Chapter 15: Étienne - Crushing His Mountain Flower

“He is not,” I snarled, glaring at Hugo, who had risen from his seat and was watching me warily.

I flicked my eyes back at Mano. Hell no.

“I think I would know,” Léonie said, and I couldn’t believe this was her tone. I couldn’t believe that was her scornful curl of the lips. “You said my baby wasn’t yours. So you win, Étienne. This baby isn’t yours.”

Her hands were so steady on that boat hook, and she was absolutely glowing in the sun. Even the horrific léger I had written on her forehead, thankfully fading now, didn’t diminish her glowing strength and confidence.

After all these days running on the fine edge of sanity and insanity, so impatient to find my wife that it felt like I was peeling out of my own skin, like it was going to roll off me in strips, now she faced me without any excitement. Any relief to see me.

Only revulsion.

I had to fix this.

“Léonie. Please. I know that's my baby.”

“Why do you know that?” she countered. “Like you said, you were gone a lot. You don’t know what I was doing.”

The bottom was sinking out of my damn soul, dark devastation was crawling over every inch of my skin.

“Because you love me,” I said. “You have always loved me.”

She shook her head, and her eyes never left mine. That boat hook never left my throat.

“I don’t love you anymore. Not after what happened. This is what you wanted, Étienne Bastide. You cast me aside. You called me a lying whore. You publicly rejected each and every attempt on my part to explain. Now give me my divorce and get the hell out of here.”

Divorce?

“I will never give you a divorce,” I bit out, grabbing the boat hook and jabbing it toward my throat. “Kill me fucking dead now if you want me to stop. Because I won’t stop until I get your forgiveness.”

Her eyes widened, and for a moment I thought I saw a spark of something deep inside them, but then she jutted her chin over to Mano.

“Let daddy back over here so he can see how his baby is doing.”

“If I thought you were telling the truth I would fucking send him to the bottom of this lake before I let him have you! You are mine. I claimed you a long time ago.”

“It’s too late for that dick-measuring stuff. You publicly rejected me.”

As I watched in horror, the boat hook at my throat, Hugo went to stand by my wife, putting an arm around her waist, hand spanning her baby bump. But she never wanted anyone to touch her but me.

And now Hugo was doing it?

“You need to leave,” he said. “The child in her belly knows my voice. Knows my songs. He knows my love. Not yours. You weren’t here to protect him. So you’re no kind of father at all.”

Rage and despair filled me—at my brothers, at myself.

My fingers itched for violence and the boat hook scraped by my throat as I grabbed Hugo.

My brother had no room to escape, but he leaned in right before I lowered my shoulder into his chest, with a neat little uppercut to the jaw.

Oh, my brother had more of a bite than he claimed, fake-ass scholar and gentleman that he was!

In my rage I was foolhardy, reckless, idiotic as we grappled together, and I felt Léonie’s boat hook stab me in the back as Hugo and I toppled off and into the lake.

My brother ended up with a blow to my chin just as we hit the water that fucking rattled my teeth, and there was a hard smack as Léonie threw the life preserver out. Right in front of Hugo.

“Just leave her alone,” he said. “You’re a break shit up guy, not a fixing it guy. You never have been.”

“I am not.”

“Yeah, the fuck you are. You don’t know how to fix shit because you’ve never had to.”

He grabbed the preserver and made his way back with powerful strokes.

Mme had always insisted he was weak but I didn’t think so anymore. . .

“Léonie!” I shook the water from my ears and swam closer to her boat, trying to grab a hold of it before she started the engine.

“I lied! I didn’t mean anything I said. I swear on all the ancestors that I didn’t!”

That was a serious oath, and I didn’t make it lightly. In fact, I’d only ever made it one other time. . .

“I’ve heard you say that before,” my wife said, glancing over at me, and there was something in how she was so calm while I was a maelstrom of chaotic emotions. “You swore by all the ancestors on our wedding day that you’d always take care of me. You lied then, so why should I believe you now?”

Hugo was already back in the boat and Léonie turned on the engine.

