“What is it?” she demanded.
“You mean, apart from the three of you wrapped up together, like a big happy family? My brother’s arms practically locked around yours?”
Her expression hardened. “In case you didn’t notice, Willa was there, between us. We were comforting her.”
“Over what?” he snorted. He knew Willa had been there, but his mind could barely process the fact, other than to remind him that that lovely little girl could have been his and Sofia’s, if it wasn’t for William and his horrifying act of selfishness and brutality.
“They’re getting divorced. Liam and Sofia. I heard them, Willa did as well. And she ran out crying. I went after her, then Liam came.” She paused and glared at him, hands on hips. “Which you would have known, if you’d taken the time to ask, rather than jump to conclusions.”
Alex wasn’t backing down. “I already know they’re getting divorced. Liam told me. I guess that clears the way for you, doesn’t it?”
Shock and outrage fought for control of her features. “What?”
He snorted. “Was it just his looks and charm that attracted you? Or did you decide that you like it so much here that you’ll do anything to stay? Admit it: when our agreement is over, you’ll be free to go. But you’ve decided that the older brother is a better target. After all, he doesn’t only come with money and power. He comes with a title and a château—”
She shoved him back against the wall, rage making her strong, and brought her face close to his. “I don’t care anything about your brother’s title, or your damn castle, and you know that! And as for all your family’s money; well, I got along without it my whole life, and I’ll get along without it after I’ve seen the last of you, asshole!”
Then her lips drew back into a cruel smile. “And while we’re on the subject of attraction, my dear fiancé, at least I’m not the one in love with his brother’s wife!”
He blanched, feeling an agonizing frost penetrate his body to the core. “I’m not—”
She snorted; nothing but contempt for his denials. “Oh, save it. I know you to were in a relationship. I know you wanted to marry her. What happened, Alex? Did big brother snatch little brother’s toy away? Is little brother worried about getting his new toy snatched by–”
The next thing he knew, he was kissing her hard, partly to shut her up, but mostly because even in her fury Jacyn was irresistible. She kissed him back with equal ferocity, grabbing him by the hair and crushing her lips on his. Grinding her hips against his instant hardness.
He spun her around so that she faced the wall, enjoying the sound of her surprised gasp, and with one hand pinned her there, while the other sought to drag her leggings to her knees. He wanted her, and he wanted her now.
CHAPTER 15
JACYN FELT THE WARMTH of Alex’s semen down her thigh, and her own acrid perspiration roll down her brows and into her eyes. She struggled to catch her breath, and could feel the heaving of Alex’s chest against her back.
How the hell had that happened? One minute they were arguing, saying hurtful things to each other, and the next they were joined in heated thrusting against a wall. It was pure, raw, undiluted, lustful sex, stripped of all its niceties. It left her feeling weak, ragged, and utterly satisfied.
As he slid out of her, he planted soft kisses against the nape of her neck, almost contritely for having flared up at her like that. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder as she turned around, and then slipped away to the bathroom.
As she stepped into the shower and fiddled with the controls, the jets of steaming water opened. She stood below them, glad for the refuge they offered, hoping he would retreat and give her some time to think.
He did. It was more than thirty minutes before he returned to her suite. He, too, had showered. His hair was still damp, but curling slightly at the ends, as irrepressible as always. He wore his habitual jeans and open-necked shirt, and as they met each other halfway in the room, he opened his arms. She fell into them, and he pressed a kiss against her forehead. It was as if the hard, fast sex they’d just had, had helped dissipate the anger that had erupted between them.
“I need to tell you something. It’s time you know the truth.”
She nodded wordlessly, waiting.
“Sofia and I dated for almost two years. She is two years older than I am. I met her the summer I turned seventeen. She was my first serious girlfriend and when I turned eighteen, my father surprisingly allowed for her to move into the château but insisted that we not share bedrooms. After doing a year of Uni in France, I decided to transfer schools. The last summer I was here in France, I was due to go away to college in London, but I planned to marry her before I left. She was the only woman I had ever loved—”
Jacyn flinched internally at this, but she would rather die than let it show. “And what happened?”
“My brother happened,” he went on bitterly. “While I was away for orientation in London, William and Sofia went together to a birthday party at the home of a family friend. He was standing in for me, as we had been invited, and Sofia didn’t want to go alone. They both got very drunk, and when they came back to the château, they drank some more.”
He went silent for a while, and she stroked his cheek encouragingly. “And then?”
“My brother raped her.”
Jacyn took a hurried step back, disbelieving. “Liam?Rape?”
“He claims he was too drunk to remember. All he remembers is waking up in his bed, with Sofia next to him, crying. She said she had begged him to stop, but he was completely out of it. She says he went at her, not listening to her pleas.”
Jacyn couldn’t process what she was hearing. Liam, that kind and funny man who had become her friend, who loved his daughter fiercely, couldn’t possibly have forced himself upon a woman.