Stormy Vows - Iris Johansen [158]
The tears were running freely down her cheeks now. “Damn you, Jake! Can't you see that what we've got is worth fighting for?”
For a moment there was a flicker of agony in the depths of Jake's eyes, and then he turned away. “I'll send someone down for your bags in an hour,” he said without expression. “Be ready!”
“The hell I will!” For the first time Jane realized that it was really happening, that no amount of persuasion was going to shake that iron determination. She was going to be sent away.
She whirled and walked blindly from him, so lost in a haze of pain and misery that she cannoned into Marc Benjamin. With a broken apology, her face a strained mask of agony, she pushed past him, stumbling dazedly in the direction of their cabin.
Benjamin gave a soundless whistle as he gazed after the vulnerable little figure, before he turned back and approached Jake Dominic with a grim smile on his face. He waved the folded newspaper in his hand. “I guess I don't have to ask if you saw this little item,” he said, tossing the paper casually on the deck chair. “I see Jane is pretty upset by it all.”
Jake turned to face him, and Benjamin inhaled sharply. Jake's face wore the expression of a man suffering the tortures of hell. The dark eyes, which usually mirrored only mockery and cynicism, were wells of pain and torment.
“Have the launch prepared, Marc,” Jake said dully, “and arrange to have someone go down and pick up her luggage in about an hour. Jane will be taking the evening plane to Miami.”
Benjamin's face reflected his surprise. “I never thought she'd be that upset by this trash,” he said thoughtfully, gesturing contemptuously at the newspaper on the deck chair. “I'd have bet it would have taken considerably more than that to make her leave you.”
Jake's mirthless laugh was like the snarl of an animal in pain. “Oh, God, yes,” he said bitterly. “If I'd let her, the little fool would have stayed and let the world smear her with the same filth that they attribute to me.” His fist struck the rail. “Damn it, she even said she expected it!”
“She's a sensible girl in spite of all that idealism,” Benjamin said slowly. “Jane always knew what she'd be facing, but she didn't care.”
“Well, I care, damn it!” Jake said passionately. “I'm not going to stand by and let them hurt her. God, do you realize what a year as my mistress could do to a girl like Jane?”
“She wouldn't change,” Benjamin said confidently. “The girl is stronger than you think.” He looked at Jake's face speculatively, and the torment he saw there prompted him to make a suggestion. “Of course, there's another way that you could protect her if you chose. You could marry her.”
Jake looked at him scornfully. “Do you think that I haven't thought of that?” he asked bitterly. “Don't you think that I'd like to reach out and grab what I want, just as I have all my life?” He shook his head, his lips thinned in a line of pain. “My God, I'm seventeen years older than Jane and a hundred years older in experience. Even a dissipated bastard like me knows that she deserves better than that.” He smiled bitterly. “I've done her enough damage by making her my mistress.” His hand struck the rail again. “But damn it, I wanted something for myself!”
“You love her,” Benjamin stated, with wonder coloring his voice.
“Of course I love her,” he said impatiently. “Who the hell wouldn't?” His eyes narrowed to brooding darkness. “She's like a vase of the finest crystal, absolutely clear, with none of the distortions and impurities that plague most of the rest of us.”
Benjamin's lips quirked. Dominic was not only completely crazy about Jane, he was waxing lyrical. “I can't see the problem,” he said. “Lord knows,