And then she was gone. Without another backwards glance.

“Léonie!” I roared again, waves from her wake slamming into my face, and I swam toward the docks for several minutes before realizing I was being a fucking idiot, and got back in my own boat.

I was dripping with water, filled with baffled fury and confusion.

She hadn’t believed me. She didn’t even want to hear my explanation.

I knew she would be angry, but I hadn’t expected this refusal to even listen to me. Or trust me.

I’d thought my word would have been good enough for her to begin to see what had happened, even if I’d been a selfish bastard.

“Don’t say a goddamn word,” I warned Mano as I shook the water out of my hair. “What did you offer the Pinoteaux for her?”

He looked away. Then he told me a number.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I said savagely. “I would never have allowed you those funds.”

“You spent ten times that much to get her,” Mano said. “And you couldn’t find a better way to take down her family than shaming her. You’re a fucking dipshit.”

“She’ll forgive me,” I said.

But for once I didn’t feel so confident in my precious wife.

I ordered the boat back to shore, skirting their boundaries, and told my men to patrol carefully about the borders of the Savatier lands.

Why the fuck was she here?

I was beginning to realize that there was a lot I didn’t know about my wife.

Why did she think they could protect her more than I could?

Her disdain and rejection was like a crawling, growing monster under my skin.

If I could only get her alone. . . if I could only talk to her without Hugo there. . .

As I prowled around the outskirts, my eyes sharp for any vulnerabilities, I saw it.

If I let myself down the cliff, if I could find the handholds, I could make my way under the iron gates and then climb back up once I was past them. And then I’d be inside the grounds.

There was a lot better security than I had expected here. That must be my brother’s doing. What was his goal here?

I waited until nightfall, every muscle in my body aching to move as my soaked clothes dried to my skin. The last thing I wanted was for my officious brother to interfere.

Lucky for Hugo that he never came outside, because I would have been tempted to strangle him with my bare hands.

What exactly was their relationship?

It was impossible for any other man to threaten what Léonie and I had. Even though I had wronged her, with our love for each other, we could work through it.

Unless. . .

This time. . . I’d gone too far.

When it was dark, I swung down the cliff face, waves crashing against the beach below, then moved carefully under the fence and pulled myself up on the other side.

I crept to the house, carefully feeling where the best handholds were, and I began to climb, pressing my body against the stones, moving carefully so I wouldn’t slip.

Léonie wasn’t anywhere on the first floor, and I had to traverse the entire second floor to find her, trying to control my breathing, but when I reached her balcony I couldn’t help it, inhaling her mountain-sweet scent in massive gulps of air.

Peering through the window, I saw the shape of my wife in the bed, the curve of her waist a seductive pull in the moonlight.

She was so trusting, sleeping with such peace on her face that my stomach wrenched to see the damn outline of the léger still written on her forehead.

What the hell had I been thinking? I needed to take that off.

The lock was easy to break, quietly, silently, and I crept forward, my fingers outstretched toward her. I was going to rub that hateful mark off her forehead.

But before I was able to touch her, to my shock Léonie rolled over to face me.

Her expression was completely blank and cold.

“How—"

“It was very reckless of you to come here. But I knew you would. Because you’re reckless. With everything that matters.”

For a moment I was completely stunned. I would have put money on the fact that she was sleeping.

There were depths to my wife that I knew nothing about. . .

But I fucking craved knowing them.

The thin little strap of her tiny nightie fell off her shoulder, and I bent over her anxiously.

“Let me explain, Léonie! Goddamn it, I know I fucked up! Let me get that damn mark off! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

She backed away, one hand on her belly, the other connecting with my thigh.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch me, Étienne!”

I stood there foolishly with my hands dangling, blood throbbing in my cock at the feeling of being so close to my wife after days of feverishly searching for her.

I wanted her so badly my mouth was filling with drool. And she didn’t want me to touch her.

“You came to find a sweet, forgiving wife, but you no longer have one.”

“Let me get the mark out!” I bit out. “Please. It shouldn’t be there. It’s wrong. It’s shameful.”

