Page 31 of His Wedding Day Revenge

‘And you found another life too? How long did you know the father...?’

‘Robert. Not that long.’

His expression hardened at her deliberate vagueness. ‘So he was not waiting in the wings to comfort you when our marriage didn’t happen?’

For a split second she took the question at face value, remembering how she had felt after she had run away from their wedding.

Then his underlying meaning hit her.

‘There was no one else involved in my decision to—’

‘Dump me at the altar.’

She winced but then brought her chin up. ‘How could you think that?’

He gave a negligent shrug. ‘Just a passing thought.’ One that had been torturing him since the moment he had learnt of the child’s existence. ‘Does he walk yet? The child?’

‘Mattie.’

‘Yes, Mattie.’

‘No, he’s too young, but according to the books that’s when life really changes.’

‘Will your cottage be suitable then?’

Her chin went up. ‘The cottage is perfect!’ she declared with a dangerous sparkle in her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else even if I could afford it.’

‘You struggle?’

‘We do fine. The house belonged to Robert’s great-aunt.’ And it was now Mattie’s inheritance.

The small amount she could save might not be enough to enable her to buy a place of her own, but she’d be happy with a rental when Mattie turned eighteen, maybe staying near the village.

‘So there is no mortgage or rent.’ There were plenty of other bills though. ‘I should be getting back to Mattie. Val seems lovely and very competent, but I only came down for a few minutes to grab a bite...’

His eyes went to her hand, which retained the squashed remains of a sandwich. ‘Literally, it would seem,’ he murmured, before adding in a tone of clipped annoyance, ‘Why were you not offered the option of a meal in your room?’

Because he had delivered the question in a ‘heads will roll’ sort of way, she added quickly, ‘I was, everyone here has been super kind, but I wasn’t that hungry and I wanted to get my bearings.’

‘You should eat.’

His accusing tone made her blink, then frown at the underlying impatience. ‘I have eaten.’ She gave a small smile of triumph and swallowed the squashed bit of sandwich to illustrate her point.

‘A sandwich,’ he said with lip-curling contempt. ‘It is no wonder you are so...’ Draco paused, his eyelids half lowering as his glance skimmed her body. He was prepared for the primal reaction of his body, but not the surge of protectiveness. She looked so small, so delicate, so vulnerable.

Jane raised a brow and allowed the awkward silence to stretch. It was a bit late for him to worry about being polite. That ship had sailed the moment he’d opened his mouth to call her skinny, bony or whatever other unflattering adjectives were going through his mind.

‘Not the woman you proposed to in another life?’ He was probably thinking he’d had a lucky escape. ‘And you’re right, actually—I am not that woman. And you have no idea what a relief it is not to have to play that role!’

‘So you were playing a role when we made love, playing a role when you couldn’t keep your greedy little hands off me,cara,’ he drawled. ‘You are a very good actress.

‘I meant meek and submissive—’

‘Except in bed—’ He had never had such a fierce lover in his life, or one so sensitive to his needs, and not afraid to tell him what hers were.

She lifted her hands above her head and turned her back on him. ‘Will you stop talking about—?’

‘Talking about what? Sex? You have changed. I seem to recall it was your favourite subject.’

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