‘Stop it,’ she said. ‘You have no right…’
‘Max says you refused to sell him the ring. Why?’
‘Quinn, please—why are you doing this? Why…’
He touched his lips to her temple. ‘Why wouldn’t you sell it to him, Paige?’
Pride darkened her eyes. ‘He didn’t offer enough,’ she said. ‘I knew the ring was worth more.’
His eyes fixed on hers. ‘Max says you told him the ring meant more to you than all the money in the world.’
Tears trembled on her lashes. ‘Please stop,’ she whispered. ‘Please…’
His mouth dropped to hers and he kissed her again. ‘Tell me the truth, Paige. Why didn’t you sell it?’
‘Because it was all I had left of you.’ She waited for the sound of his laughter, and when it didn’t come, she inhaled shakily. ‘All right, you’ve had your fun. Now let go of me.’
He put his hand on her abdomen. ‘It wasn’t all you had,’ he said softly. ‘You have our child growing beneath your heart.’
Her pulse raced. He knew. He knew. She waited for him to say something more, to warp his words with cruelty, but he was silent. Finally, she nodded.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
Quinn frowned. ‘But you weren’t going to tell me about it.’
Her chin lifted. ‘No.’
His brows drew together. ‘I see. You were going to go on living God knows where…’
‘I have a perfectly nice room off Earl’s Court.’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I can imagine. It probably goes with the way you look.’
Paige’s eyes darkened. ‘There’s nothing wrong with the way I look.’
‘The hell there isn’t! You’re too pale. Too thin. Too…’ His arms tightened around her. ‘Too beautiful,’ he said, and he bent his head and kissed her.
She tried to pull away from him, but his arms held her fast. His mouth was hard and insistent, demanding response from hers. And then his kiss became gentler, filled with tenderness, until finally he was kissing her as he had the night they met, as he’d kissed her the night he’d made love to her. Everything she’d ever prayed he would tell her seemed to be contained in the kiss. She moaned softly as he gathered her closer to him, and her lips parted beneath his. If only he loved her. If only he cared.
But he didn’t. He hated her. He thought she’d trapped his brother into marriage for the Fowler money and to protect her father. He thought she was a thief and a schemer and a tramp…
It took all the strength she had to twist free of him. ‘Damn you,’ she whispered. ‘Damn you to hell, Quinn Fowler!’
‘That’s where I’ve been since you left me.’
She turned her head away so he wouldn’t see the pain in her eyes. ‘Do you hate me so much? You’ve already humiliated me enough. You…’
‘I love you.’ Her heart tumbled against her ribs as he whispered the simple words she’d waited so long to hear. ‘I love you,’ he said again. ‘Do you hear me, Paige?’ His hands clasped her shoulders and he looked into her eyes. ‘I’ve always loved you, even when I tried to deny it to myself.’
Tears glistened on her lashes. ‘Don’t play with me, Quinn,’ she whispered. ‘I… I couldn’t stand it. I… I love you too much.’
‘Oh, Juliet!’ His arms closed around her and he pressed her to his heart. ‘I fell in love with you the first minute I saw you, in a ballroom full of hobgoblins. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know your name or anything about you. My heart told me all I needed to know.’ He drew in his breath and let it out slowly. ‘And then I learned who you were.’
‘That I was Alan’s fiancée,’ she said unhappily. ‘Quinn, I tried to explain. Alan knew I didn’t love him. I let him talk me into our engagement. He said… he said we’d be happy, and I wanted to believe him. I never knew about my father and the money… He’s sick,’ she said in a rush. ‘He’s obsessed with winning…’
He pressed his lips to the top of her head. ‘Hush, sweetheart. I know everything. I spoke with Alan. And with your father.’ His arms tightened around her. ‘He made a clean breast of things to your mother, Paige. She’s convinced him to join a therapy group. They’re sure they can help him.’
Paige shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. When did you talk to them?’