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.