November Harlequin Presents 2(233)

‘I’m sorry.’ Her voice was thick with tears and even if he couldn’t hear her she said it anyway. ‘Sorry for not seeing you weren’t well, sorry for messing up…’ A sob shuddered on her lips and her nose ran. She even managed a strangled laugh, glimpsed the appalled expression that would surely be on Hunter’s face if only he could see her now. ‘Sorry for loving you.’

A hand was on her shoulder and, startled, Lily jumped, turning around to see Emma, who had silently entered the room.

‘I’m sorry, too.’ Eyes as blue as Hunter’s stared back at her. ‘You really do love him, don’t you?’

‘Not that he’d be pleased to hear it,’ Lily sniffed. ‘That wasn’t part of the deal.’

‘What I said back there.’ Emma gave a helpless shake of her head. ‘I just couldn’t believe I’d got things so wrong. I was just so embarrassed, so appalled that you’d married to appease me…’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Lily said, her mind racing to come up with some magical answer, to take the sting out of Emma’s wound. But nothing she said now could obliterate the past—only the truth might provide a balm. ‘At least, it wasn’t for me.’

‘I know.’ Emma stared at her brother for an age but then the tears started again, real tears that came from deep inside that needed to be addressed. And as much as it hurt to let go of Hunter’s hand, Lily did so, knew from the little she did know about him that it was what Hunter would want. She followed Emma outside into the stark white hall to hear and reveal the stark black truth.

‘I thought he was sleeping with Abigail,’ Lily admitted. ‘Last night I saw him with his arms around her—that’s the real reason I was crying at the ball.’

‘But he nearly passed out at the ball,’ Emma explained. ‘That’s why Abigail brought him home. He didn’t tell you he was leaving because he physically couldn’t—all he wanted apparently was to get the hell out of there without making a fuss.’

‘I can see that now,’ Lily admitted. ‘But when I got home…’ She closed her eyes at the horrible image, could still see Abigail’s smirk as she’d come out of the bedroom, still didn’t really know if she was just fooling herself. ‘Abigail let me think they’d been together. Maybe they weren’t last night, but I still don’t know if he’s been unfaithful.’

‘What if he has?’ Emma voiced the difficult question. ‘What if he made a mistake?’

‘Then it’s over.’ Lily gave a tight nod, balled her fists and held onto conviction. ‘It has to be. I told him when I agreed to the marriage that it was the one thing I’d never forgive.’

‘Why does he have to sabotage everything?’ Emma said. ‘I’ve tried to help him. I’ve pleaded with him to slow down—when I heard about your group I thought that maybe if he went…’

Suddenly Lily was still. For the second time in a single day her past, her conviction utterly, utterly distorted, the sure ground she’d stood on shifting further.

‘He came to New Beginnings to check it out for you,’ Lily whispered, remembering again his arrogant face on entering the club, his palpable boredom at the proceedings and his absolute lack of desire to be there.

‘Supposedly for me,’ Emma corrected. ‘I wasn’t the one that needed help. I’d already made my peace—I was more than ready to move on with my life. It was Hunter that was struggling. Look, I’m not saying it’s been easy for me, but for all my injuries, for all I’m stuck in this chair, it doesn’t come close to what Hunter’s suffering.’

‘I don’t understand.’ Only now she could admit it, only now could she confess her terrifying helplessness to reach him, only now reveal to Emma just how little she knew. ‘Just what happened in Singapore? He told me he wasn’t driving, that he wasn’t even in the car—’

‘He arranged the whole night,’ Emma broke in, and Lily closed her eyes in regret for him. ‘He was in Singapore on business while I was playing there, and he got it into his head that if our parents only heard me play, if we were just together for one night, if we got Mum and Dad out of the house and enjoyed each other’s company, maybe things would be different. They didn’t want to come, but Hunter sort of railroaded them into it. Organised the flight, the hotel, even sent a car to their house to pick them up.’

‘Oh, God!’

‘They saw me play and then he got called away. We were at this bar and Hunter had something urgent to attend to, so he said he’d meet us back at the hotel for dinner. The accident happened then.