Passionate Choice

Chapter 9.8

"I... I saw and heard Sora when she came along the dock to welcome you. I saw the way she greeted you. She kissed and hugged you as if... as if she were very fond of you." Selena said, stammering.

"She is fond of me and I of her, but her hugging and kissing didn't mean any more than that," Keith interrupted her coldly.

"And she said: 'Now we can be married. Now we can set the date.' So it was easy for me to believe that you had returned to marry her."

His glass crashed down on the table with such force, she thought it would shatter into smithereens.

"You believed that Sora and I..." he began and broke off to draw in his breath hissingly. He leaned across the table threateningly. "Then why the hell didn't you say so at the time?" he demanded harshly.

"I was too angry. And disappointed."

"Disappointed?"

"In you. I believed the same of you as you believed of me on Sanada. I believed you to be a liar and a cheat; that you had taken me sailing with you as... as a last amorous fling before you settled down to married life." Her voice faltered a little, then all that disappointment which she had felt and had smothered for years burst out, "Oh you have no idea how hurt I was," she cried. "How unhappy, to think that you had used me in that way."

There was another silence then the legs of his chair scraped on the stone floor of the terrace. He stood up paced over to the balustrade and stood there looking out at the garden for a few moments before turning and pacing back to stand in front of her, hands in the pockets of the well-cut, navy blue cotton twill trousers he was wearing.

"So you left without giving me a chance to put you right," he said in a savage undertone, as he leaned towards her. "My God, that was arrogant of you, Selena, arrogant and foolish."

"I may have been foolish but never arrogant," she retorted, seared by his rebuke and glaring up at him. "I... I was too hurt to be that."

"And I suppose it never occurred to you that I could be hurt too, because after all we had done together, after all we had been to each other, all you wanted was to leave me and..."

"But we'd made no commitment to each other," she burst out defensively. "You said right from the start that I was to feel free to leave when I wanted, that it would be over when we returned to Nassau because there was something else you had to do. How was I to know you would ask me to stay on?"

"When we started out, I had no idea how deeply and emotionally involved I was going to become with you, no idea at all," he said softly, taking his hand from his pockets. He placed them in her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. "I had no idea I was going to fall in love with you, Selena."

*A/N: Please my patron in Patreon and read chapters in advance. My other works are also available there. Or if you just want to support me. Please look for creator Zetar086.
Love lots ♥️