by Sharon Ihle
Something bright went off inside Dimitri's head, ignited by an instant surge of anger. Not sure what he might do or say to Shylo, he walked a safe distance away and began pacing at the foot of the bed. "Our marriage was a business arrangement, yes, but am I supposed to feel nothing when I learn that my wife has lied about her past? Am I to have no feelings when I find out that I no longer know who she is?"
"Your... wife?" His back was to her now, but Shylo didn't have to see his expression to know that he hadn't put all the information together yet. "Who I am and all the lies I've told, none of it makes a damn bit of difference now. It's not as if you're stuck in a business deal you can't get out of, you know. You're as free as you've ever been."
He whirled on her, his expression thunderous. "I vowed to you. Business deal or not, do you think I am not a man of my word? You did not think at all, or you might have considered how your lies would affect me. I do not believe in divorce, if that is your suggestion, and I will not seek one."
Her heart already breaking, not knowing how much more of this she could take, Shylo spelled it out in terms he couldn't possibly misunderstand. "You vowed to a woman named Shylo Folsom—she doesn't exist. That means our marriage doesn't exist. It wasn't legal."
The expression that darkened Dimitri's features now, as comprehension finally sank in, was astonishingly haggard and more murderous than any she'd ever seen. Feeling a trickle of fear, she backed up as she said, "We don't owe each other a thing anymore. You're free to go, so why don't you?"
Dimitri stood rock still, just staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.
"Get out," she screamed, so devastated, she thought she might collapse at any moment. Too cowardly to face him any longer, frightened of what he might do to her as well, Shylo turned her back to him. "Get out and leave me alone. I... I don't want to see you again."
He said nothing, but she heard his footfalls as he strode out of the bedroom and into the foyer of the suite. Her shoulders slumped with both relief and profound sorrow. And then the tears began to fall.
Still standing in the foyer, Dimitri sought but had yet to find whatever it would take for him to just walk out of Shylo's life as if he'd never been a part of it. Icy fury ripped at him, making him angry enough to tear the hotel room apart brick by brick, yet he couldn't quite figure out where to aim that anger or whom to blame. He wanted nothing more than to direct it all at Shylo, but somewhere inside he knew he was at least as much at fault. So why was he so damn angry? He could walk right out the door and be a free man forever if he wanted to. Why couldn't he just do it?
Shylo had been right about their marriage. It had been nothing but a business deal, by God, only business. Had their union lasted longer, she might even have completely bankrupted him. He should be feeling relief now that it was over. But he didn't.
Now that he knew her as Shylo McBride, and realized there was no way that she or her "family connections" could have done him or the import business any good, he should have been happy that she was not his wife. But he wasn't.
Dimitri reached for the doorknob, trying to convince himself that he was better off this way. Shylo would probably have made him miserable had he taken her to Greece as planned—hell, she'd already distracted him so much that he'd practically forgotten about the caryatid and the return of the Elgin marbles. To think that he'd actually considered having her work at his side, this woman who'd deceived him so. It was better that he left now without another word. He would be better off, much better off. But somehow he knew that he wouldn't be.
He knew all this and more, knew for his sake as well as hers that he had to go now, but the moment his fingers touched the cold brass knob, Dimitri heard himself mutter, "The hell if I will."
Then he spun on his heel and stormed into the bedroom again. Shylo's back was still to him, her face in her hands. Gripping her trembling shoulders, he spun her around and dragged her into his arms.
His jet black eyes glittering with as much passion as fury, he repeated in a low, dark growl, "The hell if I will."
Then he flung her onto the center of their bed.
Chapter 17
Beyond all rational thought, consumed by a driving need to reclaim his woman, perhaps even as a way of denying the truths she'd laid before him, Dimitri threw himself down on the bed beside her, pinning her with his torso, and tore the pins from her hair.
"I'm the one who arranged this business deal," he said, his voice as ragged as his emotions, "and I'll be damned if I let you back out of it until I've gotten a little better return on my investment."
