Page 127 of The Highlander's Princess Bride
The man shook it off. “I can see my own way out.” Then he turned a hate-filled gaze on Victoria. “I will see you again, Miss Knight. Very soon.”
“Do not set foot on my property again unless you have a proper warrant and a constable,” Nicholas said in an arctic tone. “If you do not, I will have you placed under arrest myself.”
Fletcher’s laugh was disdainful. “Pretty words, my lord, but we shall see.”
He flung open the door and strode out. Alec followed, pausing to give Nicholas a warning stare. “Remember what I said at dinner about hurting Victoria.”
The earl’s gaze narrowed to icy slits. “Don’t threaten me, Gilbride.”
“Alec, please just go,” Victoria said.
Her cousin gave her an abrupt nod and stalked out, slamming the door behind him.
“Imbecile,” Nicholas muttered.
Victoria nervously clasped her hands at her waist. “My lord, I deeply regret—”
“Christ, Victoria,” he interrupted. “Why didn’t you tell me? Have I not earned your trust a hundred times over?” He stalked back to his desk.
“Of course you have,” she said miserably. “I was wrong not to tell you. But I was . . .” The words caught in her throat.
“What?”
“I was afraid you’d make me leave.”
He stared at her for a few moments. “So youwerejust hiding out at Kinglas. Was the rest of what Fletcher said true as well? That you were just using me?”
She gaped at him. “No! How can you even think that?”
“Because you killed a man and neglected to tell me?”
Frustration began to push through her guilt. “I wanted to tell you, Nicholas. But Dominic was insistent that I not.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Ah, yes. Sir Dominic. You can be sure I will be having words with him. He had no business withholding secrets of this magnitude, and asking you to do the same. Do you have any idea how this will affect Kade and the rest of my family?”
Victoria squeezed her eyes shut. Shock at seeing Fletcher had pushed all those considerations aside, but now guilt swamped her. She’d brought scandal and trouble down on the family she’d come to love, a family that had already suffered too much.
“Yes, and I’m sorrier than you can ever know,” she said, opening her eyes only to blink back tears.
“Not sorry enough to be honest.” He sank into his chair, looked grim. “Victoria, I told you every bloody, shameful thing about myself. I opened my damn soul to you. I asked you to marry me, for God’s sake.”
“It wasn’t my idea to get married,” she blurted out, wounded by his devastatingly accurate words. “You practically forced it on me.”
He flinched.
Victoria held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. It’s . . . it’s just that I tried to tell you it wouldn’t work, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“Because you didn’t tell mewhy.” He rested his forehead on his palm. “Victoria, I already had one wife who lied to me about everything important. I don’t think I can live with that again.”
It felt like he’d jabbed a rusty blade into her chest, twisting its jagged edges in her heart. Victoria was nothing like his first wife, but if he couldn’t see that . . .
But you did lie to him.
She’d known what her lies would mean to him and yet had still been too afraid to tell him the truth. To trust him. Because of that, he would never be able to trust her.
“No, of course you can’t.” As she walked to the desk, she struggled to pull the ring from her finger. “Thank you for your incredible kindness, my lord. I will never forget it.”
When she placed the ring on his blotter, his head jerked up. His eyes were filled with so many ghosts she couldn’t bear to look at him.
