NRoberts - G2 Black Rose

 “You can’t. You’re too mad to go anywhere.” The fact was, she’d never seen Roz this angry, and Stella’s term of a little bit scary was currently bumped up too many levels to count. “And I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but I’d bet a month’s pay this is just what he’s hoping for. You need to sit down.”

 “I need to kick his balls blue.”

 “Well, yeah, that’d be great. Except he’s probably expecting it, and he’s probably got something worked out so you’ll get arrested or something for assault. He’s playing you, Roz.”

 “You think I don’t know that?” She threw her arms out as she spun around, looking for something to kick, to hurl, to punch. “You think I don’tknow what that bastard’s doing? I’m not going tostand here and take it anymore.”

 The shout, the fury in it had Lily’s face crumpling, her little mouth trembling an instant before the wail.

 “God, now I’m scaring babies. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Here, let me have her.”

 Lily continued to sob as Roz took her out of Hayley’s arms and cuddled her in her own. “There, sweetheart, I’m not mad at you, I’m not mad at your mama. I’m so sorry, baby girl.” She crooned, and nuzzled while Lily clung to her. “I’m mad at this no-account, slimy-assed, cocksucking son of a bitch who’s doing whatever he can to complicate my life.”

 “You saidcocksucking ,” Hayley whispered. Awed.

 “Sorry. She doesn’t know what I’m saying, so it won’t hurt her.” Lily’s tears were down to sniffles as she began to pull at the ends of Roz’s hair. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that in front of her. It’s the tone that scares her, not the words.”

 “But you saidcocksucking .”

 This time Roz laughed. “I’m so mad,” she said, walking the baby, and calming them both. “Just so mad. And you’re right, and that’s just annoying. I can’t go tearing out of here and going after him. It’s just what he’s looking for. It’s all right, it’ll be all right. He can’t do anything that can’t be fixed.”

 “I’m sorry Roz. I wish I could go kick his balls blue for you.”

 “Thanks, honey, that’s a sweet thing to say. We’ll just go down to dinner.” She held Lily up, blew on her belly to make her laugh. “We’ll just go down to dinner and forget all about the asshole, won’t we, baby girl?”

 “You’re sure?”

 “Absolutely.”

 “Okay. You know, I don’t know as snakes have spines.”

 Roz blinked at her. “What?”

 “You saidsnake-spined —before, when you were raving about Bryce. I’m not sure they have actual spines. Maybe just some sort of skeletal cartilage. Could be wrong, though. I don’t much like snakes, so I haven’t paid a lot of attention.”

 “You never fail, Hayley, just never fail to baffle me.”

 FIFTEEN

ROZ PUTMITCHoff for a day, then for two. She wanted her head clear, her temper calm, and it wasn’t happening quickly. She needed a meeting with her lawyer, and felt obliged to schedule another with William Rolls at the club.

 She hated, absolutely hated, being pulled away from her work, particularly at the very start of high season. She could thank God for Stella, as always for Harper, and for Hayley as well. She could be confident that her business was in the best of hands.

 But those hands weren’t hers, at least not while she was running around tidying up the mess Bryce had made for her.

 With the hateful errands done, she trudged through a soaking rain toward the propagation house. For an hour or two, at least, she could dive into the final prep work for the spring season. And she could take her headache, and her sour mood, into a private spot and let the work do its magic.

 When she was done for the day, she told herself, she was going to find Mitch. If he wasn’t working in her library, she’d call him. She wanted his company—or hoped she would by that evening.

 She wanted conversation, about something other than her problems. And wouldn’t it be nice to relax with him, maybe up in her sitting room, by the fire—especially if the rain continued—and bask a little in the way he looked at her?

 A woman could get very used to having a man look at her as if she were beautiful and desirable and the only one who mattered.

 Get used enough to it, she might start to believe it. She’d like to believe it, Roz realized. What a difference it made, being drawn to a man you felt you could trust.

 She opened the door to the propagation house.

 And stepped into her own bedroom.

 The fire was simmering low, the only light in the room. And it tossed flickers of gold, hints of red into the shadows. She heard them first, the quick breath, the low laughter, the rustle of clothing.

 Then she saw them in the firelight, Bryce, her husband, and the woman who was a guest in her home. Embracing. No, more . . . grappling, hurrying to touch, to taste each other. She could feel the excitement from them, the snap of the illicit thrill. And knew, even in those few shocked seconds, this wasn’t the first time. Hardly the first time.

 She stood, with the sounds of the party dim behind her, and absorbed the betrayal, and the greasy slide of humiliation that was under it.