“Don’t do it, Victoria.”
She simply shook her head, not looking back at him. Then, abruptly, he was behind her, his hand pressed against the door above her head. She stood perfectly still, knowing that sooner or later he would tire of this game of his and allow her to leave.
“I don’t understand you, Victoria,” he said, and she heard the bafflement in his voice. “My God, I didn’t believe anything Damien had spewed out, until . . .”
She said nothing. It should have occurred to her sooner, much sooner what Damien had done. After all, his slander had worked well with David Esterbridge. Why not employ the same device with his brother?
“You yourself told me. You said you had a confession, something you should have told me before we married. You don’t intend to deny that now, do you?”
“No, I don’t deny it,” she said dully, still facing the door. “I did have something to tell you. But it isn’t important now.”
He looked down at the top of her head, frowning ferociously.
“What would you possibly have to confess to me if not the fact that you weren’t a virgin? If you will recall, I was nearly to the point of initiating you into lovemaking. Initiating. God, that’s a jest on me, is it not?”
“So that is what you were talking about,” she said, more to herself than to him. “I did wonder. I didn’t understand.”
“Stop your infernal playacting.”
“I wish to go to my room now. I must pack my things.”
“I told you, you won’t get very far with a paltry fifteen pounds.”
“It isn’t your concern. I stole twenty pounds and you managed to steal fifty thousand. You have made yourself quite a bargain, Captain. Surely you should be content with your gain.” She shook her head and laughed. “I was the fool, an utter fool to believe you different from your brother.”
Something wasn’t right here, and Rafael frowned, again wallowing in confusion. He didn’t move his hand from the door. “I’m not like my brother,” he said finally.
“Are you not? He’s a ruthless, lying bastard. You chose to believe him rather than believe me, your wife. That tells me quite enough about your character, or lack of it.”
“Very well, then. If you weren’t going to confess your lack of virginity to me, what was your confession? What could you possibly confess that would have aught to do with anything, particularly in the midst of our lovemaking?”
“Be content, Captain. You are now a much richer man than you were but two days ago.
”
He felt primed for violence, his frustration was so great. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her savagely around to face him. “What was your confession?” He ground out the words, shaking her shoulders.
“Go to the devil,” she said very precisely and very calmly.
He frowned down at her. He said slowly, thoughtfully, “I can prove what your confession was or was not. I can prove to myself that you are a virgin. Or that you are not.”
“Don’t touch me, Rafael.”
“I am touching you. You are my wife. I can do just as I wish to you.”
He lowered his head and tried to kiss her, but she jerked away and his mouth landed in her hair. He grasped the knot of hair at her nape and held her. He kissed her hard, trying to force her mouth open.
She began to fight him, hitting her fists against his chest. When his tongue thrust into her mouth, she bit him. He lifted his head, anger and pain coursing through him. She was pale, taut, her eyes dilated.
“So, you are no different from your brother. You would force an unwilling woman. You’re an animal.”
She swiped her hand across her mouth to remove the feel of him, the taste of him, and he saw the disgust in her eyes.
Her action enraged him. “You little hypocrite. You were so wild for me last night, I doubt you will play the unwilling maiden for long. You felt only my fingers on you last night, not my mouth, not that you needed that, you were already so wet and hot and—”
She lost control. She drove her knee into his groin.
He gasped, stared at her, knowing the pain he felt now would soon be unbearable. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” he said before he groaned and fell to his knees, his hands clutching at his belly.