Page 21 (1/2)

Collect Jane Her hackles rose She was not a parcel to be fetched Her chin lifted He did notfire The corners of hissemblance of a s "Indeed?" Gathering a fistful ofJane’s hand Her cold fingers circled Jane’s wrist, pulling her free of Des Jane"

Jane twisted free, determined to remain

"Jane," Seth’s voice, deep and potent, stroked some place deep inside her As if pulled by an invisible thread, sheso She had finished running From him From herself

Coarden She saw that no she understood Seth had never left her He was in her blood

She stopped beside hi her pal Seth brought his hand to the small of her back and she juers singed her through her clothing, re her of the fire found in his caress

"He’s the one," Desht for breath, broke through her thoughts Judging fro lost to him Hot words tumbled from his mouth "He’s the one you let crawl beneath your skirts"

Chloris ers as she shook her head

Seth’s lips tightened Ahis scar ju upon his face His eyes changed, gleas," he warned, his words dropping like stones in the thick air "This can be easy or hard Either way, she’s leaving with me"

Her blood pumped so loudly in her ears she felt certain the others in the room could hear it

"Like hell she is," Deser at his side As if she were a dog to be ordered about, he coh her All her life she had done what others expected, what others wanted And what had it gotten her? Parents who cared nothing for her? A faithless husband?

Relations that ran roughshod over her? She gave her head a sh her nostrils, drawing the air deep into her lungs Her single night with Seth had been her one self-indulgence And for that, she could not suret Even as her head told her she should feel the deepest sha as others wanted, finished putting herself last If she had considered herself first, perhaps she would have told Seth how she felt for hio Before Madeline sank her claws into him Before he set sail Before she married Marcus and put to death drea her head, she banished _what if from _ her head That road only led tofor herself, she stepped away fro her arms over her chest in an unladylike pose, she declared, "I will not"

Desmond drew nearer Still, she did not shrink away Not even when he stopped before her, eyes glasslike and unblinking

"Jane," he said, his voice loarning, soft with threat "Don’t do soaze cut to Seth--"tell St Claire here you’re not going anywhere with hiht under this roof"

His eyes flashed with a desperate fury and he snatched hold of her arm She stifled her wince

"You heard her," Seth cut in behind her "Let her go"

Chloriscontrol "For God’s sake, Desmond, unhand her," she hissed

Dese denial

"I advise you to listen to your wife," Seth bit out, the hard edge of his voice scraping her frayed nerves as he stepped alongside her, his body hu with tension

As if he hadn’t heard a word, Des deeper into her arm "Whore," he hissed,

"This isn’t--"

Seth shot fro with Desmond’s face in a blur of movement

Dess stretched before hi steadily between his fingers as he sprawled on the floor Chloris shrieked and crouched down beside her husband

"It’s finished," Seth ground out "Understand?"

Des Jane to wonder if he in fact did

Grunting, Chloris tugged hi at Seth, she spat, "You anio" Her eyes scoured Jane with loathing as she dragged Desside of her

"Good riddance"

Unruffled by Chloris’s histrionics, Seth lowered hi the arm as he watched their clu hands in the folds of her skirts, e over the violent episode