Forever My Love(118)
"What?" Alec's dark brows drew closer together.
"Is that why you—?"
"I came here because of your note."
"Note?" she repeated in bewilderment. "I didn't send a note, you did."
"You think I did?"
"Well, yes, you… you didn't?" Mira stared at him in rapidly growing dismay. She flushed. "No, of course you wouldn't have." She had never felt so foolish, so embarrassed. "Oh, damn. Damn Rosalie. I'll strangle her for this!"
"It could very well have been my mother," Alec pointed out, his mouth twisting sardonically. "She's fond of meddling—"
"No amount of meddling could solve our problems."
"Not problems… problem. There's only one obstacle in our way, and that's you."
"Me?" she demanded, finding that in one sentence he had managed to send her into a blind rage. After her tears, her agony, her heartache, he stood before her and accused her of creating problems, as if… as if she had refused him merely out of a petty desire to annoy him! "I'm glad everything's so simple for you! How wonderful it must be to know that you're completely in the right and I'm wrong—your conscience must be wonderfully clear, you… you…"
"I asked you to marry me," he pointed out, his voice cutting. "You turned down the offer. It's that simple… but you've been trying to complicate it with talk, empty worries, fears of—"
"It's clear that you haven't heard anything I've said. You haven't listened to me at all. My worries are real. You haven't…" To her horror, Mira felt tears of frustration welling up in her eyes, and she bent her head, trying to suppress them. Once again she had lostanswers, the irrepressible curiosity, the insistent attraction when their eyes had met. "Is that why you wanted to meet here?"
"What?" Alec's dark brows drew closer together.
"Is that why you—?"
"I came here because of your note."
"Note?" she repeated in bewilderment. "I didn't send a note, you did."
"You think I did?"
"Well, yes, you… you didn't?" Mira stared at him in rapidly growing dismay. She flushed. "No, of course you wouldn't have." She had never felt so foolish, so embarrassed. "Oh, damn. Damn Rosalie. I'll strangle her for this!"
"It could very well have been my mother," Alec pointed out, his mouth twisting sardonically. "She's fond of meddling—"
"No amount of meddling could solve our problems."
"Not problems… problem. There's only one obstacle in our way, and that's you."
"Me?" she demanded, finding that in one sentence he had managed to send her into a blind rage. After her tears, her agony, her heartache, he stood before her and accused her of creating problems, as if… as if she had refused him merely out of a petty desire to annoy him! "I'm glad everything's so simple for you! How wonderful it must be to know that you're completely in the right and I'm wrong—your conscience must be wonderfully clear, you… you…"
"I asked you to marry me," he pointed out, his voice cutting. "You turned down the offer. It's that simple… but you've been trying to complicate it with talk, empty worries, fears of—"
"It's clear that you haven't heard anything I've said. You haven't listened to me at all. My worries are real. You haven't…" To her horror, Mira felt tears of frustration welling up in her eyes, and she bent her head, trying to suppress them. Once again she had losther control in front of him, but this time her anger and misery were too strong to hold back, and her shoulders trembled with an escaping sob. She heard him say her name, sensed that he was walking toward her… but she turned away blindly, wanting to escape him and run back to Berkeley Hall. After the first step, her toe caught in a curling root and she fell to the ground with a cry born more of fury than pain.
The destruction of her pride was complete, she thought numbly, wrenching herself to a sitting position. There was a throbbing of pain in her ankle. "If you have one shred of kind feeling for me, you'll leave," she said hoarsely. Her hair, falling free of the pins that had confined it in a precarious chignon, concealed her face with a dark, shining curtain as she bent her head. Taking her slipper off, she concentrated fiercely on her ankle. Alec walked over to her slowly, his steps unusually light for such a tall man. She could feel his gaze raking over her, and she felt a renewed blaze of anger. "Go away and leave me alone… go back to your laystall, you brandy-faced—"