The Virgin Bride (The Australians) by Miranda Lee

Author:Miranda Lee [Lee, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, General, Romance, Fiction, Virginity, Physicians, Australia, Adult, Historical, Love stories
ISBN: 9780373122783
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2002-10-15T08:59:39+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘YOU were fairly late arriving at the church,’ he said, lightly, and not at all accusingly.

They were barely ten minutes into the drive and she hadn’t said a word. Jason had just climbed back into the car after ripping off the ‘JUST MARRIED’ sign. Emma had spent the short stop taking off her veil and laying it carefully on the back seat. Now she was back, facing the front, pulling at the pins which had anchored her hair up on top of her head. It tumbled down around her ears and neck in a mass of silky blonde waves.

Jason believed she’d heard him, but was pretending not to.

‘Last-minute nerves?’ he suggested, his hand reaching for the key but not turning it yet.

Her sidewards frown seemed innocent enough, but her hands were twisted tightly in her lap. Far too tightly.

‘The reason you were late,’ he repeated calmly, even while his own stomach clenched down hard.

‘Oh. Yes. Nerves.’ And she looked away from him through the passenger window.

Jason decided the only way to defuse the power this man had over Emma—and himself—was to bring him out in the open. ‘Emma,’ he said gently, his hand lifting from the ignition, ‘let’s not keep secrets from each other.’

Her head whipped round, her face flushing with guilt. ‘What do you mean? Secrets?’

‘Look, I know you were thinking about Ratchitt this afternoon in the church. I dare say he’s the reason you were late, because you had some last-minute doubts. It’s perfectly understandable and I’m not upset at all.’

What a pathetic liar he was! It had turned him inside out. Even Emma gave him a look which suggested his lack of anger was incredible.

But to tell her the truth—that he’d been beside himself with the blackest of jealousies—would not help him achieve his goal of taking away the mystery and the magic of this man whom Emma thought she still loved.

‘I won’t be angry with you,’ he said, all the while mentally gnashing his teeth. ‘I promise. So you can admit it. You were thinking about him, weren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she confessed in a strangled voice.

Jason swallowed. ‘Tell me about him.’

Her eyes widened, then jerked away. ‘No,’ she said agitatedly. ‘No, I don’t want to. You can’t make me.’

Jason had never felt so angry. Or so impotent.

Slowly, she turned back to face him, her expression quite determined. ‘I’ve made my choice, Jason,’ she told him. ‘And it’s you. Believe me when I tell you that if Dean had come to me today, before the wedding, and begged me not to marry you, but to marry him instead, then my answer would have been no. I would still be sitting here with you. So please…don’t spoil our honeymoon by bringing Dean up again.’

Jason wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or not. If only she hadn’t sounded so bitter. If only her voice had been warm and passionate, and not so chillingly valiant, as though such a decision would have entailed an awful sacrifice on her part.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ he said, truthfully enough.

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