Page 16 of Rejected
This was new. Her hurting him like this. This power he had given her over him. As if she could kill him with one word. One look.
Of all the things that have changed, he cannot. He mustn’t change, if everything else does. He is the axis of my world.
Not that I would ever tell him that.
She did not know what do to with such power—he was right again, drat him. She was not ready. And she never would be.
“I don’t love you, Teddy. Not like that, at least. Please simply stop talking—or thinking—about the matter altogether.”
“You might as well ask me to stop breathing.”
She flinched. “You know, I wished you were as dramatic as this when I was trying to get you to play Count Roderigo in one of my tragedies. Even Meg was better than you, and she hates playing the tragic princess.”
He did not laugh. The smile died on her lips—it was false anyway.
“I am not pretending,” he said quietly. There was a tone of resignation in his voice that nearly broke her. “I am not pretending, Jo. I belong to you, whether you want me or not. I am deeply in love with you. I have been losing my mind over you for months. I lost my heart to you years ago.”
“You lying bastard!”
“Jo, come on.”
“You were pretending to be my friend all these years, and inside you had that explosive secret that would ruin everything.”
“I didn’t want to ruin everything—”
“You pretended to play with me, to fight with me, to…” She got up, too frustrated to sit still.
“I love fighting with you, Jo!” He was on his feet now, coming after her. His voice had grown soft, pleading. So impossibly sweet. She felt as if she was being seduced, like a heroine in a Greek myth. If she let herself fall, she would drown. “I love it. I would rather do that for the rest of my life than be bored with any other woman on earth.”
She shivered down to her toes.No one has ever said a more beautiful thing in the world, and no one ever will.
“That is terribly immature, Teddy,” she snapped, “and it shows, more than anything else, why you are sprouting pure nonsense.”
“Every interaction with every other human being on earth bores me to tears.”
“That is because you are a genius, you idiot!”
“I amnot,” he scoffed. “If anything, I have been drifting aimlessly for years. I have been wasting my life, not dedicating myself to my studies or my music or to anything else. I am a wastrel and a rogue, or at least I would be if I didn’t have you in my life.”
“That’s complete balderdash.” Jo flung her hand at him in a most unladylike manner. “My brother does have me in his life, andheis a wastrel and a rogue, and much worse besides.”
But Laurie was shaking his head.
“One thing I know for certain and it is that I am insanely in love with you. Have been, since a child. But now… It’s gotten worse. Serious. Grown-up, Jo. I want to… I want to devour you and worship you at the same time. I want to marry you and have you as close to me as possible for the rest of my life.”
“Well, then, there is only one thing I can say to you…”
“And what is that?”
“No.”
“Jo, please. I-I can’t go on like this. I’m losing what’s left of my mind.”
“That’s not my problem. You’ve been out of your mind since the nursery. How is that my fault?”
“It’s because of you that I’m going mad. Since forever.”
“You always exaggerate so, Teddy. When did it start?”
