The Doctor's Secret Bride(99)

At that point, Michelle knew for certain that something had gone dreadfully wrong. Erik would not ignore her for nothing, not after everything they’d shared. The only thing Michelle could think of was that he’d learned the truth about her father. That was the only secret she was hiding from him, the only bit of information that could destroy her.

She was scared, so scared of losing the best thing that ever happened to her. Erik was her life, the air she breathed. She loved him with everything in her that was sweet and good, and wholesome. Never in a million years did she imagine she would find a man who could love her so deeply and passionately. One who cherished and adored her. She was the happiest she’d ever been in her entire life. It was only natural to be scared of losing her husband and Precious, a child she loved as her own.#p#分页标题#e#

Sheer fright swept through her as a million possibilities flooded her mind. What if her father was back and found out she was working for Erik? What if he’d shown up at the hospital drunk, and demanded money to stave off embarrassment? He’d tried the same thing with Robert, years ago. Robert had threatened to beat him up if he set foot at his practice, or at his home again. Erik was a different story. He was not accustomed to dealing with men like Dwight Carter. And she had brought this filth into his world, his life.

Michelle collapsed onto the sofa and wrapped her arms about her belly. She should have known it was too good to be true, too good to last. She’d forgotten who she was, where she’d come from in the space of four short months. She was a girl from the inner city, a nanny who’d secretly married the father of her charge, and who was stupid enough to fall in love with him.

The fact that he’d married her and told her he loved her brought her no solace. He was in love with a woman he didn’t really know, a woman who’d lied to him. She’d seen the hurt and betrayal in his eyes, heard it in his voice that night in Cape Cod when he told her what Cassie had done. That’s when she should have spoken up. God, she wanted to, but he was all talked out. He just wanted to make love. She should have been stronger. She should have insisted he hear her out.

As a feeling of utter defeat descended on her, Michelle got up and slowly walked up the stairs. When she got to her bedroom, she unzipped the dress she would have worn to dinner tonight and let it fall to the floor. She slipped on a nightshirt, crept into her bed and cried, for deep down in her gut, she knew it was over. She’d ruined Erik. There was no way he would trust another woman again. Not after Cassie.

And definitely not after her.

***

“Wake up, Michelle.”

Michelle jumped awake at the rumbling voice. Her eyes popped wide open and her body went numb when she encountered the cold contempt in Erik’s eyes.

He’d switched on the bedside lamp and was sitting on the side of her bed, glaring at her. Tension distorted his face. She’d never seen him like this, and it scared her that a man who she knew to be the gentlest creature on earth could be filled with so much rage.

“Erik—”

‘Hush! Don’t say a word!” He placed a finger against her lips. “You knew. You knew all along. You took me for a good ride, Mrs. Michelle Carter LaCrosse. Did you think I was so stupid I would never find out? Or did you think you were so good in bed that I wouldn’t be able to resist you even when the truth came out?”

His hand crawled sedately down her chest and over the thin material of her nightshirt, but his eyes remained cold and deadly. He squeezed a breast, pinching the nipple until it hardened. With deliberate leisure, his hand trailed slowly down her body. He made a fist and pressed it into her stomach.

“Erik—”

“I said not to talk, Michelle. You had three months to tell me everything. You are going to listen now. I am Cassie’s husband,” he said with deadly calm. “Precious is Cassie’s daughter, and this is Cassie’s house. You thought you could just waltz in here and claim it all?”

She read the sparks of ruthlessness in his eyes. This was definitely about more than her withholding information about her drunken father. “What did I do, Erik? Why are you looking at me with such disgust?”

“You knew where he was all this time, didn’t you?”

“Who, Erik? Who?”

“Your father, Michelle. You knew where he was.”

Michelle’s mind whirled in a crazy mixture of confusion. “No. I don’t know where my father is.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Don’t lie to me, Michelle! I’ve had it with deceitful women. I can’t take anymore lies.”