Читать книгу Proud Revenge, Passionate Wedlock - Janette Kenny, Janette Kenny - Страница 8

DARE he believe Allegra suffered amnesia following the accident?

That certainly hadn’t been an act meant to dupe him when she’d whipped around and stared into the rear seat. The terror on her face had been too real—her skin too pale, her eyes distant and filled with an anguish that sent chills careening down his spine.

No, that hadn’t been an act.

His body leaped into full protective mode the second he realized her fear was genuine. If she hadn’t been strapped in her seat, he was sure she would have thrown herself into his arms.

His open arms, for he was reaching to gather her close at that same moment. Even now after her terror had passed and she seemed in control, he sensed a vulnerability in her that kept his nerves dancing on the razor’s edge.

He was compelled to believe she’d been injured in the accident even though he knew that wasn’t the case at all. For if she had suffered an injury great enough to cause amnesia, his madre would have informed him after the accident. He rued the fact he had been out of country, unable to see the truth for himself.

No, Allegra had walked away from the accident and left Cancún with Amando a mere two days after the accident. She left the care of their daughter’s interment to his madre. She hadn’t even had the decency to attend the funeral!

Bearing those truths in mind was the impetus he needed to gain the upper hand over those tender emotions he reviled.

As for her memory loss, he suspected Allegra had suffered another accident while she was off with her lover. Perhaps her guilt over what she’d done had been so great that she truly believed she’d been injured in the same accident that took their daughter’s life.

If so, then it was fitting, but not nearly punishment enough for what she’d done to their innocent daughter.

He wanted her to hurt as badly as he did. He wanted her to realize she could not cuckold him and walk away without repercussions.

“Okay,” he said, “We proceed as planned.”

“Okay.” She nodded.

When he married Allegra, he’d vowed to love, trust and protect her. But he’d failed on all counts.

That admission lashed him like his ancestor’s cat-o’-nine tails. He’d professed to love her, yet he’d held a part of himself back from her. He’d vowed to honor her, yet he’d hired a man to watch her in his stead.

He’d entrusted others to keep her safe while he threw himself into shoring up his empire. He’d left her and his child alone and clearly she’d grown bored.

Sí, he’d given her ample reasons to take a lover and leave him. He’d given her damn few to stay.

He drove the Jaguar up the palm lined driveway and whipped beneath the palapa at the El Trópico and parked, giving the valet the barest nod as he climbed from the car. He took a moment to adjust his tie and rein in his anger while another valet rushed to assist the lady.

Allegra stepped from the car and swayed slightly, as if caught unaware by the increasing wind pushing in from the Caribbean. The innate sense that her unsteadiness wasn’t an affectation had him rounding the hood of the car.