Page 80 of The Enchanted Land

Her fingers entangled in the hair on his chest, her lips following the sensitive path of her fingers. Her hands found his maleness and lingered, gently stroking until she heard low sounds from Seth’s throat.

She climbed on top of him and this time, slowly, they came to new heights of desire and finally collapsed in one another’s arms, sated.

Content, Morgan slept, her cheek against Seth’s chest, the hairs tickling her nose. Seth’s low voice woke her from the first happy sleep she had had in many months.

“Did you do this with the men at Madame Nicole’s?”

“Mmmm?” she snuggled closer to him. Seth was here, alive and in her arms. She kissed his chest.

“Was Joaquín a good lover? Did he make your hips move and your hands claw?”

Her eyes flew open. “Seth, must I tell you …?”

He roughly pushed her from him. “No, I must tell you. I know about them all. I know about Madame Nicole.”

Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes were wide. “No.”

He stepped out of the bed, reaching for his clothes. “Tell me, did you react for all of them as you did for me? No wonder you’re such an expensive whore. Tell me, how much do you share with your ‘partner’? Does he set you up or do you find your own men?”

“No,” she whispered, the tears coming to her eyes. She was on her knees in the bed, her damp, tangled hair falling about her. “No, Seth. That’s all wrong.”

“Well, ma’am, you are certainly fetching like that. I don’t imagine you’d pleaded with many men. Does it hurt your vanity to find that you can be walked away from? I know you are used to doing the walking.”

Her sobs were choking her, her body shaking.

Seth almost reconsidered, but quickly he picked up his hat and walked to the French doors. “I remember some time ago, when you left a light in the window so I could climb to your bedroom. It’s ironic, isn’t it?” He paused and reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew several gold coins. He tossed them to the floor beside the bed. “You can share that with your decorator friend. Goodbye,wife.” He made the word sound ugly. And almost instantly, he was over the balcony.

When Theron found Morgan an hour later, his patient was calm, sitting quietly against the back of the bed. Something was very wrong. He preferred her hysterics to the icy calm he saw in her eyes now. He sat by her, took her cold little hand.

“What’s happened?”

She turned to him and smiled. It was a smile Theron had never seen before, and it made chills run down his spine. “I have just had a visit from my husband, the man I’ve loved so long, the man I’ve dreamed of day and night.” Her voice was flat.

“After he had used my body and made me react, he taunted me, accused me of having many men.”

“Morgan, I really don’t understand any of this. Why would he want to hurt you so? Doesn’t he understand our relationship?”

She laughed. “I don’t believe my husband understands anything. He wouldn’t allow me to explain. He saw only the wrong side of everything.” Morgan began telling Theron of her marriage to Seth, how she had asked him to marry her, had fought her feelings for him. She told of Seth’s jealousy and Joaquín’s treachery.

“He never even asked you if the note was true? It never occurred to him that you had been taken against your will?”

“It is ironic, isn’t it? He has tried, judged and hanged me—and I am innocent. I don’t believe I want to talk anymore, Theron.”

The look in Morgan’s eyes frightened him. Always, she had a kind word. Always, she smiled. But now her lips curved into a snarl.

“Maybe we could find him. Find him and tell him the truth of what has happened to you—that none of it was your fault.”

She turned on him, eyes flashing. “I should go to him and tell him that I am innocent? What should I do, plead with him, beg him to forgive me—for nothing? I loved him and he should have been able to see that. I told him so tonight, but he chose to ignore it. He believes I was one of Nicole’s whores. What if I had been? What if his pure little Morganhadbeen tarnished by other men? Should I kill myself in that case? He didn’t care enough for me to even listen to me, to find out what had happened to me all this time.”

She took a breath and leaned back against the pillows. “He was not the man I thought he was. I never want to hear his name again.”

“Morgan, please listen…”

“I would like to sleep now. I believe Mrs. Farrell will want us to spend the day discussing her dining room, and I need strength to face that woman’s taste. Good-night.”

Theron kissed her forehead, blew out the lamp, and left the room.

Morgan fell asleep, remembering Seth’s back as he disappeared over the balcony.

---