A Husband's Regret (The Unwanted Series)(24)

His hand moved up hesitantly, until it was in the nape of her neck,  beneath the thick fall of her hair and the heat of his skin singed the  delicate flesh of her vulnerable neck. He massaged her soft skin gently  before clearing his throat to get the younger couple's attention; they  jumped apart guiltily, grinning like kids.

"Ready to eat?" Bryce asked quietly before turning toward the patio  table that was laden with delicious food and fruit. He kept a possessive  hand on Bronwyn as he led her toward the table and let her go long  enough to pull out a chair for her. Bronwyn glanced up at him warily  before accepting the seat. He used to do things like that for her all  the time in the past, unconscious acts like opening doors, helping her  into coats, seating her. It was an old-world chivalry that Bronwyn had  found completely charming. He hadn't done anything like it since her  return, and Bronwyn realized with a pang that it was one of the small  details she had forgotten, yet subconsciously missed, about him. She  nodded her thanks, wondering what was behind the sudden courtesy. His  hand unexpectedly lowered to her cheek and his thumb stroked her flesh  briefly, but he moved away before she had any chance to react to the  unexpected caress.

Baffled, Bronwyn's eyes followed his progress as he sat opposite her,  next to Lisa, leaving Rick no option but to sit beside Bronwyn. Rick  largely ignored her in favor of his brother and wife, leaving Bronwyn  feeling snubbed and ridiculously hurt. She knew why he was behaving the  way he was, knew that he was merely being loyal to his brother, whom he  felt had been treated unfairly. Yet Bronwyn still couldn't help but feel  almost betrayed by Rick's blatant display of hostility. By the time  they were halfway through the meal, Lisa was glaring daggers at her  husband, and Bryce was looking almost as strained as Bronwyn felt. Rick  was either oblivious to the tension he was creating or-more than  likely-ignoring it.

"Bronwyn," Bryce's quiet voice interrupted Rick's animated description  of some of the more exotic sights he and Lisa had been treated to during  their "and baby makes three honeymoon," as he had so delightfully  described the holiday. "You're not eating . . ."

Bronwyn looked down at her barely touched meal and shrugged helplessly, a bit thrown by the abrupt shift in topic.

"I'm not that hungry," she responded with a strained smile. "And I was wrapped up in Rick's story."

"You should eat," Bryce prompted. "You're still too thin . . ."

Bronwyn snapped, instantly and utterly fed up with everything. The  ridiculous untruths he believed about her, Rick's hostility, and her own  weakness in both body and spirit.

"It's always something with you, isn't it?" she hissed furiously. "I  wasn't well spoken enough, pretty enough, graceful enough, educated  enough . . . I was never good enough for you. I doubt I'll ever be good  enough. No wonder you jumped at the opportunity to get rid of me," she  reflected bitterly. "All you needed was an excuse, and I very  conveniently provided you with one when I got pregnant. And then, to add  insult to injury, you came up with that ridiculous . . ." She stopped  abruptly, remembering her resolve to let him muddle through the facts  and find the truth for himself. She shook her head furiously, turning to  a gaping Rick.





  

"And as for you . . . How dare you sit there judging me with nothing but  the so-called facts your stupid brother gave you to go on?" She was so  furious, hurt, and frustrated that she couldn't stop herself from  clenching her fist and punching him on his arm. He winced and angled his  chair away from her. "I thought you were smarter and fairer than that,  Rick!" She got up and turned to face Lisa, who was staring up at her  with an approving grin playing about her lips.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes burning with the tears she refused to shed. "Please excuse me . . ."

Lisa nodded and Bronwyn turned to flee, leaving absolute silence in her wake.

"Well," Lisa drawled into the shocked silence. "I think she's a little angry, don't you?"

"Stop it, Lisa," Rick grunted irritably. "This is none of your-"

"Don't say it," she warned direly. "Don't even think about saying it!"

Rick wisely shut up.

"Your behavior was atrocious, and I was so ashamed of you."

"Lisa, you don't know-"

"She claims that she tried to call me," Bryce interrupted the squabbling couple quietly, and Rick frowned.

