“I feel like such an idiot for not realising that I was never going to come first,” Alexa said when she was finally able to pull herself together.
“Maybe you should have found a guy who didn’t have a wife then,” said a voice and both Alexa and Connor spun around in surprise to find Lilly staring at them. Before they could say anything Lilly had turned and fled but not before Connor had seen the glimmer of tears in her eyes.
“Lilly,” he shouted and he left a bemused Alexa staring after him as he gave chase to his wife. He realised that what she’d seen could easily be misconstrued but he’d thought that they were past all the suspicions and secrets.
Lilly ran as if the hounds of hell were after her. She couldn’t believe that she’d fallen for him again only to come second to Alexa yet again. How could she not have trusted her instincts all along? She’d wanted to believe that her father was lying and that Connor was completely faithful to her but it was all there for her to see.
Connor had been all over Alexa for days and she’d done her best not to read anything in to that but it wasn’t as easy to convince herself when she witnessed it for herself. She’d walked in to hear Connor dumping her and it had finally hit her that she’d been played for a colossal fool. She just hadn’t wanted to believe that Connor would do that to her but she finally had all the proof she needed. The irony was that she’d gone there to let Connor know that she wanted to make their reunion permanent and that she had some news that would cement their relationship like nothing else could.
Placing a protective hand over her stomach she cursed at the bad timing of everything. Why did this keep happening to her? Taking a deep breath she risked a glance back and breathed easier when she didn’t see Connor behind her. She fought against the emotional ache that threatened. She would not repeat the past and she wouldn’t lose another baby because of his betrayal.
It was as she had this thought that several things happened simultaneously. She heard a shout from Connor as she crossed the road and she glanced back only to hear his panicked cry. She followed the direction of his gaze and cried out in fear as she realised that a car was heading right for her at speed. She jumped out of the way moments before it would have ploughed her down. The side of it caught her anyway and she fell to the ground with a cry of absolute agony as her head bounced off the kerb and her body felt like a ragdoll being shaken. Things seemed hazy and it was harder to focus on anything though she tried her best. A crowd had gathered around her and the car seemed to have disappeared. Voices drifted to her though she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then suddenly a gentle hand touched her head and she groaned at the slight pain that caused. The world dimmed and she gave a sigh of relief as she gave in to the darkness.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Connor could swear that his heart stopped beating when he saw the car hit Lilly. He’d tried to shout out a warning but he’d been too far away to save her. Luckily she’d moved out the way or the damage could have been a lot worse, not that it wasn’t bad now. She had a cut on her head that was really worrying him and several scrapes and bruises. She’d passed in to unconsciousness moments after he’d gotten to her and it worried him that she hadn’t come round. An ambulance had been called but it seemed to take forever before he heard the sirens that signalled their arrival. He hadn’t let Lilly go since he’d gotten there. He was careful not to move her in case anything was broken but he wasn’t prepared to leave her side until she’d been checked over. He couldn’t bear to see her looking so fragile and vulnerable like this.
The paramedics did a quick job of checking her over and Lilly had even come round while they were doing their checks. Connor wanted to stay with her but the police insisted that he talk to them while the paramedics were with her. Connor kept things short and simple because he didn’t want to be away from her for longer than necessary. He answered their questions and confirmed that he’d seen the car, a basic silver Citroen with no identifying features. He hadn’t seen the driver and yes he’d noted that the car was going way over the speed limit. Their questions probably didn’t take more than ten minutes but they seemed to take hours. Finally he managed to excuse himself as Lilly was placed on a stretcher and transferred to the ambulance. He saw Alexa’s pale face in the crowd of people but couldn’t tear himself away from Lilly to check on her. His wife was his number one priority right then.
The ambulance ride passed excruciatingly slowly and Connor wished that they could hurry the hell up so that his wife could get the treatment that she obviously needed. He hated to see her in pain like this. She was obviously confused and it worried him that she might have sustained more damage than they knew.
The hospital staff were calm and efficient. They seemed to understand his need to be close to her but were also careful to move him away so they could heal Lilly. They did x-rays and scans and checks until they were satisfied with the results. He didn’t understand how they could be so calm all the time, he was a nervous wreck.
Finally they moved Lilly up to a ward so they could observe her and it wasn’t long before a doctor came to talk to them. Lilly was more herself by then and was sat up and was even talking though he glimpsed a few grimaces of pain that she wasn’t quick enough to hide. He also noticed how she was carefully avoiding talking to him.
“I have your results here and things are looking good,” the doctor said when he came in. Connor let out a breath that he hadn’t even realised he’d been holding. He’d been terrified that she had internal injuries that might take her from him.
“No broken bones or anything?” Connor asked and the doctor offered an understanding smile as he consulted his charts.
“No broken bones and no internal bleeding. A small bump on the head and a mild concussion, some bruising on her right side but nothing major. Both you and the baby will be just fine, Mrs Wentworth. You had a very lucky escape,” the doctor said kindly and Lilly offered him a genuine smile while Connor froze in place.
