adam!” she gasped. “Stop.”
“I’ve seen enough,” he said, keeping his back to her as he found his bag and began throwing the few items of clothing he had brought with him into it.
“Where are you going?” she asked as he moved about, seemingly in great haste.
“Home,” he said curtly, and her eyes flew up from his bag to his broad figure.
“Home? Back to the Highlands?”
“Of course. Where else would you figure my home to be?”
“But I — Adam, what you saw in the parlor, I did not ask for it. Vincent, he came and he took me aback, it was so sudden, and I — I was pushing him off me when you entered. It was not—” She stuttered as she somehow felt the need to tell him the truth of the matter so that he would know where her heart still lay.
“You need not explain anything about that to me,” he said, his voice an emotionless tone that seemed to dismiss her as if she meant nothing to him. “I knew you were to marry the man. It was not unexpected.”
“Then why are you so angry? Why are you leaving?”
“Why do you think?” he turned around and faced her, his face tight with anger and emotion, all now trained on her. “I know, Rachel. I found the patent letters on your father’s desk. Tell me, was anything you felt for me real? Did you really think you had to sleep with me, to pretend to love me, in order to get what you wanted?”
She reeled back at his words, in utter shock at his anger. Who was this man who would speak to her like this? Why was he being so cruel?
“I do not know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to remain stoic. “I made love to you because I wanted to and for no other reason. I thought it was a good idea for you to come here in order to help you with your invention. I don’t know what papers you are speaking of, but I have nothing to do with that. I have no part of my father’s business, as he will not share any of it with me. And whatever it is you think I did, there is no reason to speak to me as you are.”
“Your father has told me
