The Fire's Center (42 page)

"Aye." Mrs. Crozier nodded.

"So is Charles Durance’s proposal," Dr. Crozier said quietly. "I know it's flattering, there's no doubt about it, a man in such a position taking an interest in you, Riona. But the plain fact is, you should marry for love. We did, and we’ve never regretted it, though the path we had to travel to find each other wasn’t always easy."

"But Lucien doesn’t love me. How can he?
 
He thinks me guilty of I don’t know what..." Riona sighed.

Mrs. Crozier smiled indulgently at Riona. "If Lucien didn’t care about you, girl, he wouldn’t be so jealous."

"Do you really think so?" Riona asked dubiously, wishing it were true, but not so sure she could bear being with a man who trusted her so little.

"I do.
 
So go home now, child, and try to patch up the quarrel. Tell him calmly all you've told me. You'll regret it forever if you don’t."

"I’m not the one who started it," Riona said mutinously, hugging her arms around her still shivering form.

"No, but I'm sure you will be sensible enough to find some way to finish it," remarked Dr. Crozier. "Now, give us your address in Donegal, and you take down ours here, and we shall no doubt see you soon. I hope to see you here in Dublin when we get back in a few weeks, and if not, well, I am sorry for you, child, and we will see you in Donegal, won’t we?"

Dr. and Mrs. Crozier walked her to the door, where she took her leave.

"Thank you and good night. Really, I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am." Riona smiled wanly, before gathering up her small bundle of clothes.

They waved farewell to her fondly, and Riona climbed back into the coach which was waiting for her at the front door.

After a short ride across town, Riona at last trudged up the stairs of the townhouse, and entered the foyer wearily.

The door of the medical room study opened just then, and Riona could see from the expression in his golden eyes that Lucien was still in a towering rage.

"Where have you been, and what did you mean by running off like that! Have you any idea how worried I’ve been!" he berated her furiously.

Riona tried to escape his wrath by running up the stairs as fast as her trembling legs would carry her, but Lucien grew more and more angry the longer she remained silent.

"I asked you where you’ve been and where did you get that dress! Who gave it to you? Dr. O’Carroll or Charles? Which one of them has been your lover behind my back, eh?" Lucien demanded, pushing his way into her room as she tried to shut him out and lock it.

"I haven’t done anything wrong!" Riona rounded on him angrily, disgusted with his evil suspicions.

"Don’t lie!" Lucien bellowed. "I saw you tonight with both Dr. O’Carroll and Charles, kissing them, being fondled by them, so don’t bother trying to deny it! You of all people should know trying to play the innocent won’t wash with me! I know every inch of you, don’t I! Or at least I thought I did until I saw you in another man’s arms," he rasped, shaking her by the shoulders.

"Damn it, Lucien, let me go!" she insisted, pushing futilely against his chest. "You have no right—"

"Were you a virgin when I took you that other night, or was there some rutting stag back in Donegal, or a whole herd of them for that matter?" he accused nastily.

Riona’s hand shot up like lightning. The slap across his face echoed around the room before she even realized she had moved.

"How dare you! Get out!" she cried hysterically.

 
But Lucien was already pulling her skirt up over her hips, and though Riona struggled against him, his was the superior strength.

"Damn it, let go of me, Lucien!" she shouted, kicking him as hard as she could in the leg, and managing to wriggle free at last.

But was still so intent on his prey, he made a wild grab for her, and caught hold of the throat of the mulberry velvet gown. As she attempted to flee to the other side of the room, it shredded in his hands.

Riona tugged herself away, and tried to flee the room, but stopped and pressed the shredded fabric to her bosom as she paused to wondered why Lucien had ceased shouting and pursuing her, and was instead staring at her with something akin to horror.

Looking down at herself, Riona could quite clearly see the handprints Dr. O’Carroll had left behind when he had manhandled her before. She was completely black and blue all over her chest and shoulders.

"Did I do that to you?" he whispered, aghast.

She shook her head, and her breath came out in gasps as she said, "Nay, O'Carroll did forcing me to dance with him, carrying me out of the ballroom and forcing himself on me.
 
You have nothing to reproach yourself for as far as my physical condition. You didn't hurt me bodily, Lucien. Only with your nasty words and accusations."

After several moments of silence staring at one another, Lucien shook his head. "I'm sorry. Please, no more fighting. But I do need to have a look at what's happened to you."

"There's no need—"

"There's every need. I'm a doctor. A damned bad one, but I can see how ill you've been used by everyone tonight. Please, I won't lay a finger on you in any personal manner but I need to see your bruises."