“Thank you so much,” Lilly said and the doctor acknowledged that with a nod.
“We’ll have to keep you in to observe you overnight but I’m confident that you should be just fine to go home tomorrow,” the doctor said before he took his leave.
Silence filled the room once he left and Connor struggled to get his head round the fact that Lilly was apparently pregnant. He had no doubt that she was carrying his child and he had very mixed emotions about that. On the one hand he was thrilled that they were having a baby and couldn’t wait to be a dad. On the other hand he was terrified that something would happen to their child and that he would grow close to their baby only to have it ripped from him again.
“How long have you known?” he demanded and regretted the gruff tone he used. Dammit, the woman had just been in a car accident and he was interrogating her like an asshole.
“Since this morning,” she said quietly. He jerked at that piece of news.
“That’s why you were at Alexa’s,” he confirmed and she shrugged.
“I figured that was where you’d be,” she said. He winced at that. He knew that she was speaking the truth but he felt like a real asshole when he realised that he had been spending more time with his sister-in-law than with his own wife.
“It wasn’t what you thought it was,” he promised her but she didn’t look like she believed him. Hell, if he were in her position then he wouldn’t believe him either.
“So, she wasn’t breaking off a relationship,” Lilly said mockingly and he winced at that.
“No, she was.”
“Oh, so I guess I just happened to miss the other guy leaving then,” she said and he ran a rough hand across his face.
“She wasn’t talking about me, she was talking about Cameron,” he tried to tell her but could tell that he wasn’t getting through to her.
“Oh right. The elusive brother-in-law of mine who I have yet to see,” she said. Another wince from him. It was true that she had yet to meet his brother but it wasn’t like he hadn’t
tried to introduce them. His brother was a slippery one and it was hard to pin him down for the length of time an introduction would take.
“I promise you Lilly, I wasn’t having an affair.”
She looked like she wanted to believe him and he wanted her to trust him without question but he could tell that she didn’t. It wasn’t surprising with the amount of sneaking around that he’d been doing lately.
“Why were you with her all the time then?” she asked. Connor hesitated. He wanted to tell her the truth but he didn’t dare put her in any more danger and he couldn’t break his promise to his brother.
“I wish I could tell you,” he finally said and she turned her head away in dismay.
“You’re not going to,” she said sadly and he wished that things weren’t so damn complicated.
“I want to Lilly, believe me I do. It’s just that I promised I wouldn’t say anything, not even to you.”
Lilly turned away from him and hunched under the covers. She couldn’t help the comparisons her mind was making from the way things had been once before. She’d trusted him again and she was in almost the same position as before. Once again she’d seen irrefutable evidence of his cheating with Alexa, once again she’d wanted to believe him and once again she was back in hospital with her heart in tatters but at least this time she still had the little life inside of her to cling to. She didn’t want to risk this little ones life and that meant that she needed to do something drastic no matter how much it might hurt her.
“I need you to leave and not come back,” she said softly. At first she thought he hadn’t heard her because there was nothing but silence. When she turned back to look at him though she found him knelt next to her with his hand on the bed as though he’d been reaching for her.
“Please don’t send me away,” he said. Her heart ached at the lost boy look he was giving her but she couldn’t risk hurting herself or the baby anymore and if he stayed then his secrets and lies would rip them all apart.
“I want to believe you, I do. But you’re not giving me anything else to believe right now. Either I believe that you’ve been sleeping with Alexa behind my back or I believe that there’s a good reason for you being around her all the time. The problem is that I can’t think of one single reason why you wouldn’t tell your pregnant wife the truth,” she said. He could see her point of view and it killed him that he couldn’t tell her the truth. Suddenly he knew what he had to do.
“I’ll be back later,” he said. Before she could protest he placed a quick kiss on her lips and then he was gone.
Connor only waited until he was out of the hospital before he rang his brother. He couldn’t do this anymore. He had to make a choice between sticking by the brother who had abandoned him for most of his life and standing by the woman who had done nothing but love him, even when he’d given her cause not to.
“We need to meet,” he said without preamble as soon as his brother picked up.
“Thirty minutes, usual spot.”
The phone went dead in his hand and Connor glared at it as he fought the urge to throw it in to a wall.
It didn’t take him long to reach their usual meeting place in one of the rooms of his hotel. It was a private room that not many people were permitted to use and had served well as a meeting place over the years. There was a secret way up to that floor and they’d discovered when they were younger which were the best spots to avoid the cameras. It was the one place where Cameron could be certain of never being captured on film as he knew exactly what angles to turn and where to avoid.
Connor was there early and he paced as he waited for his brother. He couldn’t believe that he’d risked his entire marriage just to help out his brother. Cameron might have done plenty for him when they were kids but they hadn’t been close in years and his brother was just destroying everything that they’d built in his absence. It had been hard for all of them to cope with his decision to join the army but they’d survived those years with the expectation that he would come home to them. Instead he’d started up his own specialist business where he was again putting himself in harms way. He’d never given a damn the effect that it was having on his family and Connor was sick of always giving his brother the benefit of the doubt.
