Read Online Trilby by Diana Palmer - Free Book Online

me, several weeks before she died.”
    Her face went from red to deathly white. She faltered and almost fell. His hand shot out to steady her, but she threw it off, hating him.
    “That is a lie,” she whispered, shaking. “It is a vicious, unfounded lie!”
    “Why would my wife lie to me?” he drawled. “And she’s dead now. How convenient for you. She can hardly contradict you, can she?”
    She swallowed, and then swallowed again. She thought she might faint. She knew there wasn’t a drop of blood in her face. His expression told her that arguing with him wasn’t going to change his mind. He’d decided that his wife’s lie was gospel. Nothing she said was going to convince him that she’d done no more than talk to his cousin Curt.
    She lifted her hobble skirt with trembling cold hands and started unsteadily back toward the car.
    He followed her, opening her door with overblown courtesy.
    She didn’t look at him as she got in. She couldn’t bear to. She sat like a statue as he cranked the car and turned it back toward home.
    It wasn’t until he pulled up in her front yard that hespoke again. “There’s no use playing the martyr with me,” he said carelessly. “I know what you are.”
    “If I were a man, I would shoot you through the heart,” she said, choking. She was shaking with outrage and temper. “When I tell my father what you’ve accused me of, he probably will shoot you! I hope he does!”
    He raised both eyebrows. “You can’t possibly mean to actually confess to him?” he asked insolently. “You’ll destroy his illusions.”
    She controlled her urge to slap him again, but barely. “Mr. Vance,” she said, with cold indignation, “in order to conduct a clandestine relationship with your cousin, I should be obliged to leave the house after dark.”
    “That would be no problem. You have an automobile,” he reminded her.
    “I can neither drive nor ride a horse,” she said stiffly.
    He hesitated. “Then someone could have driven you.”
    She nodded. “Oh, of course. My parents would understand that I wanted to leave the house at night, alone, something I’ve never done in my life!”
    She was blowing holes in his theory. He frowned. He didn’t like the cold facts she was putting to him.
    “The incident Sally told me about was at a party that your parents attended,” he said, averting his eyes with growing unease.
    “I see. I’ve been prejudged, without even the chance to defend myself.” She stared straight ahead, shivering as a distasteful thought came to her. Her hands gripped her purse. “I suppose…your wife didn’t confine her confession to you.”
    “She told Lou, Curt’s wife,” he replied.
    Her eyes closed. So that explained why Curt’s wifehad been glaring at her so furiously. Probably the vicious gossip had gone the rounds of the entire community. And all because she’d liked Curt and enjoyed talking to him. It had been perfectly innocent.
    “Why don’t you ask your cousin if I’ve been having an affair with him?” she asked weakly.
    “And have him lie to save your good name?” He laughed. “That would be intelligent, wouldn’t it?”
    “Mr. Vance, I should never think to accuse you of any intelligent act,” she said in a harsh tone. “As for your disgusting slander, it is unfounded and grossly unfair. Yes, I shall tell my parents.” She turned and looked at him fully. “The truth is the best weapon I know. And you, sir, will live to regret having accepted a lie without question—even from your late wife.”
    Her indignation registered then, and later. She got out of the car, avoiding his assistance, and marched toward the house. He went after her.
    Her parents and Teddy were not inside, so there was no necessity for him to explain Trilby’s hostility. Trilby went straight into her bedroom and slammed and locked the door with an audible click, without a single word to Thorn.
    He stood outside the closed door and his tall body went rigid. Why had