think of any?’ she taunted.
He glared. ‘It was embarrassing.’
‘So relive it.’
‘It…was all about her feelings for me. The kind of man she thought I was,’ he said shortly. ‘I told her not to be so stupid and to get dressed.’
He was lying. He looked ashamed of himself. She would have preferred him to admit his adultery and to beg her forgiveness. This was just cowardly.
‘So you’re saying that you were confronted with a gorgeous, almost-naked woman who admitted that she worshipped the ground you walked on and said, “How about it?” and you said, “No, thanks, I’m married.’”
Dan’s astonished indignation was masterly. ‘Of course!’
‘You’re a saint among men.’
‘Don’t be sarky!’ he said angrily, his brows lowered over glittering eyes. ‘There’s no point in talking to you if you’re not going to listen—’
‘Oh, I’m listening, Dan,’ she replied despondently. ‘I’m just sickened by what I’m hearing.’
He slung her a furious glare as if she was doing him an injustice. Past experience told her that this kind of reaction was common when people were in the wrong. They dealt with their fall from grace by seeking excuses for their behaviour, or finding fault with the accuser. It was the only way they could live with themselves.
‘If you ask me,’ she said coldly, ‘you’re lucky you’re not splattered all over the wall.’
Rage crackled in his eyes. ‘That’s it. I’m going. You’re not prepared to believe me—’
‘You’re giving up?’ she cried, sitting bolt upright, her whole body taut with outrage. He wasn’t walking out on her! Not till he’d been forced to tell the truth. ‘Don’t you have faith in your own story?’ she challenged.
‘You don’t. That’s the problem.’
He studied her with a chilling coldness. Fear clutched at her heart as she realised that his love had now died. Nothing would resurrect their marriage now. Other than a miracle.
Please let there be one. She couldn’t live without Dan. Close to breaking-point, she clasped her trembling hands over her knees, her eyes huge and pleading.
‘I want to believe you,’ she croaked. ‘I honestly do.’
Her words seemed to placate him slightly. The high jut of his shoulders inched down a little.
‘OK. I left her in no doubt that I was furious with her. I went back into the bathroom and locked the door to make it clear I wasn’t interested. And I waited so she had time to get dressed. Clearly she didn’t bother. I assume she heard you and went out onto the landing. When I came out into the bedroom, I heard your voice too and realised you’d come home.’
‘That must have been a shock,’ she muttered.
‘My whole life passed before my eyes,’ he admitted grimly. ‘When I saw Celine still in that towel, I realised how bad it would look.’
‘Bad is an understatement. And you’re telling me that I came back just in time to prevent anything taking place?’
‘Yes! I mean—no, dammit, I mean nothing would have taken place—’
‘Supposing I go along with your version. What was her purpose in all this?’
‘To get me into bed, I imagine!’ he yelled, looking annoyed.
‘And yet up to now she hadn’t given you the least suspicion that she might be interested in you?’
‘No.’
He scowled and thrust his hands into the pockets of his robe aggressively. Even he was seeing that his story was unlikely.
Helen closed her eyes. ‘It won’t wash, Dan. There are no coffee-stained clothes. And the idea of Celine nipping up and down the stairs like a demented yo-yo is ludicrous.’
‘That doesn’t make it untrue!’ he declared.
She inhaled harshly, stoking up her courage to face the truth and accept it before moving on. Maybe they could pull things together. He could be made to see that you had to be straight with people and earn their love by never letting them down.
‘Why don’t you admit you’ve been having an affair,’ she said shakily, ‘and we can go on from there?’
‘Because I haven’t! I wouldn’t!’ he seethed, beginning to stride up and down. ‘It’s the last thing on earth I’d do. You don’t really know me at all, do you?’
‘No. I don’t,’ she agreed unhappily, stunned by his air of deep injury.
His shoulders slumped. ‘Well, that’s crystal-clear. You can’t have any idea how much you disappoint me.’
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish coming up for air. ‘I disappoint you? How arrogant can you get? You’re in the wrong, Dan, and yet you won’t unbend your stupid pride and confess! Instead, you come up with a story so weak that it’s laughable! I don’t believe any part of it!’
‘You must!’ he warned. ‘Or we’re finished.’
How dared he issue an ultimatum? Stifling an urge to cry, she fixed him with a steely gaze.
‘I’d like to be alone. You’d better use the guest bedroom tonight. Unless, of course,’ she added bitterly, her heart one huge ache, ‘you prefer to stay at Celine’s.’
Dan’s mouth tightened into a thin line of anger. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ he muttered scathingly, collecting up fresh clothes with feverish haste. ‘Nice to know how highly you rate my moral values and my commitment to this marriage.’
Bristling with wounded pride, he spun on his heel and headed for the door, the ferocity and speed of his stride leaving her in no doubt as to his mood.
After a short while she heard the front door bang, the sound of his car starting up and being wrenched violently into gear. The shriek of wheels spinning on mud. And then a hostile silence.
That was it, she thought bleakly, shocked by the cold reality of his departure. They were enemies now. The end.
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