"Dimitri—"
Done with words and explanations, he came down on her mouth with his, the kiss as plundering as it was arousing, and slid his shaking fingers up to the collar of her jacket. He fumbled with the buttons there, releasing some from their lace catches, tearing others from their moorings, until the garment was open. Then he tore his mouth from hers and gazed down at her, eyes blazing in the semidarkness.
"You're mine," he muttered thickly, speaking in Greek. "Understand me? I don't care whose name you signed on our wedding papers, you're mine."
Uncertain of the meaning of his words, but sure of the deep and terrible sense of betrayal behind them, Shylo swallowed a sob as she whispered, "I'm sorry. Please believe that I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked in English. "A business deal gone wrong? We both had some rewards from it, did we not?"
Dimitri stopped a reply with his lips again, and this time as he kissed her, deeper, harder, and longer, he released the satin ribbon at the neckline of Shylo's chemise, and then pulled aside the material, exposing her. He ran his hand across her breasts, rubbing the rough skin at the side of his thumb against her nipples, and when this drew a little cry from her, he took his lips from hers and lowered his head to those offended crowns. Raising his head in response to Shylo's moans of pleasure, he looked into her eyes. Her lids were half closed, and she was panting a little, waiting and eager as she always was when his hands were on her.
He uttered a hoarse laugh. "So you agree our business is not quite finished?"
Shylo's eyes rolled to a complete close and she caught her bottom lip with her teeth, but that was all the answer she gave him. Needing no more permission than that, Dimitri slid his hands down her hips and tugged at her skirts, lifting them above her waist. He was already nearly out of control as he began caressing her in big, bold strokes. When Shylo began to writhe beneath his touch, he muttered, "You may not need me as your husband any longer, but I think you cannot say that you do not want me as a man."
"Dimitri, I—I'm sorry," was all she could manage before his hands drove her to madness. In the next instant she came with a tremendous rush and cried out his name as she tumbled down from the throes of passion. "Dimitri. Oh, please, Dimitri—please forgive me."
Even though he was rock hard with need, an inferno that threatened to ignite him, Dimitri thought he might have regained some measure of control if not for those words and the finality he heard in them. Shylo had given something to him, and while he couldn't put a name to this thing he'd never wanted or expected, he'd accepted what she had to offer. And now she was taking away that unnamed something with no thought to his needs. He fell on top of her anyway, opened his trousers, and filled her slick, hot body with his own.
Just feeling the soft folds of her femininity surrounding him, knowing that he would never experience this exquisite sensation again, nearly sent Dimitri over the edge in that same instant, but he fought for at least that much control of himself. He remained still inside her, kissing her mouth, her hair, and her throat, alternately muttering Greek curses and words of endearment. When he allowed himself to move at last, driving in long, bold thrusts, he continued talking to her in his native language.
"Do not ask me for forgiveness again, my sweet little liar, for you have robbed me as surely as a thief—taken something from me I think I may never find again." Shylo reached around to his back, her fingernails clawing the muscl
es there, and Dimitri continued to grind his hips against hers. "For what you have done to me, I can never forgive you. Understand me? Never. "
He lost all sense of time and place after that, becoming a creature of pure sensation instead. As both the tempo and depth of his thrusts increased, Dimitri slid his hands beneath Shylo's bottom, gripping her with a fierceness he'd never known before, and lifted her hips from the mattress. He was joined with her as closely as humanly possible, driving into her deeper and harder than ever before. When Shylo cried out in ecstasy a few moments later, her body twisting and bucking beneath him, Dimitri let out a roar of anguish as his own release bore down on him. Then he collapsed against the pillow beside her, as profoundly disturbed as he was satisfied.
