‘I see. So it’s not your choice.’ Her hands curled into fists. ‘How convenient for you to be able to blame your stubbornness and your spite on genetics.’
His narrowed gaze held hers. ‘I’m not blaming genetics. I’m blaming you.’
‘But not yourself?’ She stared deep into his eyes. ‘Nothing is ever your fault, is it, Laszlo?’ she asked flatly. ‘You just saunter through life, expecting everyone around you to take responsibility for the nasty, boring bits.’ Smiling bitterly, she shook her head. ‘I thought husbands and wives were supposed to give and take. Not in our marriage, though!’
She tensed as he stepped towards her, his eyes suddenly gleaming like wet metal.
‘So now you’re my wife? Interesting! As my charms clearly weren’t sufficient to persuade you of that fact seven years ago, I can only imagine that my grandfather’s wealth is a more compelling reason for you to belatedly acknowledge our marriage.’
Prudence glared at him. ‘How dare you? I couldn’t care less about your grandfather’s wealth.’
‘Just about my poverty?’ he said bleakly.
‘No!’ Biting back the hundred and one caustic responses she might have made, she shook her head. ‘This isn’t about wealth or poverty. This is about what’s happening here and now. About how you’re prepared to make everyone suffer—me, Edmund and all the people who have worked so hard to make this happen.’ She ticked them off on her fingers. ‘All because you’re so blinkered by your stupid male pride that won’t see sense!’
‘And you’re so blinkered you couldn’t see beyond my trailer to the people living inside,’ snarled Laszlo.
‘That’s not true,’ Prudence said hotly. ‘If I didn’t see those people it’s because you would never introduce me to anyone.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re such a hypocrite. You didn’t want to be part of their lives any more than you really wanted to be part of mine.’
For a moment she didn’t reply. It was true. She hadn’t wanted to be part of his life: she’d wanted to be all of it. As he’d been all of hers.
She shook her head. ‘You don’t know what I wanted.’ She shivered on the inside. He never had.
Feeling suddenly close to tears, she clenched her fists, struggling to find a way past her misery.
‘Fine! Have it your way! I was everything you say and worse,’ she said flatly. ‘That doesn’t mean I’m not good at my job. But if you fire me you’ll never know. Until you’re stuck with a second-rate replacement.’ She paused and shot him a challenging glance. ‘If you can find one, that is.’
‘Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem. I had no trouble replacing you last time,’ he said softly. He watched the colour leave her face.
‘I’m not surprised,’ she said hotly. ‘Being the grandson of a billionaire and owning a castle must have a lot of pulling power with a certain kind of woman.’
Watching his eyes narrow at her insult, she felt a flicker of triumph that blotted out the misery of his words.
‘It’s nice to know that you took your wedding vows so seriously,’ she snapped. ‘Having vilified me for not believing our marriage was real. Who’s the hypocrite now?’ Breathing deeply, she let her eyes meet his—steel clashing with bronze. ‘We could stand here trading insults all night, Laszlo, but this isn’t about our personal qualities. It’s not even about us. There are other people involved. Not just people, but family. Just remember how anxious your grandfather was to get started. Don’t his feelings count?’
She paused as, with a jolt, she suddenly realised that Mr de Zsadany was sort of her family too. Shock swept over her in waves. She stared at him, legs shaking, stomach plummeting. Suddenly she had to know for certain.
‘Is that why he chose Seymour’s?’ she blurted out. ‘Because he thinks I’m your wife?’
Laszlo stared at her calmly. ‘No. He doesn’t know we’re married. No one does except my cousin and my great-uncle. I didn’t see the point in upsetting everyone.’ His eyes hardened to stone. ‘Especially not my grandfather. He wasn’t strong enough to deal with it.’
She felt dizzy, sick with wretchedness. ‘I’m sorry. I really am.’ It sounded so inadequate, even to her. ‘But surely that makes this easier? My staying, I mean?’
She took a step back from the white heat of his anger.
‘Nothing about you being here is easy.’