She allowed her grip on the door handle to relax and gave a small nod.
 
,

Lucien went over to Riona and gently tugged the sleeves down off of her arms to better survey the damage to her shoulders, elbows and wrists.

He was painfully aware as he tried to observe her with a clinical detachment that he might well be responsible for the bruises to her shoulders, at least in part, but there was no mistaking the violence with which she had been treated. And now he had only made it worse by letting his jealousy get the better of him once again. He shook his head and sighed.

Riona skirted him around the bed, and pulled on the robe sitting at the foot of it to clothe her nakedness. Then she demanded,
 
"Now do you believe me when I tell you I want nothing to do with that bastard Dr. O’Carroll? And it isn’t my fault if Charles is a lonely man who wants a companion. He escorted me home from Mrs. Allen’s once. That’s all, I swear."

"I'm sorry. I know I had no right—"

"No, none at all. And no cause either." Riona sat wearily on the bed and let the tears begin to fall.
  

Lucien stood there, utterly at a loss as to how to deal with this shocking turn of events. "I’m sorry, Riona. You’ve had a dreadful evening, and now I’ve made things even worse," Lucien apologised stiffly, while inwardly he seethed.

He went down to his medical cabinet for a pot of cream and then returned upstairs. He undid the frogs of the dressing gown, and moved over to lift the lamp up high to examine her bruises better.

Though Riona tried to shrink away from Lucien at first, he insisted, "I’m not going to hurt you, Riona, I swear,"

At last she gave in reluctantly to his ministrations. He rubbed the cream on her ribs with shaking fingers, and then set the pot of cream down with a thump.

"The bastard! I'll bloody well kill him!"

"No, Lucien, you’ll do nothing!" Riona insisted angrily, glaring at him with her sapphire eyes afire. "I can just imagine the scandal of you all fighting over your secretary. Just forget it ever happened."

His jaw dropped. "What, and let that bastard get away with—"

"In any case, it isn’t your place to defend my honour, now is it? According to your sister in law and the rest of Dublin society who did nothing but gossip about my penurious state all night, I haven’t any honour anyway."

"That's not true and you—"

"We both know it is!" she said with a lift of her chin. "I'm not your cousin, I'm nothing and no one so far as these people are concerned, and the lie leaves me without honour. You would never dare admit who I am, how we met, what we became to each other, now would you?"

He shot her a look of exasperation as he shook his head. "I'm trying to protect you—"

"Aye, I can see that. Protect me indeed. So
that's
why you called me whore and then just tried to treat me like one."

He slammed his hand down on the mantelpiece in frustration. "I wasn't thinking—"

She folded her arms in front of her chest. "That's right, you weren't. Which is why the truth came spilling out. That's what you really think of me!"

"No, I didn't mean—"

"That's what you think of all women," she accused. "We're all tarred with the same brush so far as you're concerned. All as cunning and manipulative as Antoinette, eh?"

He shook his head. "No, not you. I can see it was O'Carroll now, and I'm sorry."

"So am I. Because after what you’ve said tonight, this is the end for us, isn’t it, Lucien?"

Lucien opened his mouth to try to defend his actions, but she forestalled his protests by putting one hand up in front of his face.

"Even leaving aside the way you've mauled me like some, some object, a
thing
, or a possession, the things you said can’t be taken back, Dr. Woulfe. I thank you for the medicine and your help, but I want you to leave this room now, and never enter it again so long as I am under this roof. I shall pack my things and go as soon as I have a suitable place, and I never want to see you again in private, is that understood?"

He looked as though he had been punched. "But Riona—"

She shook her head. "Please, spare me the protests.
 
You wanted to end it, Lucien. You’ve tried to several times, and now I agree with you. This affair was a mistake from the start, and it has to finish now before any more damage is done to either of us."

Lucien longed to reach out to Riona, but his feelings were in such turmoil and she was looking at him so coldly, with her arms crossed in front of her, nursing her injuries, that he couldn’t bring himself to swallow his pride to admit he had been wrong and beg forgiveness.

In any case, wasn’t she right? He would make himself a laughingstock to pursue this matter further. She was only his secretary. He had taken advantage of her for far too long.

If she had a chance to marry someone as wealthy and prominent as Charles Durance, who was he to stand in her way?

The fact that she might love him, or he be in love with her, sadly never even occurred to Lucien, so worldly as he was.

"I’ve made arrangements already with Quentin for you to go and live there," Lucien informed her quietly as he moved towards the door.
 

"Arrangements?" she asked in clipped tones, barely able to keep the fury from her voice. So he had already decided to end it….