Tess stilled, appalled by what she’d just admitted. But indignation was heating her blood, boiling her from the inside out.
Justin was staring at her as if he didn’t understand the bombshell she’d just delivered, but she was too furious at his accusations to backtrack now. She would spare him nothing.
She took a step forward, advancing on him until they were barely a foot apart.
“I married the last duke because my fatherforcedme to.”
She enunciated every word so there was no chance he could miss her meaning. “I tried to escape, but he locked me in my room until the wedding. Even after I’d said my vows, I still had no intention of submitting to the duke. I took a pistol to my chamber to protect myself from his advances, but he died of natural causes before I had to use it.”
She shook her head, reckless, yet oddly liberated. “I was a virgin on my first wedding night. And I was a virgin on my second one, too. Withyou.”
She glared at him, meeting his eyes with a defiant kind of pride.
Justin’s gaze narrowed in disbelief, but as she watched, his expression changed as he obviously began to think back over their previous interactions, reassessing everything.
“Oh, Bloody Hell,” he breathed.
“Yes!” she snapped. “I pretended to know what I was doing. And you only saw what you expected to see: a woman with vast experience. You’d been so quick to think the worst of me, it never occurred to you to think anything else.”
She took another step closer until her skirts brushed his legs.
“You’veconsistentlythought the worst of me, ever since we met. You are cynical, and suspicious, and you only married me to improve your standing in society and to benefit your business.”
Justin shook his head in denial, but she wasn’t finished.
“Well, I married you to protectmybusiness, too.” She let out a hollow laugh. “Of course, I stupidly hoped we might become friends, despite what you said, but you’ve made it abundantly clear that’s not possible. I’m just a temporary body to sate your physical needs.”
Justin shook his head, more emphatically this time. “No! Tess, that’s not true.”
“Ha! It is!”
He sucked in a breath that made his chest rise and fall. “It might have been true at first,” he conceded slowly. “But not anymore. Ifeelthings for you. Things I’ve never felt for anyone else.”
“You specifically told me you’d never have any deeper feelings for me. That you didn’t have a heart to give.”
His gaze held hers and she felt herself captured, held against her will.
“I admire you, Tess. More than you can imagine. Your cleverness, your loyalty, your wit. The fact that you’re working as an investigator only makes me admire you more. You are so much more than your physical beauty. Although I’m damned if I’ll deny that I desire you, because I do, more than any woman I’ve ever met.”
His brows lowered in a frown, as if a new thought had occurred to him.
“God, Tess, Iloveyou.”
He sounded quite aggravated at the revelation.
Her heart stuttered in her chest, but she shook her head.
“You don’t love me. If you did, you’d never have thought I could plot your demise. You’d have given me the benefit of the doubt—however compelling the evidence against me might have been. You should have had faith in me, trusted me.”
Even as she said it, she realized she was being unfair, to demand his trust when she hadn’t given it herself, but he just nodded.
“That’s true, and I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?”
He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away, out of reach. She didn’t want to touch him. If she did, she might crumble.
“You can’t. Actions speak louder than words, and allyouractions have proved you’re incapable of overriding your natural cynicism. You’re not in love with me, Justin. You won’t allow yourself to be. You’re confusing desire and convenience with real intimacy, real emotion.”
She stepped back, putting cool, rational distance between them.
