Kane shrugged. “She can get ’em later. All I want is to show up Fenton. I want to sit in my own dinin’ room with one of those Chandlers there as my wife.”
“And what do you plan to do with Houston after this dinner? She’s not a pair of shoes that you can throw away.”
“I’m buyin’ her some jewelry. She can keep it and, if I can’t find a buyer, I’ll give her this house.”
“Just like that?” Edan asked. “You’re going to tell her to go away, that you’re through with her?”
“She’ll be glad to get rid of me.” He finished the whiskey. “And I don’t have time for a woman in my life. Take her home, will you?” With that, he left the room.
Chapter 10
Houston cried herself to sleep that night. Her confusion was what made her so miserable. Most of her life she’d lived under the rule of her stepfather, and Duncan Gates had rigid ideas of what a lady should and should not do. Houston had always tried to live up to his ideas. Any time she’d broken rules she’d done so in secret.
With Leander, she’d conducted herself with absolute restraint. He needed a lady for a wife and Houston had become that lady. In public and in private, she’d been a lady. Her conduct was always perfect.
Yet Leander had actually wanted someone who was far and away from being a lady. The words he’d said about how wonderful Blair was were burned on her heart.
And then Kane came along, so different from Lee, with none of Lee’s polish, none of Lee’s sense of self-worth. But Kane’d wanted a lady, and when she wasn’t one . . .
She’d never forget the look of disgust on his face after she’d rolled about on the floor with him.
How could she please a man? She’d thought Lee wanted a lady, but he hadn’t. She had thought she’d learned from that experience that what men really wanted was a woman of passion. But Kane didn’t. He wanted a lady.
The more she thought, the more she cried.
Later in the day, when Blair came to Houston’s room, she saw her sister’s red, swollen eyes and slipped into bed with her. For a while they didn’t speak, but Houston began crying again.
“Is your life so awful?” Blair asked.
Sniffling, Houston nodded against Blair’s shoulder.
“Taggert?” Blair asked.
Again Houston nodded. “I don’t know what he wants from me.”
“Anything he can get, most likely,” Blair said. “You don’t have to marry him. No one’s forcing you to. If you’d make it clear that you want Leander, I think you could get him back.”
“Leander wants you,” Houston said, sitting up.
“He only wants me because I gave him what you wouldn’t,” Blair said. “Houston, you love Leander. Heaven only knows why, but you do, you have for years. Think what marriage to him would mean. You could live in the house he built for you, have your children and—.”
“No,” Houston said, taking a handkerchief from a bedside drawer. “Leander belongs to you in a way he never belonged to me. He’d much rather have you.”
“No, he wouldn’t! You don’t know what you’re saying. He doesn’t like me at all. This morning at the hospital he said I was a puppet-doctor, that I did more harm than good and—.” She buried her face in her hands.
“Maybe he doesn’t like your doctor
ing but he loves your kisses,” Houston said angrily. “Oh, Blair, I am sorry. I’m just tired and upset. Perhaps it’s nerves before the wedding.”
“What did Taggert do to you?”
“Nothing,” Houston said, hiding her face in the handkerchief. “He’s always been more than honest with me. I think perhaps I lie to myself.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. I have work to do,” she said as she got out of the bed. “There’s so much to do to get ready for the wedding.”
“You’re still going to marry him?” Blair asked softly.