have it,’ Gideon continued when she made no reply. ‘Was this what you wanted when you suggested the two of us talk—all of this out in the open, with no more need for even cursory politeness between the two of us?’
‘I wasn’t aware that there had been much of that anyway,’ Molly felt stung into replying, still stunned at what this man was accusing her of. He believed she’d had an affair with his brother James!
His mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘There is in front of Crys and Sam,’ he snapped. ‘Crys obviously knows nothing about you and James—’
‘There was no me and James!’ she cried protestingly, at the same time knowing that on the evidence this man had, her protest sounded hollow, to say the least. Even if it was the truth.
His top lip curled contemptuously. ‘Obviously nothing James felt important enough to need to make any deathbed confession to Crys.’ Gideon gave a disgusted shake of his head. ‘That’s something to be grateful for, at least!’
‘But…’
‘But I know. And you know,’ Gideon continued hardly. ‘Let’s just leave it at that, hmm?’
Molly’s eyes widened disbelievingly. ‘You surely don’t think that I would ever—’
‘Who knows what you’re capable of?’ he cut in disgustedly. ‘From what I can gather, Crys is your best friend—and yet you felt no compunction about taking advantage of her absence from the marital home to jump into bed with her husband.’
This was incredible. Unbelievable. Oh, it certainly went a long way towards explaining Gideon’s behaviour towards her—it was just totally inaccurate as to what had really happened just over three years ago.
‘There’s only one positive thing that I can see about this situation,’ Gideon continued hardly.
‘There’s a positive to all this?’ Molly echoed dazedly.
‘Oh, yes.’ Gideon nodded with grim satisfaction.
She blinked. ‘And that would be…?’
Those dark blue eyes gleamed with that same satisfaction. ‘Crys is now married to your stepbrother. A situation that would certainly alter if you were ever to feel the need to clear your own conscience. Crys would find it very difficult to stay married to the brother of the woman who had an affair with her first husband.’
‘Now just a minute—’
‘I’ve wasted all the time that I’m going to tonight,’ Gideon rasped with a dismissive shake of his head.
On her, that was, Molly acknowledged numbly. This was worse, so much worse than she could ever have imagined. Oh, she had known there had to be a reason behind Gideon’s complete contempt for her, had guessed that it probably had something to do with finding her in James’s apartment that morning just over three years ago, but she had never imagined…
‘Be warned, Molly,’ Gideon added harshly. ‘I won’t ever let you do or say anything that will hurt Crys. Is that understood?’ he prompted determinedly.
She swallowed hard. ‘Perfectly.’ She nodded, wondering if he weren’t being just a little hypocritical. His protectiveness of Crys—erroneous as it might be in her own case—seemed to indicate more than just ex-brother-in-law affection on his own part.
Not that she was particularly interested in that; it was his belief of her own behaviour that was so disturbing.
Crys had been, and still was, Molly’s best friend. And Molly had known James for some time before introducing Crys to him; James had been one of her best friends, too. But that was all he had ever been: her friend.
Not that she thought this man was about to believe that for a moment. He had formed an opinion of her on one brief meeting. A bad opinion. And the only way to even try to explain herself was to give him an explanation of a time in her life she would rather forget. An explanation he was unlikely to believe in any case.
‘Good,’ Gideon bit out with satisfaction. ‘In that case, I have nothing further to say to you. Except—’
‘Please,’ Molly protested weakly, putting up a shaking hand to the temple that had started to throb painfully. ‘I’ve already heard enough of your insults for one evening.’ She sighed heavily.
Gideon paused on his way to the bedroom door. ‘Oh, I wasn’t about to insult you again, Molly,’ he assured her lightly.
‘No?’ she said disbelievingly.
‘No,’ he said derisively. ‘I was about to tell you that I’d lied about dealing with the spider. It’s on the ceiling directly above your head. Have a good night!’ he added tauntingly, before letting himself out of the bedroom.
Molly didn’t see him leave. One glance at the ceiling above her head revealed that there was indeed a spider. A huge one!
She shot off the bed so fast she almost fell over, staring in horrified fascination at the long-legged, fat-bodied insect.
Swine!
Rotter!
Sadist!
And she wasn’t referring to the spider!
THE phrase ‘you look like hell’ came to mind as Molly looked at herself in the dressing-table mirror the following morning. Her hair stood out in a wild tumble of curls and her face pale, with dark shadows beneath her eyes.
It wasn’t just any morning, either; it was Christmas Eve.
But she had never felt less like Christmas than she did at this moment. She had spent a sleepless night, alternately looking at the spider or thinking of the things Gideon had said to her the previous evening.
He really believed she’d had an affair with his brother James behind Crys’s back.
For one thing, she hadn’t felt that way about James—had only ever looked on him as a friend. For another, Crys was her best friend; there was no way Molly could ever have betrayed that friendship, even if she had been in love with James, by sneaking behind Crys’s back and having an affair with him.
But if Gideon ever chose to tell Crys of that morning when he had arrived at the apartment Crys had shared with James, and found Molly in residence, her only clothing one of James’s shirts, would her friend be able to believe in her complete innocence?
Molly would assure her that James had only ever been her friend. But in light of that night Molly had once spent at the married couple’s apartment, while Crys had been away, the night Gideon was aware of, too, would Crys still believe in her innocence?
Gideon had contemptuously assured her he had no intention of ever telling Crys about that night, that he had no desire to hurt her or to ever see her hurt, but would he continue to feel that way if it no longer suited his own plans?
Unhappily, the conclusion Molly had come
