disdain. “You don’t care about Danielle or the baby.”
“I’m not the one upsetting her like this.” Flynn’s voice held an undertone of contempt.
As if she knew she was defeated, tears began to well in Monica’s eyes. “Danielle, how can you do this to me? You know that baby is Robbie’s.”
Danielle’s throat turned dry as the feeling of being smothered washed over her. Monica was being manipulative again but how could she not feel sorry for the other woman?
“Bloody hell,” Flynn growled. “Get out of my house. I will not have you pulling these tricks on Danielle.”
Monica’s tears stopped as quickly as they started. “I told you to stay away from Danielle but you wouldn’t listen, would you?” She hissed, but before Danielle could register the words fully, Monica turned on her and flushed an ugly look. “This is all your fault!”
The unfairness of the accusation made Danielle flinch inwardly, but in that instant she knew she’d finally had enough. She’d taken a stand against this woman over moving out of her house, but she now knew that had only been a token step. She had to stand up to Monica as a person in her own right. It was time to show her mother-in-law she would no longer be an extension of her dead husband.
“No, Monica. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours. You spoiled Robert so much you turned him into a brat who took everything he could from me.”
Monica gasped. “You were his wife.”
“I was his wife, not his slave to do what he wanted with me. I had rights, too.”
For a split second it looked as if Monica would argue. She opened her mouth…. She tried to speak…. Then before their very eyes she began to crumple to the ground.
“He was my son,” she wailed, falling on her knees. “My son! And now he’s dead. What am I going to do?” She wept aloud, her sobs increasing with intensity.
The sound of her grief brought Jean running. The nurse immediately went to her aid. Louise and Thomas appeared, looking worried, and went to help Jean.
Danielle swallowed past the lump in her throat. No matter what had gone on between them, she felt for the other woman’s heartache. It was deep and genuine. Just as Monica’s love for her son was deep and genuine.
She went to move forward, too, but Flynn stopped her. “No. Let them handle this.”
“But—”
“Jean’s a professional, Danielle. Allow her to do her job.”
He was right, so she let him walk her up the stairs. But she could feel his suppressed anger in every movement of his body. An anger that she knew was directed at Monica but made her shiver all the same. He looked hard and dangerous and ready to do someone harm. He would be a formidable enemy, this man. But then, she’d always known that.
He closed the bedroom door behind them and she walked across the plush carpet to the bed and sank down on the luxurious cover. A heavy silence filled the room.
Then some things fell into place for Danielle.
“Monica was the one who had me kicked out of the apartment, wasn’t she?”
He inclined his head. “I believe so.”
“And she warned you away from me, didn’t she? You wanted to protect me from her.”
He held her gaze. “Yes.”
She swallowed, glad she now knew the reason for his proposal of marriage, yet oddly disappointed.
“But that’s not the only reason,” he added.
She sucked in a sharp breath even as her heart thudded against her ribs. “Um…it isn’t?”
“I’m deeply attracted to you, Danielle. I want you as my wife. For me, not because of Monica. But if after the baby’s born you still want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
At one time she would have told him to go to hell for being so manipulative, but now…after knowing he had tried to protect her…after hearing the way he’d spoken to Monica…she realized he did care for her.
Perhaps more than he wanted to.
“And I owe you an apology for something else,” he said without inflection, but the tautened skin of his cheekbones belied the deceptively quiet statement.
A crease formed between her brows. “You do?”
A muscle ticked in his cheek. “Seeing Monica in action just now and the way she used everything in the book to emotionally blackmail you, I finally understood why you so badly crave your independence.”
Emotion welled in her throat as the tension eased inside her. Having Flynn fully appreciate what she’d gone through meant so much.
“And I suspect this is just the tip