The Unfaithful Wife

‘I’m not telling you anything about him!’ she asserted, shivering as she recalled his threats.

‘Paul Stephen Woods. He’s twenty-eight. He’s a would-be artist, part-time salesman. He’s an only child, blond, blue-eyed, six feet tall and he is very ambitious. I don’t need you to tell me any of that.’

Leah was transfixed. The tip of her tongue snaked out to moisten her dry lips. She trembled. ‘Why are you behaving like this? Why should it matter to you? I’m not your wife—not really your wife...’

‘Ohi...no?’ he probed dangerously. ‘You carry my name. You wear my ring. You live in my house. I feed you, I clothe you, I keep you.’

Mortified beyond bearing, Leah reddened fiercely. ‘And I hate you!’

‘If that is true, you will hate me a lot more by the time I am finished,’ Nik responded darkly in the pulsating silence.

‘Let me go,’ she whispered shakily.

‘You will never see him again,’ he swore, his eyes smouldering down at her in barely leashed rage. In a sudden fluid movement he shifted back from her, releasing her arms. ‘But I will never forgive you for this...’

Feeling weak as a kitten, she slumped back against the pillows. Her reply just leapt off her tongue. ‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll never forgive you either.’

It was a mistake. Halfway to the door, Nik stilled and spun back. ‘So now you tell me the truth.’

‘What truth?’

‘That this is a deliberate attempt to attract my attention,’ he condemned with splintering fury. ‘No wonder you left tracks a blind man could follow...no wonder I am treated to an open door and the sound of you exchanging sweet nothings with your lover!’

‘Attract your attention?’ Leah repeated, her exquisite face alight with unhidden incredulity, physical weakness banished as she sat up in one abrupt movement.