Fairytale Christmas: Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto / Her Holiday Prince Charming / A Princess by Christmas. Liz Fielding

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ terrified her. Probably because it terrified her. It’s all about control, isn’t it?’ He looked away for a moment, but then looked back. ‘She died instantly. He’s in a wheelchair, paralysed from the neck down.’

      She shivered, but not with the cold, and he turned to her, put his arms around her. Held her. Just as he’d held Claudia, she thought and, much as she wanted to stay there, in his arms, she pulled away.

      ‘I have no reason to protect Rupert Henshawe, Nathaniel. He does not control me.’

      ‘Doesn’t he?’ He shook his head, as if he knew the answer. ‘Reason has nothing to do with it,’ he said. Then, before she could deny it, ‘It was my fault. I should never have come back. Never accepted the commission.’

      ‘Why did you?’

      ‘Family. Guilt. I turned my back on family tradition and it broke my father’s heart. It was a way to make up for that.’

      ‘And, after the accident, you stepped in to look after things?’

      ‘There was no one else.’

      ‘No one else called Hart, maybe. Is Christopher punishing you for what happened to him?’ she asked. ‘Or are you punishing yourself for not saving Claudia?’ He didn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t know the answer. ‘Who is it who leaves the rose, Nathaniel?’

      ‘That’s enough, Lucy,’ he said sharply.

      ‘It’s him, isn’t it? A daily reminder that she loved him. He can’t abuse his wife any more, frighten her, hurt her, because she’s beyond his reach,’ she continued, recklessly ignoring the warning. ‘So he’s abusing you instead.’

      There was a long moment of silence.

      So not bright, Lucy Bright.

      Blown it, Lucy Bright.

      And then he touched her cheek with his cold hand. A gesture that said a hundred times more than words.

      ‘Bright by name, bright by nature. Good guess, but you’re not entirely right. I’m punishing myself for failing to protect her. But I’m punishing him, too. Even while it gives him pleasure to know that I’ve been jerked back into the family business, robbed of something I loved, at the same time it’s eating him alive to know that I’m in control. In his place.’

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

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