‘I just meant—’
‘I know what you meant,’ he said bleakly. ‘I know you better than you know yourself.’
Her misery gave way to fury. ‘Stop being so sanctimonious. You’ve just spent the last half-hour telling me how contemptible I am for not believing in our marriage but you didn’t even tell anyone about us.’
She glowered at him.
‘You don’t actually feel any more married than I do, do you, Laszlo? What’s upsetting you is the fact that I didn’t think our marriage was real.’ Biting her lip, she pushed a strand of tousled blonde hair behind her ear. ‘That’s what this is really about. That’s why you’re punishing me. Not because you really care about our marriage. If you did then how could you treat me like this? I mean, do you honestly think that any normal man would fire his own wife?’
She flinched as he raised his eyebrows, his lips curling in disbelief and contempt.
‘That would depend on the wife...’ he said slowly.
He studied her face, noting the small frown between her eyes, the delicate flush colouring her cheeks. She was so disingenuous! His feelings about their marriage might not be consistent or rational, but at least he hadn’t deleted its very existence. He frowned. He should hate her—and he did. And yet his body was responding to her just as it had done in the past.
She shook her head. ‘You can’t use our marriage against me, Laszlo. Married or not, you never really let me in.’
She swallowed. Except when they’d made love. But there was more to a relationship than just lovemaking. Like trust and honesty and a willingness to share.
Sighing, she shook her head. ‘I get that your life was complicated. I even sort of see why you didn’t tell me everything at the start. But nothing changed after we “married”. You still kept me on the outside.’
She met his gaze, her hurt and anger clearly visible in her eyes.
He felt his chest tighten painfully. ‘You didn’t give me a chance. You barely managed to stay around long enough to digest the bread and salt we shared at our wedding. Besides, you’re just talking about details.’
‘Details?’ Prudence stared at him incredulously. ‘Details! Your grandfather is a billionaire and you call that a detail.’
She shook her head. She felt light-headed—almost dizzy. How could he stand there with that contemptuous look on his face as if he was the one who’d been tricked?
‘You’re unbelievable! You deceived me. And you kept on deceiving me.’ Her voice sounded jagged. ‘Not just about some tiny, stupid detail but about who you were. Don’t you see how that makes me feel?’ She stopped abruptly, like a train hitting the buffers.
Laszlo’s face was cold and stone-like. ‘I imagine it feels no worse than realising my background had some bearing on your feelings for me.’
The contempt in his eyes seemed to blister her skin.
‘Besides, my grandfather’s wealth is not pillow talk: I don’t discuss the state of his finances with every woman I sleep with.’ He gave a short laugh.
Prudence felt the room lurch as the implication of his words sank in. She clenched her hands together to stop them shaking.
‘I wasn’t “every woman”. I was your wife. Or have you forgotten?’
He shook his head slowly. ‘I try to forget every day, pireni. One day I may finally do so. But, either way, I will never forgive you. And you’re still fired.’
There was a frozen silence. Prudence could taste rust in her mouth—the corrosive tang of failure. Her body felt limp, spent, her mind reduced. She had no words left inside—or none that had the power to reach him anyway. It was over. And
now that it was, all she wanted to do was get away from him as quickly as possible, with all that remained of her dignity.
‘Fine. Then perhaps you could call me a taxi for the airport? I should like to leave as soon as possible.’ Her head suddenly felt impossibly heavy, and she pressed her hand against her temple.
Laszlo watched her. Even though anger still festered inside him, he found himself reluctantly admiring her courage in defeat.
‘If that’s what you’d prefer,’ he said.
His voice was that of a stranger: polite, solicitous, but remote. It pricked her like a needle and she felt a cold, creeping numbness begin to seep through her body at this poignant reminder of the irrevocable shift in their relationship.
‘Our car is at your disposal, of course.’
Prudence shook her head. ‘Thank you, but no thank you,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’d be happier making my own way.’ She hesitated and then, lifting her chin, said flatly, ‘I don’t know what you’re going to say to your grandfather, but please would you pass on my apologies for what’s happened? I really am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused him. And I’m also sorry not to be meeting him. He sounds like a remarkable man.’
