“Shh…” He smoothed his hand down her back. “You were hurt. I should have been there with you. If we had not argued, I would have been. I am sorry.”
She pulled away, somehow managing to stifle the emotions emanating off of her like an electric storm. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands and sniffed. “We need to go. I have to see him.”
Sandor breathed a silent sigh of relief that she had decided to let him take her. She needed him even if she did not realize it.
They were in the car when Ellie asked, “How did you know about my sister?”
“Hawk called.”
“Oh.” She sighed. “That’s right. You said something about talking to him. He told you about my dad?”
“Yes, in a later phone call.”
“It was so shocking to find out I had a sister.”
“No doubt horrifically so for you. But I had begun to suspect something was not right with the photos before I spoke to Hawk.”
“What…why?”
“The woman in the pictures looks like you, but there are subtle differences.”
“Why didn’t you notice those before you accused me of sleeping around?” He could feel her intent stare as he negotiated city traffic.
“I was too angry to look at the pictures closely at first.”
“But you weren’t too upset after?” She sounded very confused.
“After you threw me out of your apartment, I went to my office. The pictures were there…” He let his voice trail off, unwilling to admit to the compulsion to be connected to her even if it was through looking at pictures of her with another man.
“And you looked at them?”
“Yes.”
“Closely enough to notice the differences in the way my twin and I look?”
“Yes,” he ground out.
“I would have thought you’d burn them and say good riddance.”
“They were on my computer hard drive.”
“Delete them then.”
If doing so could have erased the feelings that came with looking at them, he would have. Nevertheless, he said, “I am glad I did not.”
“Why?”
“I saw the truth.”
“But I bet you didn’t accept it until after Hawk’s phone call.”
“You are right.”
“But you found it comforting?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure I understand why. Since your watchdog was so obviously observing the wrong person, there’s nothing to prove that I wasn’t having a hot affair with some Spanish stud at the same time. Maybe I discovered the joys of fulfilling sex with you and decided to experiment a little.”
He tried not to let her flippancy get to him. In some ways he definitely deserved her derision, but a primitive part of him wanted to growl at her to shut up. He did not like those words coming out of her mouth. “You came home prepared to marry me, you would not have done so if you were interested in experimenting sexually with others.”
“Maybe I decided you were better in bed than my other experiments.”
He couldn’t help it. A growl escaped. “You would not do that,” he said as evenly as he could, his grip on the steering wheel white-knuckled.
“That’s not what you said this morning.”
“I believed the evidence of my eyes.” Maybe he had been premature in believing she would understand and forgive that aspect of their argument more easily than the other.
She turned to look out her side window, creating a mental distance that was intolerable. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I do not agree,” he ground out. “I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“For not trusting you. For accusing you of infidelity.”
“We aren’t married, I can’t be unfaithful to you. Even if I had sex with ten other men—and you can’t be sure that I didn’t—it wouldn’t mean I was unfaithful.”
“You did not have sex with someone else. Stop implying you might have.”
“Why?”
“You are goading my temper.”
“So?”
“So, I do not want to have another argument with you.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Later…when you are not so fragile, pick a fight. For now, please…I am pleading with you, Ellie. Stop provoking me.”
She gasped as if in shock.
Did she think he did not care enough about her to put his pride aside to protect her? He was not so weak.
After a couple of tension-filled minutes of silence, she sighed. “It really doesn’t matter, but I didn’t have sex with anyone else,” she grudgingly admitted.