A Proper Wife

“No,” he said sharply, “of course not.”

“I just—I just thought...”

“Thought what?”

He was furious. Furious! He had honored his marriage vows, dammit, even though Devon’s cold dismissal of him had rendered those vows meaningless. Where in the hell did she get off, accusing him of infidelity?

“Thought what?” he repeated, his eyes cold. “That after months of forcing me to live like a monk, you suddenly had the right to ask me where I’d been spending my time?”

“I did not force you to live like a monk! You knew from day one that I had no intentions of—that our relationship would be...would be celibate. As for asking you where you’d been spending your time, Ryan Kincaid, even though I had the right to do that, I never once did!”

“What do you mean, you had the right?” Ryan’s mouth twisted. “I’ve got news for you, baby. You signed on as my wife, not as my keeper.”

“A man like you needs a keeper! A wife would have to be crazy to put up with your behavior, with...with you coming and going as you please and never an explanation or a phone call.”

“You’re damned right! It’s a man’s privilege to live his life as he chooses.”

Not if he lives with a woman he loves, Devon thought desperately, not if he cares for her happiness.

“Not if he’s married,” she said.

“But I’m not married,” Ryan snapped. “Remember telling me that? And you were right. I’ve got a piece of paper that says I wake up, free and unencumbered, in less than a week’s time.”

He saw the shock of his words register in her eyes, as soon as he’d said them. Oh, Lord, he thought, I’ve done it now. I’m a fool, a damned, stupid fool.

“Devon. I didn’t mean—”

“Of course you did,” she said.

Don’t cry, she told herself fiercely. Dammit, Devon, do not cry!

“And I’m very, very grateful to you for bringing me back to reality.” She slid toward the edge of the booth, a smile pasted to her lips. “Here I was, telling myself I could grit my teeth and get through the next week without screaming or tearing my hair out, but—”

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“I mean that I have had enough.”

Devon took a deep breath. Her heart was breaking but he must never know that. Never.

“For months,” she said, “I have endured your bad temper and your arrogance, your ego and your vanity.”

“You? You’ve endured? I’ve been the one who’s had to endure, dammit!”

“Last night, just before you came home, Bettina phoned. She reminded me that...that it would be to her advantage, and to mine, if I could convince you to renew our contract. And so, last night, I decided even to... to—”

She cried out sharply as Ryan’s fingers clamped, hard, around her wrist.

“Don’t,” he said. He spoke softly, but it didn’t disguise the tightly contained fury coiled in every muscle of his body. “Don’t say any more, Devon, I warn you.”

She wrenched her hand from his and rose from the table, her back straight, determined not to let him see her pain or

the depth and ugliness of her lie.

“Under the circumstances,” she said, “I think you’ll agree we can call the stipulations of our contract fulfilled and the term completed.”

Devon turned, walked out of the restaurant, and out of Ryan’s life.

CHAPTER TEN