. well, then that’s my tough luck, not yours. We’ve been through all
this, Eric. It’s finished.”
She stepped around him, trying to walk away, but he grabbed her arm,
halting her.
“Please let me go,” she said evenly.
Glaring at her, he said, “How could I have been so wrong about you? I
thought you were sweet, a bit shy, an unworldly little fluff of a girl.
But you’re a nasty little ball-buster, aren’t you?”
“Really, this is an absolutely crazy attitude. And this crude behavior
isn’t worthy of you. Now let me go.”
He gripped her even tighter. “Or is this all just a negotiating ploy?
Huh? When the papers are drawn up, when we come back to sign everything
on Friday, will you suddenly have a change of heart? Will you want
more?”
“No, I’m not playing any games.”
His grin was tight and mean. “I’ll bet that’s it. If we agree to such
a ridiculously low settlement and draw up the papers, you’ll refuse to
sign them, but you’ll use them in court to try to prove we were going to
give you the shaft. You’ll pretend the offer was ours and that we tried
to strong-arm you into signing it. Make me look bad. Make me look as
if I’m a real hard-hearted bastard.
Huh? Is that the strategy? Is that the game?”
“I told you, there’s no game. I’m sincere.”
He dug his fingers into her upper arm. “The truth, Rachael.”
“Stop it.”
“Is that the strategy?”
“You’re hurting me.”
“And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell me all about Ben Shadway,
too?”
She blinked in surprise, for she had never imagined that Eric knew about
Benny.
His face seemed to harden in the hot sun, cracking with more deep lines
of anger. “How long was he fucking you before you finally walked out on
me?”
“You’re disgusting, she said, immediately regretting the harsh words
because she saw that he was pleased to have broken through her cool
facade at last.
“How long?” he demanded, tightening his grip.
“I didn’t meet Benny till six months after you and I separated,” she
said, striving to keep a neutral tone that would deny him the noisy
confrontation he apparently desired.
“How long was he poaching on ,the Rachael?”
“If you know about Benny, you ve had me watched, something you’ve no
right to do.”
“Yeah, you want to keep your dirty little secrets.”
“If you have hired someone to watch me, you know I’ve been seeing Benny
for just five months. Now let go. You’re still hurting me.
A young bearded guy, passing by, hesitated, stepped toward them, and
said, “You need help, lady?”
Eric turned on the stranger in such a rage that he seemed to spit the
words out rather than speak them, “Butt out, mister. This is my wife,
and it’s none of your goddamn business.”
Rachael tried to wrench free of Eric’s iron grip without success.
The bearded stranger said, “So she’s your wife-that doesn’t give you the
right to hurt her.”
Letting go of Rachael, Eric fisted his hands and turned more directly
toward the intruder.
Rachael spoke quickly to her would-be Galahad, eager to defuse the
situation. “Thank you, but it’s all right.
Really. I’m fine. Just a minor disagreement.”
The young man shrugged and walked away, glancing back as he went.
The incident had at last made Eric aware that he was in danger of making
a spectacle of himself, which a man of his high position and
self-importance was loath to do. However, his temper had not cooled.
His face was flushed, and his lips were bloodless. His eyes were the
eyes of a dangerous man.
She said, “Be happy, Eric. You’ve saved millions of dollars and God
knows how much more in attorneys fees. You won. You didn’t get to
crush me or muddy my reputation in court the way you had hoped to, but
you still won. Be happy with that.”
With a seething hatred that shocked her, he said, “You stupid, rotten
bitch. The day you walked out on me, I wanted to knock you down and
kick your stupid face in. I should’ve done it. Wish I had. But I