Pausing, she stared fixedly at a point above his head.
‘And there’s something else—’ Noticing the irritation on his face, she shook her head. ‘It won’t take long.’
He nodded but suddenly she found she couldn’t speak. She knew what she needed to say—she just wasn’t certain of how to say it. She just knew that as long as she remained ‘married’ to him her life would never be her own.
Gritting her teeth, she drew a quick breath—for what more had she to lose?
‘If I’d known you were here I never would have come. But...’ She paused and took another breath. ‘But I’m glad now that I did. Seeing you again has made me realise that I need to draw a line under what happened between us.’
Her face felt suddenly hot and dry and her unshed tears felt like a burden of lead. But she would not cry. Not until she was on that plane home.
Watching his eyes narrow, she smiled stiffly. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to go over it all again. Let’s just agree that we were both too young and we made mistakes.’ She hesitated. ‘But we’re older now, and wiser, and so we can put them right.’
‘Put them right?’ echoed Laszlo. His words were expressionless but there was a glimmer of emotion in the hammered gold of his eyes.
‘Yes,’ Prudence said flatly. She swallowed. ‘I mean obviously neither of us wants to meet again. So I think we should take this opportunity to sort our relationship out once and for all.’
The air felt suddenly tight around her. Gasping, she lifted her chin and found herself on the receiving end of a bone-chilling stare.
‘I see. So what exactly are you suggesting?’ Laszlo said softly.
Prudence tensed. Whatever inner strength she had, it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough to dig a hole big enough to bury the past and the pain. And she was done with digging. She needed closure. Something formal. Something that would let her get on with her life. And now maybe she’d found it.
‘Our marriage is over. We both accept that. All I’m suggesting is that we make it official. I think we should get a divorce, however we do that.’
Her voice trailed off and there was a small, tight pause. Her cheeks felt hot.
Suddenly her heart was beating like a drum and she found herself babbling. ‘It’s been seven years, Laszlo. Our lives have moved on. We just need to tie up all the loose ends.’
It was the wrong thing to say. She watched his shoulders stiffen with a tension that thinned the air between them.
‘Is that what I am?’ he said, his gaze probing her face with such fierce intensity that suddenly she was holding her breath. ‘A loose end?’
She ignored his question. ‘I don’t want this hanging over me. Without a divorce we’ll both be trapped by something neither of us wants any more. I want my freedom.’
‘Freedom?’ Laszlo demanded.
She flushed. ‘I want closure. I want to move on,’ she said urgently.
‘You want to move on...’ Laszlo lifted his eyebrows. He looked at her impassively but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes.
‘Stop repeating everything I say! Yes, I want to move on.’ Prudence jerked her chin up. ‘I have a career now. And if I meet someone...’
Suddenly he was no longer coolly aloof but intent and alert.
‘Did you have a particular someone in mind?’
He spoke softly—courteously, even—but there was no mistaking the hostility and challenge in his voice.
Prudence stared at him, transfixed. ‘No. I don’t. Not that it’s any concern of yours.’
His eyes clashed with hers and she tensed in their glare.
‘No concern of mine? And how do you come to that conclusion, pireni?’
‘Easily,’ she said irritably. ‘We haven’t seen or spoken to one another for seven years. We have no claim on each other whatsoever.’
Laszlo’s eyes lifted to hers and with shock she saw passion and possession in their burnished depths. ‘And yet here you are: my wife.’
Heat rose up round her neck, coiling tendrils over her face and throat.
Shaking her head, she took a small, hurried step back from the intensity of his eyes.
‘You know what? Forget it! Let’s just leave it to the lawyers.’
Her heart was thumping and her palms felt suddenly damp as he shook his head slowly.
‘I don’t believe in divorce.’