“No, it’s not. It’s enlightening. Because it means I have a husband who was willing to do anything except put me first. So go away and be with Faustine. Mano already told me everything I need to know.”

“I did do what Mano said. But I didn’t do it because I wanted some other woman! Or because I didn’t love you anymore. I needed to get you safely out of the way for my revenge. By demanding the bride-price back, it would have destroyed the Pinoteaux name, their honor, and have fulfilled my vow to my Papé.”

“And what about my name?” she demanded, her lips set angrily at me.

“Your name is Bastide.”

“What was your plan after calling me whore in front of everyone?”

Shame burned down my throat.

“Mano would have told everyone that he was mistaken, of course. That he meant to meet someone else there. The paternity test would be redone, and everything would be as it ought.”

She stared at me.

“You think Mano is going to go along with that?”

“Mano will do what I tell him to.”

“Did your grandfather even ask you to make this vow?”

I paused, every muscle tensed to the point of explosion.

“No. But I know the sound of blood calling to me.”

Léonie sat up, so close that my skin was pounding with lust, my hands itching to grab her and hold her tight. Her scent was in my nostrils, burning down my throat, my cock throbbing in my pants, and it took everything I had not to take her in my arms.

“I don’t think you know what is calling to you. You think it’s mountain honor, but your Papé never asked for that. He told you to run, leave the place where he died. Maybe he didn’t want you to bind your spirit up in revenge.”

My face burned.

“In fact you wanted this revenge because it would increase your lands and your power.”

“Chérie, no.”

My hands were almost shaking now with the craving to kiss her, so close I could see every tiny pulse and kick on her belly.

“I want my wife back. I want my family back. I wanted to make sure you couldn’t be retaliated against while I finished my revenge. I have the power to change anyone’s mind about you. They won’t dare to say a word against you.”

“But do you have the power to change my mind, Étienne? No, you don’t. You’ve thought of everyone but me.”

“Please! I will tell you everything and anything you ask! Just let me get a little closer. I feel like I’m dying without being able to touch you.”

For a moment there was silence. I could see that her chin was raised proudly, but her heart was pounding, nipples taut in her nightgown, and she looked ripe and swollen all over, from her belly to her heavy breasts.

Then she nodded her head and I could have gnawed through my knuckle.

“All right. Tell me then.”

How could she be so tempting and delicious, yet look so utterly unconcerned with my presence?

I pounced forward and kissed her, loving how soft her lips felt under mine, and felt myself spilling out all these details.

“Who else even knew about it? Who else was in on your plan?”

“No one besides Mano! No one, I swear! I knew at some point you’d have to go back to the bedroom, but I didn’t direct that. I just waited until you left.”

“I don’t know if I believe that.”

“It had to look real! I couldn’t let up the deception even around them,” I groaned in her ear as I sunk my hands in her hair. “Mano was the only one who knew. It had to convince everyone if I was to succeed in bringing down your family.”

“And Faustine, too, of course?” Léonie asked, turning away from me.

“She knew nothing except that I would hold her hand and pretend to be interested during negotiations with your family! I told her very clearly that I loved my wife.”

“Oh,” she said, and below me Léonie was as cold as a statue.

“Faustine means nothing to me!” I cried passionately, burying my hands in her hair. “She was only used to put pressure on your family, to convince them I could move on so they would agree to give back the bride-price.”

I felt her still under my feverish kisses.

“You were wrong,” she said dryly. “Instead of paying the bride-price, they would have preferred to kill me. And if you had ever given me back to them—I would have died that day.”

“I would never have given you back! What they did will not go unpunished,” I said tightly. My whole body felt heated, each inch of my skin burning with how close I was to my goal. How close I was to her forgiving me, letting me take her home again. “The fact that you were vulnerable to attack at the lodge is going to fucking scar me for life. And the fact that Hugo was the one to help you, not me, means despite my own issues with him, he has my permanent goodwill. I won’t make him go back to the lodge.”

“That’s big of you,” my wife said. “But Hugo is free now, and I think you would find it difficult to imprison him again.”

