Page 12 of Hush Money

“And you’re being noble.” Another glimmer of admiration from him. “Which I knew you would be.”

“How noble is it to want to take someone’s husband and keep him for yourself? I’m not proud. I just need to be able to look myself in the mirror.”

“That’s not noble?”

“It’s not noble to be jealous of an injured woman.”

“Then I guess we’re in this together, because it’s not noble to plan on ditching your injured wife as soon as possible,” he says grimly, setting his jaw. “But watch me.”

That sounds so harsh. “Lucien…”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, blowing out a breath. “I’ll get her back on her feet. And I’ll take care of her financially in the divorce. I’ll make it worth her while. Which I would have done before she disappeared. But I don’t trust her. Not for one second. And you shouldn’t either.”

The warning note in his voice is sobering, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry than my trying to be besties with his wife. “I just don’t know how you think this is all going to work.”

“Stay while I figure it out. Give me a little time to get her settled somewhere else as soon as she’s recovered and back on her feet. Meanwhile, I’ll take her to the hospital for evaluation in the morning. I’ll call the police. I’ll call my divorce lawyers. I’ll get it all straightened out if you give me time.” He pauses. “But I want you to stay here at Ackerley. I want to show it to you. I want us to spend the summer together like we planned. Say you will. Please.”

I hesitate, but it’s not as if I’ve ever successfully told him no. Especially when he hits me with that beseeching tone. “Fine. But I’m staying in the guest cottage.”

He frowns. “Tamsyn…”

“Take it or leave it.”

“Fine,” he says with a wry smile that quickly fades away in favor of something far more challenging to my shaky equilibrium. “But do me a favor.”

I can’t shake my head fast enough. I know that look. I’m well acquainted with all that banked intensity. But I don’t plan to succumb to it. Not this time. I need to keep my wits about me, and I can’t do that if I throw myself into our scorching chemistry every time he twinkles his eyes at me.

“No, Lucien,” I say, but my heart isn’t in it.

He ignores me and shifts closer again. “I just need to hold you for a second.”

“It’s a bad idea.”

“Maybe, but it’s been a tough day.” He swallows hard, his attention dipping to my lips once more. “Don’t say no.”

I gave it a decent effort, but there was never any real question about it. I’m already leaning toward him, my arms coming up. Lucien being Lucien, he takes a thousand miles when I planned to give him half an inch. He runs those gentle hands around to my back and finds his way to my nape before helping himself to handfuls of my hair as he pulls me up against him. He presses his lips to my temple and breathes me in as though I smell like something other than dried rain and overwhelmed antiperspirant at this point in the proceedings. He shudders with something that feels like relief, generating an involuntary croon from me in response. And I’m part of the problem, too. I admit it. It’s just that my arms remember what it feels like to twine around his neck and my breasts always crave the unyielding hardness of his chest.

He always holds me tight. But I can never quite get close enough.

The worst thing about this stolen moment is the tiny flicker of hope that burns anew inside me, gathering oxygen. Because now I know that there’s a chance for me. Ravenna isn’t the love of his life after all. That position is still open.

It’s a ridiculous thing to think in that stolen moment, but I think it anyway. There’s still hope for me.

That’s when I catch myself, remembering that I’m a foolish young woman who’s gotten herself into a domestic shitstorm. Everyone who ever had an affair with a married man thinks that it’ll work out for her. That she’ll be the special snowflake who gets the Cinderella ending. And I don’t want to be that fool, but I know I already am.

Luckily, the knowledge is ice in my veins.

“That’s enough,” I say, pushing free, standing and pulling my hand away when he tries to reel me back in. I turn away before I glimpse the disappointment in his expression, but there’s no need to see it when I feel it down to my bones. I don’t know how we think things could possibly work out between us. Worse, I don’t know what makes us foolish enough to try. “I need to check on my patient.”

CHAPTER SIX

LUCIEN

Tamsyn catches me in that hazy state where I’m drifting along between sleeping and waking. “Lucien,” she whispers, gently brushing my hair back from my forehead and sparking fire. “Time to wake up.”

“Come back to bed,” I grumble, reaching for her. I’m so groggy I can’t even crank my lids open. I feel as though I’m running on a thousand-year sleep deficit. But she’s got my attention now. If I can’t wake rested, I can at least wake wrapped inside Tamsyn’s silky arms and legs. “It’s not time to get up yet.”

A sultry laugh. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than in bed with you. I missed you, my love.”

---