Page 19 of The Wrong Husband

"How could you, Emilia?" Maeve had tears in her eyes.

"I'm…," Emilia began and then paused, "it just happened, Mama. Damian was drunk and I—"

"I wasn't that drunk, darling," I interjected, sliding an arm around her. She was small, slim, like a fairy. That night when I saw her naked, I'd been mesmerized by all the angles and gentle curves of her body. It had been brutally erotic to touch her, feel her respond to me.

Now, she stood stiffly next to me, and I felt some remorse for what I did to her. My mother always warned me about being hot headed when I was angry.

Why didn't I just agree to annul the marriage and pretend it never happened?

Bianca came into her mother's office. She was crying and I smirked. Ah, here was why I had insisted on staying married.

"Devi just called me…." She looked at my arm around Emilia. She charged and before I could stop her, she had pushed my wife hard, so hard that she fell on the furniture, crashing against a coffee table.

Emilia cried out in pain, and I saw blood.

"Fuck." I crouched down as she sat up, whimpering. "You okay?"

She glared at me. "Do I look okay?"

She touched her forehead and feeling the wetness and brought it in front of her eyes.

"Damian," Bianca screamed and turned to see her. "You married her? And…you gave her my ring?"

I was tempted to tell Bianca that this was revenge but that would take the whole sting out of this little caper I'd put together, albeit in a hurry and without giving much thought to how it would impact people around me—especially Emilia.

I rose and faced Bianca. God, she was beautiful. Even when she cried, there was something stunning about her. I still loved this woman. Love didn't die just because the relationship was over.

"How could you?" She pounded my chest and I let her, anger, and grief, pour into me. I wanted this; needed to see her upset. And yet, it hurt me to see her in pain.

I put my arms around Bianca and immediately felt the rightness of us together.

"Why would you do this?" Bianca asked.

"It just happened," I murmured.

And that's when I heard a small wince.

Fuck! I'd forgotten about my bleeding wife. Emilia had risen and was not sitting on a chair. Her mother wasn't helping her.

Emilia had pulled out some tissues from a holder and was trying to stem the bleeding.

I tried to disengage from Bianca, but she wouldn't let me. She was distraught. Maeve was stroking her older daughter's back, soothing her.

Emilia wasn't even looking at us, not even expecting anyone to help her, care for her. She looked at the bloody tissue and I saw her grimace. It was as if she was all alone and…fuck me, but she was.

I jerked my ex-girlfriend out of my arms.

I crouched next to Emilia. "Hey."

She grinned at me. Actually grinned. "Can you take a look and see if I need stitches?"

She seemed so calm about getting hurt. No hysterics. Nothing.

I took the tissue from her, wiped the blood, and then checked out the edge of the coffee table she'd banged her forehead against. The corner made of metal had struck her hard.

"I think so," I whispered, shocked that Bianca had hurt Emilia. Actually, pushed her so hard that I needed to take her to a doctor to get stitched up.

"Damian, she's fine. We need to talk," Bianca ordered.