“I don’t want to imprison him again. I want you to tell me who you want me to kill and how you want me to do it, and I’ll bring you their head on a platter. I’m not going to let the Pinoteaux family go free for what they did to you. I don’t care about any agreements, truces, or keeping the peace.”

My cock was leaking down my pants, because this was always how it had been between my wife and I. My desire for Léonie had always been explosive.

Our wedding night I had barely been able to contain myself, nails digging into my flesh so I would go slowly, carefully, making sure not to hurt her. But that first feel of her silky sweet pussy had been enough to make me howl like a wolf.

And I knew I had been right to wait for her, have her be my first, because there was no one else who could compare.

I didn’t settle for second-rate shit and no one could be more of a prize than my wife.

My hand was on her belly now, fingers splayed wide, wanting desperately to feel my son moving.

But before I was able to, Léonie gave me a firm push.

“Guards! Hugo! Come quickly, I have Étienne in my bedroom!”

What the hell, what the fuck?

I could only stare open-mouthed as my wife slid gracefully from the bed to lean against the vanity.

There were sounds in the hall, the noise of tramping boots, and in baffled fury, I spun her bookcase around to block the door.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you out of here. You’ve served your purpose. You conspired with Faustine to make a fool out of me, and that’s enough. Just tell everyone the baby is your brother’s and don’t come here again.”

She looked cool and unconcerned but her words were like being trapped in a nightmare.

“Léonie, you know damn well that isn’t Mano’s baby! You know damn well I don’t love anyone but you! How can you doubt that?”

She jutted her chin defiantly at me. “You wanted to convince everyone my baby wasn’t yours. So I give in. I admit it. You win, Étienne. Your wife was a slut and slept around on you, and you can tell anyone you want. Anything that makes you look better. I don't care.”

It felt like I’d been punched in the gut.

“Those were all lies!” I snarled. “I know you would never do something like that.”

She shrugged.

“Leave now with me.”

I held out my hand to her.

“I can get us out of here safely. Together. And then I promise I’ll make it up to you. Do you trust me?”

Scenes flashed before my eyes. Léonie with her fingers stretched toward mine, following me through mountain paths, her hands trailing by slippery moss and pretty trilliums. Coming out into hidden waterfalls, then guiding her into the cool water with me.

Trusting eyes. Parted lips.

The water streaming over her bright hair, as my hands were all over her, pulling up her dress, tipping her hips up so my cock could slip inside to that perfect tight fit, that silky wet grip.

But this time her face was closed, her eyes shuttered.

How could my heart still be pounding in my chest and it seemed to have no effect on her?

“No.”

“Come with me,” I tried again, striding over and opening the window. “Please. I was a bastard, but I promise I never for one moment intended to abandon you and the fact that you were threatened without me there to protect you is the biggest regret of my life.”

I hadn’t lost a fight in a long time, and I remembered the last time. I’d been in kindergarten and mouthing off to some of the older teens.

I’d ended up flat on my back with the air knocked out of my lungs, vowing I’d never lose again.

And that pain was nothing to the look on my wife’s face. Utter contempt and disdain.

“Never. I will never trust you again.”

It was like she’d punched a hole in my chest, it was aching so hard.

I could only stare at her as the door was practically bowing open with the force behind it, my hand stretched out foolishly in front of me.

Was Hugo in love with her?

Was she in love with Hugo?

And for the first time I had to accept—Léonie was no longer my sure thing.

I had to believe somewhere, deep down, she still loved me. At least a little bit.

Or I’d go completely mad.

“You better go,” Léonie said. “They’re about to break down that door.”

I could hear the wood snapping behind me.

“No!” I said.

My fingers were shaking, but still I held them out.

“I’m not leaving until you forgive me! I’m not leaving until you believe me. That I know I was wrong and I know I fucked up, but I still love you, and I always will.”

“You might be here for a while then,” she said, as the door splintered open behind me.

And then someone hit me hard on the back of my head and for a time the pain and desire and agony was wiped from my blank, unconscious mind.