Page 57 of The Captive
“Is that so far-fetched?”she whispered in the darkness.
“Yes.”Slowly, he lifted her arm from his chest and tucked it against her side, then slid off the bed in search of some clothes.“It’s a damned fantasy, Lana.People like you and me, we don’t get together.We don’t live happily ever after.Youdo, but not me.”
His hands were oddly shaky as he picked up his boxers and yanked them up his thighs.Lana didn’t say anything as he dressed, just lay there on her side, her blue eyes glimmering with unhappiness and some more of that disappointment.
“I still think you’re wrong,” she said, but this time, theconviction in her voice wavered.“You’re a good man, Deacon.We can still make this work, if not for us, then at least for this baby—”
“I don’t want a damned baby!”he cut in.“And I don’t want to be married to a spoiled young heiress who lives in a damn dream world.”
She flinched as if he’d struck her.
In that moment, he felt everything she did.The hot agony stabbing into his insides, the sorrow weighing on his chest.
He hated hurting her.Heloathedit.
But it had to be done.She needed to face reality and understand that he was not the man for her.
Silence stretched between them like a deep abyss, and Deacon forced himself to maintain his uncaring expression.The sparkle of tears clinging to her eyelashes almost did him in, but he stayed strong.Whether she believed it or not, this was for the best.However you looked at it, his destiny led to utter destruction.Maybe he’d go to prison.Or maybe he’d die at Le Clair’s enraged hands.But the biggest maybe of all, the one that had him following in his father’s footsteps and hurting Lana, was one he refused to risk.
“Do you finally get it now?”he asked coldly, avoiding her tortured eyes.
“Yes,” she whispered.
There was a rustling sound, and when he turned, he saw her stumbling from the bed.Without looking his way, she hurried into the bathroom and slammed the door.
You did the right thing.You protected her.
Deacon sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his jaw with both hands, trying to cling to the confidence his brain seemed to possess.
His heart, on the other hand…well, it might need some more convincing.
CHAPTER 15
Lana did her best to avoid looking at Deacon during the drive to Montana.Didn’t say a word, either.Because really, what was the point?He’d said everything that needed to be said last night, after he’d reached into her chest, ripped out her heart and crushed it to dust between his cruel fingers.
His words refused to leave her mind, though.I don’t want a damned baby…I don’t want to be married to a spoiled young heiress who lives in a damn dream world.
Was that truly what he thought of her?That she was spoiled?Living in a dream world?The former didn’t trouble her as much as the latter.What was so wrong with believing she and Deacon could have a future?He’d rescued her from Le Clair, kept her safe this entire time and if he’d asked—heck, even if he didn’t ask—she would have done everything possible to make sure he wasn’t punished for his role in this abduction.He was the father of her baby, after all.
But he didn’t want to be.
Glancing out the window, she focused on the mountains in the distance, but the familiar sight didn’t soothe her.Soon she would be home with her family.
And soon Deacon would be gone.
“We should be there in a couple of hours.”
Deacon’s voice sounded rough, rusty even.He hadn’t said a single word to her in eight hours.
“Uh-huh,” she said dully.
She heard him let out a heavy breath.“Lana…I know you don’t want to understand it, but—”
“Oh, I understand perfectly!”she interrupted.Before she could stop it, the pain and regret and anger she’d been harboring all morning exploded like a grenade.“You think I’m spoiled, you think I’m a foolish idealist, you don’t give a damn about our baby and you want nothing to do with me.Is there something else I’m not understanding?”
He went deathly quiet, and she noticed the flicker of anguish in his eyes.
Good, let him be upset.“That’s what I thought,” she muttered.
