Invincible

“My wife sees you flitting around the world without a thought in your head and—”

“Flitting?” Bella interrupted, arching a disdainful brow.

“Wandering, traipsing, gadding about,” Foster interjected, furiously. “And she starts thinking life in one place is too confining.”

“Are you sure it’s not life with one man she finds too confining?” Bella said in a silky voice.

Foster braced his hands on the arms of her Adirondack and leaned in so close she could feel his breath on her face. “You’re not the one to be talking. At least my children showed up here today. You’re reaping what you’ve sowed, Bella,” he said viciously.

“I hardly think—”

“You sent those poor kids of yours off to boarding schools their whole lives while you partied your way around the world.” He sneered down at her. “What did you expect? You treated them like dirt. They’re just paying you back.”

“That’s quite enough,” Bella said quietly.

Foster stood up, but he didn’t step back. “I’ve barely gotten started, lady. You had to come here when you knew I was trying to mend things with my wife. You’ve been a bad seed from the start. You insinuated yourself between Bull and the woman he was courting. You teased him and taunted him and stole him away from the caring person—the lady—he should have married. It’s a shame Bull couldn’t see what I did.”

“I loved your brother.” I still love him! Bella wanted to cry. But that would be setting fire to gasoline, considering Foster’s rage.

“You don’t know what love is!” Foster said with a sneer. “You tricked my brother into marrying you. Christ, you threatened him with jail if he didn’t.”

“I had nothing to do with that,” Bella protested. Her aunt, who’d stood in for her dead parents, had threatened to go to the police and have Bull charged with statutory rape if he didn’t marry her. “Bull wasn’t innocent,” Bella pointed out. “He did have sex with a seventeen-year-old.”

“But some other guy got there first, didn’t he, Bella?” Foster snarled. “Because Oliver isn’t Bull’s son. For God’s sake, his eyes are brown!”

Bella’s face blanched. Both Bella and Bull had blue eyes. Which made Oliver’s brown eyes a genetic impossibility. Some other man had to be his father. The truth had been there all along, but Foster had ever spoken it aloud. Until now.

“You love those detestable diamonds and rubies and pearls my brother lavished on you more than you ever loved him or any of those kids,” Foster ranted. “You’re a lying, cheating bitch, Bella. Just stay the hell away from me and my brother!”

Bella pressed a fist against her heart and leaned forward, struggling to breathe. “I won’t bother you…for much…”

“It’s her heart!” Emily cried, rising from her Adirondack.

Foster jerked his head around and searched the horizon. “Bull!” he yelled. “Get over here. Bella’s having a heart attack!”

7

“You had me worried, Duchess.”

Bella sat up straighter in her Richmond hospital bed. “I’m sorry, Bull.” The quiet apology should have been spoken years ago for the two great wrongs she’d done to the man standing beside her bed. Bella felt genuinely contrite, sorry enough to finally confess the lies she’d allowed to stand. If only she could find the courage to reveal the truth. About everything.

Yet, she put it off a moment longer. “You heard the doctor. It wasn’t anything serious.”

Bull snorted. “A panic attack? Horseshit. You’ve been an ice queen since the day I met you. What’s really going on, Duchess? Is there something wrong with your heart?”

The use of her nickname—and Bull’s pugnacious tone—suggested the gloves had come off. He was so close to the truth, Bella felt her weakened heart wrench with fear. She didn’t want Bull taking her back because she was dying. She didn’t want his pity. She’d sworn the doctor to secrecy and ordered him to give her husband a less serious reason for her fainting spell. He wasn’t buying it.

“Bull, I—”

“You’re awake,” Foster said as he shoved open the door without knocking and entered Bella’s hospital room. “Good.”