It had nearly destroyed the family as they worried that Cameron wouldn’t return home. Alexa was a shell of the woman she’d once been. She’d put her life on hold to wait for him to return to her and he never had. Jaz had gone off the rails for a short time and it was only the prospect of motherhood that had forced her to focus on other things. He was certain that without his niece Jaz would have headed down a dark path. His parents had gone through a rocky patch as they’d worried about his brother but they’d managed to heal and move on. And he’d almost let the loss of his brother destroy everything that he’d gained. How could he have been so stupid as to risk the woman he loved for a selfish, uncaring bastard like Cameron?
“How could you fucking leave her?”
Connor barely heard the door and he had no warning at all before his brother launched himself at him. Cameron got in a lucky punch but the anger that flowed through his veins ensured that Connor hit back twice as hard.
“You’re an asshole,” he hissed at his brother.
“I’m the asshole? I’m not the one who left Alexa unprotected when I was supposed to be guarding her,” Cameron ground out as he launched himself at his brother and knocked him in to one of the walls hard enough to cause a concussion.
“No, you’re the one who left her unprotected for eight years and then turn up out of the fucking blue just to screw up everyone else’s life too,” Connor accused as he punched Cameron in the gut and followed it up with a fist to the nose. He half hoped that he’d broken it.
“You think I don’t know that everything I touch turns to shit?” Cameron hissed as he swiped at his bloody nose and then swept Connor’s feet from under him so he hit the floor with a painful thud.
“Then why the hell didn’t you stay away and leave us to it?” Connor growled. Cameron froze at that as if he couldn’t believe his brother had said that.
“You think I didn’t fucking try?” Cameron ground out and the brothers just stared at each other as Connor got slowly to his feet.
“Why did you come back?” Connor asked finally. He knew it wasn’t for them because he’d never given a crap about any of them. If he had then he wouldn’t have left them worrying themselves sick over him for eight years.
“Because I couldn’t stay away from her,” Cameron ground out.
“Alexa?” Connor asked in surprise. He hadn’t thought that his brother cared that much about her, he hadn’t seemed to.
“She’s like a fucking mythical siren that lures me in. I can’t be around her and fucking up her life but I can’t stay away,” Cameron said. Connor understood that temptation only too well. He felt it every time he looked at Lilly. She was far too good for him and yet he couldn’t stay away.
“Then why don’t you put her out of her damn misery and make a decision one way or the other,” Connor suggested. He knew how much it hurt Alexa to have only half of him. She didn’t have him in her life fully yet she was never completely free of him. He knew how much that messed with her mind.
“Because I can’t let her go. I need to know that she’s safe,” Cameron admitted. Connor could understand that too but he didn’t have to accept it.
“Then do your own damned dirty work from now on,” Connor said. Cameron looked shocked by that, probably because Connor had never refused him anything before.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he demanded.
“It means that if you want someone to watch Alexa then do it your damned self because I’m not going to,” he told him.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off Connor and he realised that he’d been carrying the burden of responsibility for far too long. He’d seen how much his brother’s disappearance had affected his family and he’d tried to make up for that by doing
everything he could to help them out. He’d looked out for Alexa because he’d known how much she was hurting and how much of an outsider she felt in his family. He’d done his best to help Jasmine because she was his baby sister and a teenage mum. He’d done everything for everyone else and never once taken the time to look after himself and his own little family first. Well, from now on that was his only responsibility.
“You’re going to let her get killed because you can’t be bothered to watch her?” Cameron demanded incredulously and Connor glared at him.
“It isn’t me who can’t be bothered to look after my wife,” Connor retaliated. That seemed to get through to Cameron and he took a defensive stance at the accusation.
“The hell I can’t. I’ve been looking out for her since the day I married her,” he denied and Connor scoffed at that.
‘If you’ve been keeping an eye out for her then where the hell have you been all these years?” Connor demanded.
“I’ve been watching from a distance. I can’t drag her in to my world, you know that,” Cameron said. Connor simply glared at him.
“You think I want to bring Lilly in to your world? She deserves better than whatever crap you’ve dragged home with you. In fact we all do,” Connor said and then he turned and left without another word while Cameron watched him go.
Connor wasn’t going to stand around and watch his wife go through everything that had happened before. He was going to make a stand and he was going to tell her the truth and hope that she could understand.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lilly was asleep when Connor got back to the hospital and she looked so peaceful that he didn’t have the heart to wake her. Instead he stood guard all night and made sure that her sleep wasn’t disturbed. He must have fallen asleep in the chair at some point because he awoke abruptly and saw Lilly laughing softly.
“What time is it?” he asked gruffly and she glanced at the clock.
Their Marriage Reunited Page 13
