Page 31 of The Billionaire's Bargain
Images from that time flashed across her mind, and she deliberately shut them down, refusing to tumble back into that dark time when she’d been so helpless and powerless.
Silence descended on the room, and she swore she could feel Darius’s confusion and disbelief pushing against her.
“If what you say is true, how—”
She’d expected him not to believe her. But shehadn’texpected the dagger-sharp pain to slice into her heart. Uttering a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a whimper, she turned, unable to stand there while he doubted every word that came out of her mouth. This is what she got for opening up and letting him in even a little.
Lesson learned.
“Wait.Damn it, Isobel,” he growled, his arms wrapping around her, his chest pressing to her spine. His hold, while firm, wasn’t constrictive, and it was this fact that halted her midescape. “That came out wrong. Just give me a minute. Don’t I have the right to ask questions? To try to understand?”
A pause—where the only sound in the room was the echo of their harsh breaths. He loosened his arms, releasing her and taking his warmth with him. Turbulent emotions surged up from the place deep inside her that remained wounded and bruised. The place that cried out like a heartsore child for satisfaction, for someone to hear her, for acceptance. That place urged her to lash out, to hurt as she’d been hurt.
But flashes of Darius being so affectionate with Aiden, of him upset on her behalf after the dinner with the Wellses, of him kissing and touching her—those flashes filled her head. And it was those flashes that tempered her reply.
“Love blinds us all.”
Unable to say any more, unable to hear him defend his friend and family, she left the study and climbed the stairs to return to Aiden.
How they could ever forge a peaceful, if not loving, marriage when the past continued to intrude?
And to that question, she didn’t have an answer.
Ten
“No, Mommy!”
Darius heard Aiden’s strident, high-pitched objection before he stepped into the doorway of the boy’s room. Isobel sat on one of the large beanbag chairs, Aiden curled on her lap, reading a book. Well, Isobel was reading anyway, Darius mused, humor bubbling inside him.
“No,” Aiden yelled again, stabbing a chubby finger at one of the pages. “Nose.” He twisted around and declared, “Eye,” nearly taking out hers with his enthusiastic poke. “Nose,” he repeated, squishing his with the same finger.
Isobel laughed, dropping a kiss on his abused nose. “You’re right, baby. Nose. Good job!”
“Good job,” he mimicked, clapping.
Warmth slid through Darius’s veins like liquid sun. The previous evening had left him confused, and the maddening cacophony of questions lingered.
Gage had specific ideas about the wife he wanted.
She’d made it sound like she hadn’t met Gage’s standard. If so, had there been consequences? What had those consequences been? Had he and Gage’s family been so fixated on Gage’s side that they’d missed clues about the truth of Gage’s marriage?
Darius closed his eyes, but when the image of Isobel’s face, filled with sadness, hurt and resignation, just before she left the study, flashed across the back of his lids, he opened them again.
Nothing could excuse breaking one’s marriage vows. But if her dreams had been crushed, if her marriage had been less than what she’d expected, if her husband had changed, was that why she’d turned to other men? Had she been seeking the affection and kindness she believed her husband hadn’t given her?
Darius longed to ask her, because these questions tortured him.
“Darry!”Aiden shrieked, jerking Darius from his dark jumble of thoughts. Catching sight of him, Aiden scrambled out of Isobel’s lap and dashed on his little legs toward him.
Joy unlike anything he’d ever experienced burst in his chest as he scooped the boy up and held him close. His heart constricted so hard, so tight, his sternum ached. But it was a good hurt. And not just because Aiden had thrown himself at Darius with the kind of confidence that showed he knew he would be caught. But also because, for a moment, Aiden’s garbled version of his name sounded entirely too close toDaddy. And as selfish as it might be, he yearned to be Aiden’s father. Already he fiercely loved this boy as if they shared the same blood and DNA.
He kissed Aiden’s still-warm forehead. “How’s he feeling this morning?” he asked Isobel.
For the first time since he’d entered the room, she met his gaze. He noted the wariness reflected in her eyes. Noted and shared it. He might have been knocked on his ass by her confession the previous night, but he still didn’t—couldn’t—trust her. No matter how much his body craved hers. Actually, that grinding need only cemented why he had to be cautious with her. He’d shown in the past he could be led around by his dick, and he would never be that foolish again. Especially with a woman who had already betrayed her vows of fidelity.
And that was the crux of the war waging inside him.
Though it was difficult to reconcile the materialistic gold digger with the woman he was living with—the doting, sacrificing mother, the proud fighter—loyalty came down to family.
