‘If I recall correctly, I said very nearly the same things to you before, didn’t I? Did my feelings then mean nothing to you?’
How dare he treat her to this ridiculous tirade, she thought suddenly. She jerked away from him. ‘All right,’ she said, glaring at him. ‘I was protecting you, dammit! I love you and I couldn’t allow you to be worried!’
‘I had every right to know that this … vermin was threatening you again!’
‘No,’ she said, stiffening her backbone, ‘no, you didn’t.’ She added, ‘And stop cursing me. There was nothing you could have done in any case. If you don’t remember, you were blind! Helpless!’
He realized the justice of her reasoning, but
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was not ready to release the meaty bone of contention. ‘So,’ he sneered, ‘you, my little wife, made the decision that I was to be left ignorant. Is there anything else I should know? Did it not occur to you to tell me yesterday, when, if you will remember, I saw the light of day again?’
‘I was too drunk and too happy,’ she said. ‘I forgot to tell you.’ She thrust up her chin. ‘Even if I had thought of it, I wouldn’t have said anything. We were celebrating, remember?’
That halted him in his tracks, but for just a moment. ‘Then you should have told me this morning.’
Jules eyed him with growing anger. ‘You are acting ridiculously,’ she said. ‘I will have no more of your silly shouting and wounded male vanity. I would do the same thing again, do you hear? Now, we have company downstairs.’
‘I happen to be nine years older than you and twice your size.’ he said. ‘I refuse to be ordered about by a little twit now or ever. Do you understand me?’
‘Damned arrogant man,’Jules muttered. ‘If you wish to nurse your grievances, do so, Michael. I’m leaving!’
He stared at her a moment. ‘ ‘Damned arrogant man,’ ‘ he repeated, as if disbelieving
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of the words until they’d come from his own mouth. ‘That’s what you think I am?’
‘I do,’ she said firmly, ‘if you continue to call me Juliana.’
‘Oh shit,’ he said, and thrashed his fingers through his hair. ‘Come here, you idiot.’
She gave him a hopeful, tentative smile, and at the answering tenderness in his eyes, she threw herself into his arms. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered against his shoulder. ‘I did what I thought I had to do, what I thought was best.’
‘I know,’he said,’I know.’
He began kissing her, and her response was immediate and most gratifying.
‘Oh God,’ he said., reluctantly releasing her, ‘company downstairs, did you say’
‘You’ve a lot of friends, Michael.,’ she said. ‘Any chance of sending the whole bloody lot of them to the devil right now?’
‘Probably not,’ she said, a wealth of disappointment in her voice.
He hugged her to his side. ‘Onward, love. Charm and all that.’
He called me ‘love.’ she thought, dazed and so happy she wanted to yell. She paused. Perhaps it had just been another endearment, like ‘sweetheart.’
At dinner that evening, Saint merely asked Thomas what he’d heard about Wilkes.
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Thomas drew a relieved breath, shot his sister a smile, and told his brother-in-law what they were doing.
As for Jules, she sent a conspiratorial smile toward Penelope. Both women now owned a derringer. When Jules had shown her how to fire it, she’d said, ‘Men aren’t altogether reasonable. I am continually amazed that they actually believe that women are helpless creatures with even less sense. Here, Pen, you load it now.’
Jules said nothing at all while Thomas and Saint discussed Wilkes. She watched her husband as he used his large hands to make a point, watched his beautiful hazel eyes change in intensity as he spoke. His white teeth gleamed with a wide smile. Her eyes drifted slowly over his body. She imagined him naked, and felt a spurt of warmth deep in her belly. At that moment, Saint met her eyes. A brow arched upward, and his eyes darkened.
Jules laughed, a nervous, silly sound that made Saint grin at her wickedly. ‘I don’t think,’ he said to Thomas, ‘that I will ask your sister what she’s thinking right now.’