"What?"

"Before having Kayla, as little as a week after leaving me and then  again after she gave birth." He knew enough to read between the lines of  her sarcastic responses of that morning. "She said she tried to call  me. She said she tried my cell phone, but of course that was wrecked in  the accident. She also professes to have tried the house but you'd given  Celeste and the staff time off while I was recuperating. But then she  also says that she tried to contact the office and was stonewalled by my  people."

Rick gaped at him.

"Bronwyn tried to contact you?"

"So she claims." Bryce shrugged, trying to disguise his unease behind  the careless movement. "My staff would not have given her the  run-around, not unless I'd given specific instructions to that effect.  Something I could not have done while laid up in hospital. So she has to  be lying. But why the hell does she keep telling the same lie, over and  over again?"

"Bryce," Rick looked aghast. "You did give an order to that effect."

"What?" Bryce leaped to his feet at the outrageousness of the remark. "What in God's name are you talking about?"

"It was the same night as your accident. Pierre, Cooper"-Cooper had been  Bryce's personal assistant at the time, a young and ambitious  self-starter who had since moved on to bigger and better things-"and I  were all there. You had just gotten out of surgery and you were still  groggy, but when I asked you where Bronwyn was, you were very adamant  that you did not want to see her or hear from her ever again. You were  in so much pain and the fact that I had to write down everything I said  was adding to your emotional strain. I knew that something pretty awful  must have happened between the two of you. The mere fact that she wasn't  at the hospital was testament enough of that, but I still figured the  words were bluster and that you two would work things out, so I shrugged  them off."

Bryce's face revealed absolutely no emotion as he got up from the table and dug his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Call Pierre and ask him if he knows of any calls Bronwyn may have made to my office while I was recuperating."

"Bryce . . ." Rick began.

"Just do it, Rick!" The younger man nodded and dialed. Bryce watched his  brother's face as he spoke with Pierre, unable to read his lips while  he had the phone up against his ear. He kept picturing Bronwyn's  tormented face as she had flung her bitter words at him. He hadn't been  able to read half of what she'd said to him, but he had gotten the gist  of it. She actually believed he didn't think she was good enough for  him? Where the hell had she gotten a demented idea like that? He was  still mulling over the question when Rick disconnected his call and  looked up. Bryce watched his younger brother's expression closely,  anxious to know what Pierre had revealed. When Rick first spoke, Bryce  was so intent on watching his brother's eyes that he missed the first  few words and impatiently signed for him to start again.

"Pierre doesn't know of any calls Bron may have placed to the office,"  Rick began, and Bryce felt an overwhelming surge of despair battling  with an equally large dose of anger at himself for almost believing the  treacherous little bitch! Rick was still talking and it took all of  Bryce's concentration to focus on his brother's lips again. ". . . Does  remember you categorically stating that you wanted nothing more to do  with her. Like me, he didn't take the words seriously, so he placed no  such order on your behalf. Pierre thinks that Cooper may not have  dismissed your words as lightly. After all, Pierre is your friend and  partner, and I'm your brother, and unlike Cooper we had no jobs on the  line." Bryce said nothing, merely stared at his brother thoughtfully for  the longest time. The anger and despair was forgotten as a terrible  feeling of sinking panic rapidly settled over him, and he frantically  tried to figure out what to do next.





  

"Rick," he said out loud, as carefully and concisely as he could, not  wanting his brother to misunderstand his next words in the slightest  way. "I want you to find Cooper. I want to know if she's lying about  this because . . . because . . ." He couldn't bear to utter the words.  His eyes slid away from Rick's, and he found himself meeting Lisa's  gaze. He saw that her lips were moving and he automatically focused on  them.

". . . If she's telling the truth about trying to call you, she may well  be telling the truth about everything else, right?" He hid a wince as  Lisa verbalized the words he had been unable to speak, and his eyes shut  in horror at the mere idea of such an atrocity. God, how could he live  with himself if his terrible treatment of her since her return had been  unjustified? He met Rick's gaze, wondering if the misery and  overwhelming dread he felt were evident in his eyes.