Later—how much later he couldn't guess—the sound of Shylo's soft sobs finally brought him back to reality. He didn't know why she was crying. He doubted it was remorse, and God help him, he hoped he hadn't hurt her physically, but he knew he couldn't stay. Not if he wanted to regain any of his sanity or pride. Without a word he rolled off the bed, adjusted his clothing, and walked out of the room.
Shylo lay there in the semidarkness, knowing he'd left their room but assuming that he'd gone into the foyer to collect himself. She hated for things to end this way, hated the idea of them ending at all, but knew that now wasn't the time to discuss such matters. Dimitri was still too angry, she thought, and she was too... She didn't know exactly what she was. Shylo's emotions were tattered and jumbled, torn apart with unrequited love for both a mother who didn't want her and a man who, she was sure, wished he'd never laid eyes on her.
The door to their suite slammed shut then, leaving a terrible echo to reverberate in the bedroom, filling her ears over and over with the sounds of good-bye. Dimitri had walked out on her after all. She'd been kidding herself to think that there could be anything more between them, as she had since the day she'd first set this idiotic plan in motion. And what did she have to show for it? A heart as shattered as the wineglass Dimitri had crushed on their wedding night.
After pulling her skirts back down around her ankles, Shylo tucked her pillow beneath her head and curled into a miserable little ball. Just as the tears began to fall, she heard the door to the suite open again. Dimitri? Had he come back for her? She sat up in the semidarkness, allowing herself to hope, and when he strode into the bedroom she thought she might burst with joy. He had come back for her. He had.
"There's one other thing," he said when he reached the side of the bed. "An asset I cannot allow you to take from our little business deal."
His normally smooth, rich voice was so gruff, Shylo could hardly believe it was he who had spoken the words. She shrugged. "I don't have a dime to my name—I swear."
"I don't want your money—not even that which you still owe me." Leaning over her, he grabbed hold of her left hand. "I believe you have already made your point with this. I hope Colleen was impressed."
Then he ripped Ari's diamond ring off her finger and left, slamming the door again. Out of her life.
* * *
Shylo had a headache, her bottom felt bruised, and even though she'd washed up and fixed her hair, she felt like a mess. All she wanted to do was climb back in the bed, pull the covers over her head, and never come up again. But as she'd done all her life, she didn't take the easy way out.
After standing in front of Cassie's door for several minutes, wondering how in the hell she would explain their mother's reaction on the dock without upsetting her too much, Shylo finally knocked.
"Well, it's about time," Cassie cried after opening the door. She dragged her sister inside the room. "I've been pacing this rug long enough to wear out a pair of new shoes. What happened?" She glanced out into the hallway, found it empty, and closed the door. "Where's our ma?"
"It's a real long story." Avoiding her sister's gaze, Shylo glanced around the room. "You are alone, aren't you?"
"I said I would be, didn't I? Buck is waiting downstairs in the bar until I send someone to go get him. Now what's going on, and—" She cut herself off as she noticed her sister's desolate expression and puffed eyes. "Oh, shit. You mean to tell me she wasn't on that packet, either?"
"Oh, she was on it all right. Come sit down with me."
Scared now of both her sister's dark mood and how the events of today might affect her future with Buck, Cassie followed Shylo to the bed and sat next to her. "Ma wasn't real happy to see you again, is that it?"
"That's about it all right." Shylo tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a sob. "In fact, she pretended that she didn't even know who I was. She said it right to my face, too. 'I don't know you, and I don't want to."'
"Oh... Shylo." Cassie wasn't too troubled one way or another over this news, but she had more than a fair idea how badly her sister was hurting right now. Reaching a tentative arm across her shoulders, she added, "You sure it was her? Maybe we've been wrong about—"
"It was her." Shylo had spent all her life not forgetting that beautiful face, dreaming of the day she'd set eyes on it again. Now she would have to spend the rest of her life trying to forget it. "I expect you're pretty upset, sis. I know it's a shock and all, after everything we've been through to find our ma. I've done a fair amount of carrying on about it myself already, so don't feel ashamed if you want to cut loose in front of me. Go ahead, get it over with."
