Roni stared up at her unblinking. She could feel hysteria building inside her mind as she fought to accept what she considered the unacceptable.
“Workwhat out with him?” she finally snarled furiously. “Spread my legs so he can knock me up and leave again? Oh yeah, let’s talk about that one. His track record sucks, Merinus, and I’m not willing to face the consequences of this alone. And sure as hell not with a child whose very existence will be in danger from the moment it’s conceived.”
Merinus frowned. “Taber would never leave you, Roni.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Merinus looked so sincere, so very certain of Taber’s honor, that it was all she could do. “So tell me, Merinus, how did I get this mark? Where the hell has he been the last year or so?”
“Taber didn’t know about the mark…”
“So they can mark whoever they want to and then like any old tomcat just jump and run to the next.”
Roni clenched her fists as her fury nearly overwhelmed her.
“Roni, you have to understand…” Merinus tried again.
“Wrong.” Roni’s hand slashed through the air as she rejected Merinus’ plea. “I don’t have to understand shit, Merinus. This is my life. Any child conceived will be mine. I won’t let him do this to me. And I sure as hell won’t let him get me pregnant and then decide he needs someone who is more woman than I am again.”
The thought of Taber touching another woman made her insane with grief.
“Roni, Taber wouldn’t do that,” Merinus protested. “You will be protected and your child even more so.”
Roni snorted in disbelief.
“Callan might be more of a man than that, Merinus, but I’ve seen Taber’s work first hand. No thanks. No babies. No Taber. Where the hell am I and how do I get home?”
“What home?” Taber’s voice, pitched low and furious, growled from the doorway. “It was burned to the ground before we ever landed here at the estate. Looks like you’re stuck with the tomcat, baby.”
Chapter Twelve
“Taber!” Merinus’ voice was distant, though the thread of shock was readily apparent. “That was uncalled for.”
Roni didn’t give him time to apologize, though. She stomped over to him, fury and rage blending with a pain so resounding she felt as though it would destroy her.
“Did I ask you to bring me here?” she screamed at him furiously as she shoved at his broad, immoveable shoulders. “Look what you’ve done, Taber. You made my own body turn against me. Now some bastard has burned my house down because I wasn’t there. You let them burn my house down.” She couldn’t believe it, couldn’t process the fact that she would never see her home again. Conception was something she couldn’t consider. Her home was real. Her home was all she had left when Taber decided he no longer wanted her. That he needed someone older, or more experienced, or whatever else she wasn’t that someone else would be.
The pain building inside her would kill her. Not just the physical, womb-ripping pain of the agonizing arousal tearing through her, but the soul deep pain of losing her last link to her own peace of mind.
“Look what you’ve done,” she screamed again, her fist flying for his face, violence surging inside her like a tidal wave of overwhelming emotion.
“God, Roni…” He jerked her into his arms, tightening them around her, holding her still as she struggled against him, fighting him, because God help her, there was nothing or no one left to fight. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”
Silence filled the room. Roni fought to stay on her feet. He held her against his body, a steady weight, as he had always been. A comfort she knew could be taken away from her all too soon.
“Let me go.” But she didn’t fight for release.
One hand held her head to his chest, the other wrapped around her waist, cushioning her from the violence raging through her system.
“I just bought a new chair,” she whispered. She trembled and fought the reaction. God, it was all gone?
“Roni, I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I shouldn’t have told you like that, baby. I’m sorry.”
She flinched as she pushed back, moving away from him, desperate to escape the pain echoing through
her soul. There was nothing else they could destroy now, nothing left for anyone to take away from her. Nothing except the child, if she allowed its conception.
“Well,” she breathed out roughly. “Hell.” She didn’t know what to say, what to do. She felt fragmented, dazed by the events that were happening too fast to allow her to catch her breath, to make sense of what was happening.
She breathed in roughly, pushing her fingers into the pockets of her robe, fighting the panic blooming inside her. Okay, she couldn’t kill him. She was sure the others in his family would consider that a no-no. No matter how damned bad she needed to shed his blood now. She was okay. It was just a house. She was going to have to leave it behind anyway. She should have expected this. The little pep talk wasn’t helping. She could feel something inside her chest thickening with pain at the thought of the home she had slowly been creating. With her own hands, blisters and blood she had made it worth living in, made it something worth having rather than the eyesore it had been when she was younger.