Page 66 of Her Dark Seduction
“Vane, please!” I cried, but he turned his back and began to dress. A sharp pain in my belly racked my body and I caught my breath, squeezing my eyes shut and gritting my teeth until the pain subsided. When I opened them again he was fully dressed and heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” I struggled to sit.
“To find succor in the arms of another.”
“No!” I wailed, “Don’t leave me!”
“You think you can seduce me now my brother has rejected you?” He lifted his hand against my protests. “Do not deny it. I’ve seen you direct your smiles at him. Women! Whores, the lot of you! If I want a whore there are many in the village who are willing and would give me considerably more pleasure than you could ever hope to do.”
“’Tis not true, Vane,” I pleaded. “Not all women are like her.Iam not like her!”
“Like who?” he said, his voice dangerously quiet.
“Elizabeth.”
His expression darkened. He lifted his hands as if to wrap them around my neck but drew back, balling them into fists. He set his jaw into a hard line.
“Woman, if you wish to survive this night, speak no more.”
“But…”
“I said enough!” he roared, his face contorted with rage. I stepped back in horror, tripping and falling back on the bed. He turned his back on me, slamming the door behind him, angry footsteps echoing down the stairs. With nothing else to do, I lay on the bed and wept with shame. My pathetic attempt at seduction had only served to drive him away, into another woman’s arms.
****
When I struggled down the stairs the next morning there was no sign of him. Lily and Jack were talking quietly in the kitchen. As I entered they stopped, but not before I caught her sharp voice.
“…back in a sennight, though he has little to return to.”
Jack laid a warning hand on her arm, and she turned to me, her expression full of contempt.
“He’s gone,” she said angrily.
“Do you wish for me to go also, Lily?”
“Aye,” she sneered. “You drove him away last night. Mayhap your absence would bring him back to his family—to those who love him.”
A spasm of pain gripped my body, and I fell against the doorframe. Jack reached toward me, but Lily pulled him back.
“Do not come near my husband!” she raged at me. “You think you can whore yourself out to every man who falls in your path? You probably don’t even love the man who sired your child.”
“I do!” I cried, the anger I felt against her injustice forced out by the pain in my heart and body. “I love him more than you could ever understand, and I will never love another! Surely you don’t think Jack and I…”
“Be quiet, you whore!” Lily’s usually kind face contorted with fury. “You have done nothing but disturb our peace since you—”
She broke off at my sharp cry of agony. A gush of warm liquid ran down my legs and splashed on the floor. Before I collapsed, Jack took me by the arms and pulled me toward the table. Clutching the edge with one hand I moaned as another wave of pain engulfed me. It felt as if my body were being ripped apart. Jack supported my weight, and I gripped his hand, not caring that I dug my nails into his palm. Through the haze of pain I heard his voice, calm and reassuring.
“Lily, take care of her while I find the midwife.”
“No,” I choked as a spasm of pain shook my body. “Don’t leave me, Jack!”
I heard Jack’s voice interspersed with Lily’s sharper tones though the pain obliterated the words.
The spasm receded, and I breathed out. Jack tugged at my arm.
“Can you move, sister? You need to be upstairs.”
I shook my head and my body tightened again causing a peculiar stretching between my legs. I tried to move but the feeling intensified, and I moaned in pain.
