Page 32 of You Only Love Twice
"You'll survive." He bent to snatch her dress from the floor, balling it into his gloved fists before he threw it into the hallway, far away from the bars.
"You were never cruel."
Anger flushed his face. "That was before you drugged me and set my fucking bed on fire."
"What?" Gemma drew back. "No, I didn't."
"The last night we lay together, I was drugged, and you were the one who gave me the glass of wine. Someone conveniently set my room on fire. I barely managed to escape with my life, but there was no sign ofyou."
Gemma's mind raced. "Of course, there wasn't." Her breath caught. "I couldn't stay the night. My supposed reputation would have been ruined. But I never.... I didn't drug you. And I certainly didn't set a fire."
I loved you.
Scraping her hands through her hair, she tried to think. It had been five years ago. Was that why he'd come after her the next day?
Was that why he'd shot her?
"We've already established you're not above lying. Sleep well, Miss Townsend. Perhaps this will keep you warm." Tossing the fur cloak toward her, he turned and strode toward the barred gate.
"You say I tried to burn you alive?" she yelled. "You're the one who shotme."
Obsidian froze in the doorway, one hand on the gate. His head half turned toward her, but she couldn't see his face.
Only sense the sudden tension within him.
"That's not the way I remember it."
"Isn't it?" Sudden fury rose up to choke her. She cast his cloak aside. "Well, unlike others, I have proof, damn you."
Tugging open the laces of her shift, she jerked her corset lower, until the flush of her nipples strained to break free. There was none of that delicious heat warming her veins this time, however. Gemma felt cold all the way through, as she cupped her breasts to the sides and showed him the scar between them.
"I was still human when you shot me right through the left lung. The only reason I survived is because I plunged into a frozen river, and it slowed the bleeding and my heart rate enough to give Malloryn a chance to get his blood into me. So call me a liar if you will. Tell me I betrayed you. But you're a hypocrite."
* * *
Somehow Obsidian staggeredup the stairs toward the small turret tower where his nest of blankets lay.
He'd lost time at some stage, remembering only the clang of the door as he slammed it shut and fled from the woman in the makeshift cell below.
Her words kept hammering at the inside of his head, leaving him near blind in one eye."You're the one who shot me."
"No," he whispered.
She was an enemy spy.
"She was an enemy spy," he breathed, sinking his fingers into his hair and tugging to ease the sudden sharp pain in his head.
She deliberately seduced you, seeking to use you.
"She deliberately seduced me, seeking to use me."
She tried to kill you.
"She...."
He saw the scar between her breasts.
Heard again the violent ricochet of a weapon firing. His vision sharpened along the barrel of a smoking pistol, and Hollis came into focus instead.
