Stranger in My Arms(13)

Hunter bent his head, his mouth close to Lara’s ear.

“I never meant for you to be left at their mercy. Forgive me.”

Lara turned to stare at him in wonder. Hunter had never apologized to her for anything-he hadn’t been capable of it. “There are moments when I almost agree with Janet,” she whispered. “You’re not at all like the man I married.” “Would you rather have me back the way I was?” he asked, too quietly for the others to hear.

Lara blinked in confusion. “I don’t know.” She backed away as the crowd swarmed around him, exclaiming over the miracle of his return.

The servants were in a muddle, scurrying to obey two masters as they packed some of Arthur and Janet’s belongings.

Hunter had not retreated from his position that the Crosslands must leave the estate at once-a humiliation that Lara knew they would never forgive. Janet stormed about Hawksworth Hall in explosive wrath, hurling orders and insults at everyone in her path.

Feeling lost and uneasy, Lara wandered through the house. Some of the upstairs informal rooms had been left in their original condition, serene and tasteful, the windows swagged in pale watered silk and velvet, the French furniture light and clean.

“Taking stock, are you?” came a silken voice from the doorway of the ladies’ reading room, and Lara turned to see Janet standing there.

With her thin frame held so stiffly, she seemed as hard and sharp as a knife blade.

Lara felt a twinge of pity for Janet, knowing that the loss of the title and estate was a devastating blow.

For a woman of such overweening ambition, returning to the modest life she had known before must be difficult to bear. “I’m sorry, Lady Crossland,” she said sincerely. “I know how unfair the situation must seem-” “Spare me your false pity! You think you’ve won, don’t you?

Well, one way or another, we’ll get the title back. Arthur is still the heir presumptive, and we have two sons-and as everyone knows, you’re barren. Have you told that to the impostor claiming to be your husband?”

Lara’s face turned white. “Have you no shame?”

“No more than you, apparently. How willing, how eager, you are to climb between the sheets with an absolute stranger!” Janet’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. “For months you’ve played the martyr, with your angelic face and ladylike manners, while in truth you’re nothing but a cat in heat-” Her tirade was interrupted by an angry growl, and both women froze in surprise as a lean male form entered the room with the speed of a striking cobra.

Hunter seized Janet and shook her, his countenance dark and wrathful.

“Be glad you’re a woman,” he advised, “or I would kill you for what you just said.”

“Let go of me!” Janet screeched.

“Please,” Lara said, hurrying forward. “Hunter, don’t” His back stiffened at the sound of his name.

“There’s no reason for a scene,” Lara continued, approaching him. “No harm was done. Let her go, for my sake.”

Suddenly he released Janet with a sound of disgust, and the woman fled the room.

Lara blinked in amazement as her husband turned toward her. It seemed that his entire body was filled with bloodlust. She had never seen such a savage look on Hunter’s face. Even at his angriest, he had never lost the polished veneer that had been his birthright. But sometime between the day he had left for India and now, his civilized facade had cracked … and a very different man was emerging.

“Janet is a vindictive bitch,” he muttered. “She was speaking out of anger and pain,” Lara said. “It meant nothing to me-” She broke off with a gasp as Hunter came to her in a few strides. One huge hand settled at her waist, while the other grasped her chin and tilted her head back. His assessing gaze moved over her face.

Lara moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. She was aware of a disquieting pleasure that uncurled low in her stomach. Her breath turned choppy, and she stared at the broad chest before her face, remembering the solid feel of his body against hers, the exciting way he had kissed her.

Janet’s accusations had hit their mark. Lara couldn’t deny that she was attracted to this man, and that she had never felt this way about her husband.

Was it because they had both changed?... or was it proof that this man wasn’t Hunter?

Everything was happening too quickly. She needed to be alone to try to make sense of things. “Don’t touch me,” she whispered. “I can’t bear it.”

Hunter released her, and she fell back a step. His eyes were the most remarkable color, a glimmering shade of brown that appeared black in certain lights.

Without doubt, they were Hunter’s ….... but they were filled with an intensity she had never seen before.

“How could you be my husband?” she exclaimed unsteadily. “But how could you be anyone else? I don’t know what to think, or how to feel.”

Hunter didn’t flinch under her doubtful gaze. “If you don’t accept me, go tell the others,” he said. “It all rests on you. Without your support, I don’t have a chance in hell of convincing anyone else of who I am.” Lara passed a hand over her moist forehead. She didn’t want to make such a decision by herself, or to bear the responsibility for the mistake… if indeed it was a mistake. “We could wait for your mother to return from her travels,” she said. “Once she learns about you, she’ll come here as soon as possible. I will accept whatever she decides. A mother would certainly know her own son-” “No.” His face was like granite. “You decide. Am I your husband, Lara?”