Page 20 of The Naughty One
“As long as you’re happy, darling,” Magda looked a little upset, but smiled at her eldest daughter, always supportive. Artemis leaned over and squeezed herhand.
“I am, Mom, and so is Greg. So, can anybody cheer proceedings up? Mom, Stuart?” She grinned at them. “I hear someone very special is going to marry the two ofyou?”
Juno beamed as Romy and Blue looked surprised. “Really, Juno? That’s awesome. Hey,” Romy said in a stage-whisper to her sister, “When they get to the kissing bit, can you leave that out? I don’t want to seethat.”
Magda threw a brussels sprout at her daughter. “Cheekygirl.”
The restof the meal passed in easy conversation and laughter, but Romy could feel the tension rolling off Blue’s body. It didn’t help that Gaius, pretending there was a friendship between he and Romy, made jokes with her, flattering her as if they had known each other for more than a few moments. Romy saw her sisters looked confused at the strange behavior and when they got her on her own, clearing the dishes, they questioned her about it. Romyshrugged.
“I don’t get it either. I treated him for his hand wound, that was it. I don’t know the man. Perhaps he’s just trying to, I don’t know, ingratiatehimself.”
“Then why isn’t he all pally-pally with me and Arti?” Juno shook her head. “Guy’s acreep.”
“For God’s sake, Juno, lower your voice.” Artemis hissed at her and Juno rolled her eyes. Romy felt a lump of misery settle in her chest. She should have told Blue; that he was pissed was obvious—to her, at least.Damn it.She looked at Artemis and for a moment debated telling her about how she felt about Blue. No, it wasn’t fair to him; they had vowed to keep it quiet, at least until after Stuart and Magda’s wedding. She turned back to the dishes, only half-listening, as her sisterschatted.
Eventually she was alone in the kitchen, making work for herself. She felt a hand on the back of her neck and turned hopefully, expecting to see Blue. She jerked backwards when she saw it was Gaius instead. He held up hishands.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle to you, Romy; it just seemed like you were tensed upthere.”
Romy was trembling. “Gaius, please don’t touch me unless I ask youto.”
“Sorry.” His smile was innocent, but his eyes sparkled with malice. “Guess you’re always a little jumpy these days. After what your husband did to you in NewYork.”
Romy was so shocked that she didn’t see Blue enter the kitchen behind her as Gaius started to grin. It was only when she heard him put down the casserole dish he was carrying that she turned—and saw the hurt in his eyes. He gazed back at her for a beat then turned and walked out. Romy stared after him indismay.
“Was it something I said?” Gaius asked, and laughedcoldly.
Chapter9
Blue wassilent as he drove Romy back to her apartment. Romy sat in miserable contemplation as he followed her into her small apartment and shut the door. In spite of her total trust in him, her nerves were tightly wound, fear unavoidable. She waited for the storm as they walked into the living room, but he just grabbed a bottle of scotch from her kitchen with two glasses and sat her down next tohim.
“Now,” he said quietly, calm and patient, the utter antithesis of Dacre, “tell meeverything.”
Romy took a deep breath in, pressing her hands tightly together. “It’s true, I was married, although I don’t know how the hell Gaius knew. Incidentally, he’s an asshole for behaving as if he and I were better acquainted than a five-minute consult the othernight.”
Blue nodded slowly. “But you didn’t tell me aboutit.”
“No, and right now, I don’t know why. Blue, he’s a creep, and he came onto me then as well as tonight. He makes my skincrawl.”
Blue looked slightly mollified. “That’s Gaius, all right. But why didn’t you tell me you weremarried?”
“We weren’t—aren’t—there yet. You’ve never told me about your past loverseither.”
“Don’t do that, Romy. No games. Husband is a lot different from girlfriend. Who washe?”
Romy looked at him steadily. “He was a violent, ignorant spoiled rich boy who tried to kill me. There. Now youknow.”
“What?” Blue said in obvioushorror.
Romy was glad he was shocked. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I don’t like to talk about it, frankly. It’s a lot more complicated than just ‘I was married.’ He regularly beat me and raped me, then when I told him I wanted a divorce, he assaulted me so violently that I nearly died. He comes from a rich family. He’s arrogant, entitled … Dacre Mortimer is a monster and if he finds me, I’m dead. So, the fewer people that know about him, the fewer people there are both in his firing line, and who can help him find me. Why do you think my photo and name aren’t on the Rainier Hope website or in promotional material? He knows I live in Seattle, he just doesn’t know where.” She sighed and rubbed her face. “Obviously, Gaius has done hishomework.”
“Jesus, Romy.” Blue got up and paced around. “Why did you marry him in the firstplace?”
“That’s a question I still can’t answer fully for myself,” she said softly. “He … cowed me. Separated me from my mother and sisters. I guess after months of nonstop abuse, you get broken down to where a person can make you do just about anything. Even marrying the devilhimself.”
To Romy’s great relief, Blue came back to her and put his arms around her, holding her tightly. He buried his face in her hair and Romy was shocked to feel himshaking.
“Blue?”