But Cassie's only concerns were for Shylo. "I'm all right. It's you I'm worried about."
"Well, don't." Shylo took her sister's arm from her shoulders and faced her squarely. "If we're past all that, let's get to figuring out what we're going to do now. Where do you think we ought to go from here? And how are we going to pay for this hotel room until we get enough money for train fare out of this town?"
Cassie's eyes crossed as she peered at her sister. "We? As in what are you and me going to do?"
Shylo nodded. "Who else?"
"Well, ah, Dimitri for one." And Buck, she amended silently, for another.
Shifting her gaze toward the window, Shylo said, "That's over now, too. Dimitri knows my true name, and that we aren't really married. He's, ah... " She swallowed the terrible ache in her throat. "Gone."
"Oh... Shylo." Now Cassie really did want to cry, and although she tried to hold them back, a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks. "You loved him, I know you did. Can't you just tell him that you're awful sorry, and ask him does he want to get married again for real?"
She thought she'd cried herself dry, but had Cassie's naive question not tickled her funny bone, Shylo was pretty sure she'd have dissolved into tears again. Allowing the chuckle instead, she said, "Our marriage was nothing but a business arrangement to Dimitri, and now that I'm not worth anything businesswise, I'm not worth anything to him at all."
"Oh, but Shylo—"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." She couldn't. "Now how much do you think can you make in a week at the dress shop if you take in a little more sewing?"
Cassie shrugged, and then showed her sister an exaggerated pout. "Probably not a heck of a lot more than I made last week, but I'm not gonna go planning our next move until we get something else straightened out. Ain't you forgetting about someone else?"
Keeping her mind busy by calculating their expenses instead of thinking about Dimitri, Shylo asked absently, "Who?"
"Bucky, that's who. I ain't leaving town without him."
Shylo rested her forehead in her hands. "Are you sure you just got to drag him with us? I hate to see you waste your life on a no-good outlaw."
"Buck is good," Cassie insisted. "There's lots to him that most folks don't see right off. He's fun, and gentle, and real smart when he has to be, and better than all that, he treats me like I'm a queen or something. I love him, Shylo, and there's nothing—not even you—that's gonna keep us apart."
"You know," Shylo said with a weary sigh, "it might just be that you've been reading too many of those silly romance novels. I even read part of that one myself, and while it a
ll sounds real exciting, you can't believe that life is really like that. Life's hard, not some little fairy tale."
"But it can be," she protested. "It happened to me, didn't it? I knew the minute I saw Buck, he was the one for me. With him, all of my dreams have come true. Don't you want me to be happy?"
Shylo turned to study her sister. There was no denying the love shining deep in Cassie's pale blue eyes, no matter how wrong Buck might be for her or how badly such a union might turn out. Besides, how could she possibly deny her sister the kind of love she herself had just lost? She knew firsthand the kind of joy it could bring her—especially if it really was love.
With yet another sigh she said, "Oh, all right, but there's going to be some rules. First off, no more bedding down with that boy until you're married good and proper. Then—"
"Oh, thank you, Shylo." Cassie threw her arms around her sister's neck and kissed her soundly on the cheek. "You've made me the happiest girl in the whole world."
Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, Shylo said, "I'll make you the sorriest if you don't pay attention to the rules. Second, he's got to get some kind of job—something that doesn't involve robbing trains or kidnapping folks. Will he do that?"
"He'll do anything to be with me, I know he will." She thought a minute, then added, "'Course, I don't know what kind of work he'll be able to find. So far, the only thing he's good at is holding the horses and lighting fires."
Shylo's brows drew together as she tried to make sense of that, but before she could ask for an explanation, a knock sounded at the door. Dimitri! she thought instantly, even though she knew it couldn't be him.
Cassie started to rise, but on the off chance Dimitri had come for her, Shylo held her sister in place. "I'll get it. You think some more on coming up with a job for Buck."
