“Angelica.”
She stiffened, almost in disbelief. “Captain Neill. What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, crossing the room. “I’ve come back, just like I promised.”
“It’s been four months…”
Brody noticed, for the first time, that she wasn’t dressed. She wore only her thin chemise and a pair of wool stockings. Even in the dark, he could see the outline of her dusky nipples through the fabric. If he dared look down, he might see a great deal more.
He kept his eyes glued to hers. “I’ve surprised you. Forgive me.”
Angelica must have known how exposed her body was to his gaze. She crossed her arms over her breasts. “No, you’re too late…it’s too late. You should leave.”
“Too late? Too late for what?”
He didn’t understand. He’d dragged himself through hell—for her. He was back. He was better. Why wasn’t she weeping with joy?
She waved him off, as if he were a fly. As if he were nothing to her. “I’ve moved on, Brody. Quite forgotten all about you. In fact, I have someone else now. He’d be furious to find you here.”
Someone else. Her words struck him dumb. He just…couldn’t fathom it. How could she have someone else? They’d only been apart for a few months. “You have a gentleman?”
“I have a lover.”
Brody thought he would be sick. It could not be true. “You’ve given yourself to him?”
“You mean, have we fucked? Oh, yes. Many times.”
He had to sit down before he dropped. Brody fumbled toward the kitchen stool like he was the blind one. His head spun. His stomach reeled. Sweet, innocent Angelica Grey did not say those words. She did not know those words. Whores spoke like that. Dope-girls begging for a needle spoke like that. Not the woman he loved.
“Why didn’t you wait for me?” he sobbed.
She leaned her hip carelessly against the worktable. “I did. For three months. That’s a great deal longer than the few weeks we originally agreed upon. I was heartbroken. You’d put me aside. So, when another man came along, I vowed not to waste another chance at happiness.”
He dragged his eyes up to hers. So cold. Like a dead thing. “Does he love you?”
She laughed. She actually laughed in his face at the mention of the word. “Oh, Brody.”
His voice was sharp. “Tell me.”
She sighed, and finally said, “I don’t want love. I’m not sure I even believe in it.”
“All this time, while I was dreaming of nothing but you, while I was praying for the day when we could be together again, you were spreading your legs for another man. A man that doesn’t even love you!” He nearly spat. “Who are you, Angelica? What happened to the girl I fell in love with?”
“You abandoned her.”
“I did not! It took longer than expected to get back here, and for that I am sorry. But I never abandoned you. You abandoned me. My God, Angelica. You didn’t even try to wait for me.” When she didn’t argue, he barreled on, “I came back to ask you to marry me. I have a ring in my pocket that I hoped to place on your finger tonight!”
She looked like he’d slapped her. At last, his words hit home. The full weight of everything she had destroyed came crashing down upon her, and Angelica Grey crumbled. “You wanted to marry me…”
“I did. But not now.”
A tear streaked down her face. “No, not now. You couldn’t.”
Brody dragged himself to his feet. She was so small and pale in his shadow. She might have thought whatever sort of relationship she’d entered into was mutually beneficial, but Brody knew how men treated fast women. What chaps really thought of girls who spread their legs too easily.
How was Angelica going to survive, labeled as a whore and a slut? She could not possibly know what trouble she’d got herself into. There’d be no end to it now.
She might not love him, and he might not be willing to marry her, but if Brody walked out on her tonight, he might as well be putting her on the streets. Her house would be crawling with men looking for an easy lay.
“Angelica, you cannot stay here.”
She tilted her head. “Why not?”
“It may only be one visitor now, but eventually, he’ll brag to his friends—if he hasn’t already—and, some night, an entire group of them might come for you. Do you understand what I’m saying? A pack of men bearing down on you. Did you even know a woman’s body can take three men at once?”
Her unfixed eyes widened. He’d shocked her. Good. She needed to have some sense scared into her.
“They will use you, abuse you, and pass you around like a bottle of cheap whiskey. Oh, you’ll beg, plead, and protest. But they won’t care. You won’t be a woman to them anymore. You’ll be nothing more than a piece of meat.”