Page 445 of Conveniently Wed
They both turned away from the house and walked into the blackness.
The suspicions that had been flitting in and out of his mind for months were confirmed.
A spike of anger rode up his spine and exploded into his skull. He smashed his fist on the wash basin stand, which sent the porcelain bowl flying. It shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor.
Katie ran for the safety of her room. She flung open her bedroom door and collided into Josiah.
“Whoa. You scared me. What are you doing in here?” She looked away, sure the guilt and shame screamed from her face. For even if she and Colby hadn’t acted on their desires, their relationship was far from mere friendship. What could Josiah possibly want after all this time?
He didn’t answer. Just stared at her.
She sidestepped to go around him, but he stepped in her path. She felt small staring into the barrel of his chest. Heat radiated from him.
He tipped her head up and forced her to meet his steady gaze. The gray in his eyes turned liquid, smoldering like blue-black flames. Dark emotions flashed across his face, from anger, to sadness, to pain.
He knew.
She tried to lower her gaze, but he kept his hand steady beneath her chin. They stood rigidly. The silence stretched into a long agonizing moment. She wanted to die under the scrutiny of his bold appraisal.
But he had brought this on. First with their arranged farce of a marriage, and then with his sudden rejection. He’d left her lonely and vulnerable. He’d created this mess.
Yet, no amount of justification could account for the hurt radiating from his eyes.
A strange jumble of emotions played inside her. She wanted to close the distance between them and resurrect the sweet, tender moments they’d once shared. And, at the same time, she wanted to run from the stranger he had become.
So she reached for anger. Something to protect her heart. “Why are you here? It’s a little late to back up this train wreck of a marriage.”
He groaned and lowered his lips to hers, his finger still under her chin. With over a year since they’d been intimate, Katie’s heart leapt in surprise.
Gently, he coaxed a response from her. The pleasure, the tenderness they had shared in each other’s arms, flooded back. His kisses feathered over her brow, her eyelid, her cheek, and her neck, then erupted into a heated rush on her lips. She melted into his embrace.
His body shook as he drew back, a question in his eyes. “Katherine?”
She nodded, and he swooped her into his powerful arms and lowered her onto her bed. With an urgency of time lost and wasted, they devoured each other. A seed of hope burst through the rocky soil of her heart as she lay spent in his arms.
He raised his head and stared down at her, a sheen of tears glistening in his eyes. His voice held a tremor. “Who did you see when you lost yourself in my embrace?”
Katie gasped, his words raising a pain that nearly stole her breath.
“No, don’t answer.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “I don’t want to know.”
He swung off the bed and disappeared into his room.
Katie curled in a ball under the sheets, shaking.What had just happened?
For a moment, she’d had hope. Hope they could rebuild. Hope they could find the friendship they once shared. Hope birthed and crushed in less than an hour.
Tears spilled from her eyes and soaked the sheets. Too exhausted to fight, she sobbed into her pillow.
Josiah tossed on his bed and slammed his pillow over his head so he wouldn’t hear her sobs. His hands fisted at the weakness he’d succumbed to. He had meant only to confront her and hearthe truth from her lips, but truth ceased to matter when he stood so close, smelled the rose-scented essence of who she was, and looked into her soft blue eyes. The minute he touched her, all resolve vanished like a vapor in the wind. He had wanted, needed, one more memory before setting her free.
An annulment for their arranged marriage should be easy to obtain. There was not proof of consummation other than what was imprinted upon his heart. He would give the excuse they had taken time to get to know each other, but had never fallen in love. Only he would know the lie in it all.
Katie wouldn’t argue that last point and would be grateful for her freedom. The plan would keep her from the social stigma of divorce. It was the least he could do for her. He had stolen her right to choose to love whom her heart connected with, and he aimed to set things right. Colby, the brother he never had, was that lucky man, and although Josiah’s heart hollowed at the mere thought, the truth remained the truth.
Dear God, you’ve helped me before. Please, give me the strength to let her go.
It had been a week since Josiah touched her, and Katie had only seen him from a distance. Over the past year, she’d avoided her parents place as much as she could, to keep them from knowing how unhappy she was. But today she set out with a mission in mind.
