Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [170]
He’d broken her heart as no one else could ever do. He’d told her half-truths over and over while she’d bared her soul to him. Damn him for that. And damn her for being so stupid to fall into his arms because he looked at her with his soul in his eyes. She tossed the canvas down and shoved back the chair, too upset and restless to contain the bitter, sorrowful emotions welling up and swirling around like a dark whirlpool.
The cool night air whispered to her and she stepped outside onto the back patio where her flowers and shrubs could surround her with their bright colors and soothing beauty. Her vision blurred, tears swimming in her eyes, brimming over and trickling down her cheeks. She pressed the heel of her hand to her burning eyes.
A hard hand clamped tight over her mouth as a large body shoved hers against the wall. The scent of expensive male cologne washed over her, throwing her back into another time. Her heart slammed hard in her chest, fear a slick taste in her mouth.
Jean-Claude kept her against the wall with one hand, while he thrust his finger under her nose. “You ripped out my heart,” he accused in a low hiss, his dark eyes boring into hers. Both hands gripped her shirtfront and dragged her to him, his mouth descending hard on hers. His mouth mashed against hers hard, a display of ownership. His tongue forcing its way into her mouth was a violation.
She tasted murder. Blood. Her brother’s terror and her own hate. Bile rose and when he broke away from her, she coughed it down, rubbing at her stinging lips with the back of her hand, her gaze never leaving his. She pressed herself against the side of her house, facing the man who had ordered the torture and murder of her brother.
“Did you think I could just forget you, Judith?” Jean-Claude demanded. He took a long, slow look around. “I know you haven’t forgotten me. I waited all these years and you never came. You never wrote to me. Why, ma belle, did you desert me when I needed you most?”
“How can you ask me that?” She couldn’t help the sudden flash of temper. There was no way to suppress the surge of anger. “You had my brother tortured. Murdered. Did you think I would love you for that?”
He shook his head, those dark eyes still boring into hers. “That was his decision alone. My men had orders to let him go the moment he told them where you were. That was all he had to do to gain his freedom and his life. Such a small thing I asked and he refused. I will not have you put his death on me. That was entirely his choice.”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She could see he had no understanding of why she didn’t see his point of view. He considered himself reasonable. Judith shook her head. “You’re not even denying that you had your men torture him.”
He pointed his finger at her again. “You ran from me. No note, no explanation. You just took off. What did you expect, mon amour, that I would just take something like that lying down?” He stepped closer to her, his breath hot in her face. “You are mine. Mine. You don’t end us. Not ever. That’s not allowed, Judith. I won’t have it.”
“You were in that room, Jean-Claude. I saw you telling your men to hurt that poor man. He was pleading for mercy . . .”
“He stole from me. You shouldn’t have seen that. That was not for your eyes. And you should have come to me and told me . . .”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me? How could you be afraid of me?” He looked genuinely