Love, Come to Me(105)

After staring her down with cool blue eyes, he spoke in a chilling tone. “They’ll be gone in a few days. I’ve narrowed down the choices for Amy’s school, and next week she’ll be starting classes at one or the other of them—”

“Amy’s not the problem. Amy’s not the one I want out of this house.”

“Raine will leave for England the day after Amy is settled in school.”

“Why not now?”

“Because Raine’s mind is not going to be put at ease until she knows that Amy is safely settled—”

“I would appreciate it,” Lucy interrupted hotly, “if you worried as much about my peace of mind as you do about hers.”

“I never realized your peace of mind was so damned fragile.”

“I just want to know what’s going on between you and her, and why you insist on keeping her here when you know how I feel about it!”

“Nothing is going on between us!” Heath’s temper exploded. “For God’s sake, why do you keep on pushing her at me? It’s like you’re daring me to . . .”

“Daring you to what?”

“Lucy,” he said, concentrating all his effort to rein in his frustration, “I don’t know what’s happened. You’re obviously miserable, and you’re making life hell for both of us. I know you pretty well and this isn’t you. You’re one of the few women I know with some common sense . . . and here you are, completely rattled over nothing.”

“Nothing!” she exclaimed bitterly. “How can you sit there and say this is nothing?”

“All right, then,” he said gently. “Help me to understand.”

“You would understand a lot more if you could have heard the conversation I had with her this morning.”

His gaze sharpened. “What did you talk about?”

“You, of course.” Lucy laughed shortly. “All about you. About where . . . and with whom . . . you belong.”

“What did she say?”

Lucy was suddenly overwhelmed with the fear that what Raine had said that morning was the truth. And on the chance that it had been, she couldn’t sit here and say it to his face. Oh, what if Raine was right? What if Heath found that he couldn’t let go of his past dreams, now that they were within his reach? What if he decided that he would never be happy anywhere but the South? Lucy had visible proof of the effect his former home had on him. He had left Boston pale and worn, and he had come back from Virginia looking like a different man. Perhaps it was true, that he did belong there with his own kind of people, living in the world he had been born to live in.

“What did she say?” Heath repeated tersely.

Lucy couldn’t face his questions or her doubts any longer. She needed to retreat and find time to think. “Ask her yourself. I’m tired. I need to get some rest.” Standing up from the dressing table, she went to the door, unable to be in the same room with him any longer.

Heath moved so swiftly that she didn’t even hear him, whirling her around and catching her by the shoulders. “Stop it.” He gave her a quick shake. “Talk to me.”

“No more. Don’t touch me! I’m going to bed.”

“You’re going to bed, Mrs. Rayne, but it’s going to be here. In this room.”

“I won’t!” Violently she tried to twist away from his imprisoning hands, gasping with fury.

He gave her another brief, hard shake, his fingers biting into her flesh. “Calm down, you little hornet, and stop trying to work yourself up into a tantrum. It won’t take much more for me to turn you over my knee.”

“Oh! That will solve everything,” she choked. Acid seemed to rise in her throat. “Let go of me!” She was blinded by a haze of red, and with a sick feeling of despair she knew she had lost her control. Shaking wildly, she tried to strike him, but she was as helpless as a child against him. The weight of humiliation and smoldering anger settled on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. “You bring her here, and . . . you expect me to be happy about it. Well, I won’t! I don’t have to put up with it . . . I don’t have to. This is my home, and I’m your wife, and I don’t want her here! Are you listening to me?” Her voice became shrill. “You get her out of here. I want her out!” Through her rage, there was a faint awareness that Heath was startled by her white-faced vehemence.

What is he thinking? she wondered, and stared at him dumbly, suddenly exhausted. That I’ve lost my wits. I’m pushing him away—I don’t know how to stop myself. What should I do? What next?

His eyes were dark and troubled. It was fear that he saw on her face, fear that to him was incomprehensible, but he sought to ease it without hesitation. Swiftly he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, as if sheltering her from a rough wind. She tried to struggle against him, but he only pulled her further inside his shirt, holding her against the comforting hardness of his chest. Lucy shuddered and let herself relax, breathing in the scent of warm male skin. It was only now that she realized how much she had needed this simple contact with him, the protection of his body. No one else in the world could give her such a haven.

“Heath—”

“Hush up. Be still,” he said, and she felt the pleasant abrasion of his unshaven face against her temple. As she was hugged against the boundless strength of his body, her panic began to melt away. Wordlessly she leaned on him, realizing that he wasn’t going to let her go until she gave him some of her burdens to shoulder. It was a relief to let him take control of everything, to be taken care of for just a little while.