She stared at him in silence, her skin prickling beneath his gaze. ‘So what are you saying?’ Her voice rose. ‘That we carry on as though none of this happened?’ It was her turn to shake her head. ‘Laszlo, that’s insane! Why on earth would you want to do that? You don’t even like me.’ She paused, her colour rising betrayingly. ‘And I certainly don’t like you!’
‘Is that right?’
He gave her an infuriating smile and she gritted her teeth together.
‘Yes, it is. It’s been a long time since I’ve been susceptible to your charms.’
Her pulse twitched at the lie and she had to clench her hands to stop them covering the tips of her breasts, which were pushing treacherously against the thin fabric of her blouse.
‘Are you sure about that?’ he whispered.
Transfixed, Prudence caught her breath. Her skin was taut and tingling, as though a storm was about to break, and as his eyes travelled questioningly over her trembling body she felt a slow, rippling swell of tension rise up inside her. He stepped towards her and her stomach plummeted. She knew she should protest, or push him away, and she opened her mouth. But no words came, for something in his gaze had drained the last atom of resistance from her.
‘Let’s just see, shall we?’ he murmured softly.
Imprisoned by a hope, a longing she knew she should resist, she felt her body melt as he brought his lips down on hers with a fierce urgency. And then there was no one but him, his insistent mouth on hers, and a swimming giddiness tugging her down into darkness.
He tasted sweet and salty. And hot. Her eyelids fluttered and her mouth opened and then she was kissing him back greedily, her lips bruising against his. And all the time heat was climbing inside her, spiralling upwards. Frantically she squirmed against him, pressing her body to his, her hands tugging at his shirt, plucking clumsily at the buttons.
He kissed her hungrily, with lips that formed no words but spoke of danger and of something like belonging, and his kisses made her feel fearless and strong.
She heard him groan, and then abruptly he released his grip and stepped away. She opened her eyes and stared at him, confused, feeling a coldness against her skin where moments earlier she had felt the pressing warmth of his lips and fingers. Her body was trembling like a leaf in the rain and hastily she clutched at one of the armchairs for support.
There was a long, pulsing silence and then Laszlo shook h
is head and said quietly, ‘Not susceptible?’
Prudence gazed at him, dazed; her brain felt fogged and her lips were tingling and tender from the heat of his kiss. She could hardly believe what had just happened—what she had let happen.
‘We shouldn’t have done that,’ she said shakily. ‘It was a mistake.’ She took a step backwards, her eyes darting frantically around the room.
Laszlo studied her coolly. ‘No. Our marriage was a mistake. That...’ He stared mockingly at her swollen mouth. ‘That was just a demonstration of how little you know yourself.’
Somewhere in the castle a clock began to chime and, frowning, Laszlo glanced at his watch. His face darkened and he shook his head, his mouth set in a grim line.
‘It’s too late now for you to catch a flight home.’
There was a tense silence and then finally, in a voice that made her stomach turn in on itself, he spoke.
‘You’ll have to stay here tonight.’
He stared at her coolly, his eyes dark and implacable.
‘But don’t get any ideas. I’m only letting you stay out of the goodness of my heart.’ His eyes glittered. ‘Nothing’s changed, Prudence. You have one night and one night only.’
She found herself holding her breath as he studied her face.
‘After that I don’t ever want to hear from you or see you again,’ he warned softly. He studied her coldly. ‘A word of advice, though. I wouldn’t bother trying to pursue this matter outside of this room. The stakes are too high. It won’t just be your pride that gets hurt.’ He paused, his eyes fixed to her face. ‘I’ll ruin Seymour’s too.’
In other words, she just had to accept her dismissal in silence. Unfair dismissal, her brain screamed. He couldn’t just fire her like this.
Only he could. And he had.
Worse, there was nothing she could do about it. The De Zsadany Corporation was a huge, global company that had almost limitless funds and an entire publicity department at its disposal. She felt a shiver of apprehension. There was no doubt in her mind that if she tried to challenge Laszlo he’d use every weapon in his armoury to wipe not just her but Seymour’s off the face of the earth.
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