She had rarely seen him so enraged. Each time she had, someone had ended up hurt. Not her or her mother, never anyone undeserving. Until now.
“I can’t believe this,” her father snarled. “Goddammit, Ian, you were my best friend. I trusted you with her.”
Courtney could feel her own fury, her own pain rising with each word out of her father’s lips. He had raised her to think for herself, to be a person separate from him and her mother. He had praised her willingness to always see beyond what her eyes detected, and now, he could see no more than the fact that Ian had taken her to his bed.
“What does your friendship have to do with anything, Father?” she questioned him angrily. “This is none of your business.”
“You’re my daughter,” he snapped.
“I’m a grown woman, not a child,” she reminded him, fighting to hold back her tears, feeling Ian, despite his physical closeness, drawing further away from her.
“Courtney.” He lowered his head to her ear, his voice soothing, cool. “Let me handle this.”
Her breath hitched in her chest at the tone. Once again, Ian had drawn within himself, and she feared this new development might be a hurdle she couldn’t defeat.
“No.” She shook her head, turning to him, staring up at him, seeing the chill in his eyes, his regret, as fear began to sink deep inside her heart. “He’s just angry, Ian. I’ll talk to him…”
“The hell you will,” her father snarled behind her. “Ian can discuss this one.”
She could see the pain Ian was hiding so carefully. What had she done? He counted her father as one of his few, true friends, and now she had come between them. Without the time it would have taken for Ian to see how he truly loved her, he was being torn between his friendship and his lusts.
“Daddy.” She turned back slowly, staring beseechingly at the father who had always praised her, spoiled her, taught her to fight for what she believed in. “Daddy, please don’t do this. Please leave, just for a few moments.”
She was trembling, fighting her tears as her gaze met her mother’s, pleading for her help.
“Courtney, I will tell you one last time to step from this room.” His voice lowered, his tone that of command. One she had never refused to obey in her life.
She was breathing harshly now, seeing everything she had fought these weeks for crumbling at her feet.
“No.”
He moved toward her.
“Dane, stay the hell back from her.” Before Courtney could protest, Ian had pushed her behind him, his arm holding her in place as Khalid cursed violently.
Dane stopped, glaring at the three of them.
“Do you think I would hurt my only fucking daughter?” he snarled, as Marguerita placed a delicate hand on his arm. “After the hell I survived thinking I had lost her and Marguerite both, you think I would ever raise my fucking hand against her?”
“Dane, don’t let the past repeat itself with Courtney,” she begged him then. “Please, let us leave the room for now. This can wait. Please do not do this thing.”
“Dammit, Marguerita, she’s our daughter. Do you think he didn’t know what he was doing…?”
“Do you think she didn’t,” Marguerita argued furiously then. “You are making the same decisions my family made for us, Dane. Denying her a choice. Only your methods are different.”
Courtney laid her head against Ian’s back, a sob shaking her body as she fought to hold back the sound.
Ian would never, ever forgive her now.
“I will remind you, wife,” he snapped. “It was not your best friend, nor mine, who betrayed us. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let Ian break her heart.”
“Stop,” Courtney cried out raggedly, jerking away from Ian, her fists tightening in the comforter she held around her until she faced both men, blinking back the liquid pain threatening to fall from her eyes. “Do you think he tricked me into his bed?” she yelled furiously. “Don’t you think he did everything to keep me from it? I seduced him—”
A sharp, mocking laugh met her words.
“You’re a baby, Courtney. Ian’s a hell of a lot older and more experienced. He knew how to say no.”
“No.” She shook her head desperately. “I love him…” She ignored Ian’s flinch, knowing the damage caused by her father’s arrival would be difficult to repair. She prayed it wouldn’t be impossible. “Please, Father, I’m begging you…”
“And does he love you?” her father snarled, turning to Ian. “Answer me, Ian,” he sneered. “Do you love her?”
Everything inside her began to crumble. The second stretched out to eternity as Ian stared back at her, regret darkening his eyes. All sound muted within the room, all but the sound of her heart as she stared back at him, her gaze locked with his, her heart breaking as she watched the denial coming.
There was such regret in his eyes. Affection, yet, it was there, the same affection that had always been in his eyes for her. But there was no love, no realization.
“I’m sorry, Courtney…” His voice was soft, filled with apology. “Your father’s right. I should have denied you.”
She felt something crash inside her, fragmenting. A whimper passed her lips, though she had promised herself if this day ever came, she wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t regret.
Surely he just didn’t realize he loved her. That was all it was, she assured herself.
“That’s okay…” Her eyes were burning as she fought her tears, her sight cloudy as she fought to find a way, any way… “It can come…”
He was shaking his head, his expression closed, cold.
Oh God.
She felt her knees weakening. Felt her heart exploding in her chest.
“Go to your room while I talk to your father.” His voice was cold. Final. “Nothing lasts forever, Courtney. Not even the wind.”
She felt the blood leave her face. A horrible sense of unreality closed in on her, darkening the vision at the edge of her eyes, stealing the breath from her chest as she stared back at him in dazed, mind-numbing pain.
“Stupid bastard,” Khalid muttered, shaking his head at Ian’s response.
She turned, forced herself to tear her gaze from Ian’s and to face her father once again.
He was watching her, the fury of moments before replaced with something else. Regret? Realization?
“I love him,” she whispered again, feeling the single tear that escaped her control. “With everything inside me. I can forgive you this. But I won’t forgive anything further. You will leave this room with me.”
He opened his lips to speak.
“Please, Daddy. For me.”
They clamped shut as his gaze cut to Ian, brooding, filled with anger.
“Courtney.” Her mother moved forward slowly, reaching out to her, her expression twisting as Courtney flinched away.
“No.” She shook her head tightly as she turned to Ian. “I’m sorry.”
She was sorry her father had arrived. That she had destroyed one of the true friendships he had known. She was sorry she had pushed when she should have stayed clear. So many things she was now sorry for.
Her father was right, in so many ways. Only a child believed in fairy tales. And healing Ian, being with him, being loved by him, was the greatest of all dreams.
He stood still, staring back at her with a dark, forbidding frown.
“I’ll pack.” She tried to clear her throat of her tears. “I’m truly sorry, Ian.”
She moved past them all, determined to hold back the tears, to gather the broken fragments of her soul together until she could find the space she needed to repair them.
Her father cursed softly as she passed him, but other than that, not a word was spoken as she slowly left the room.
The door closed behind her, leaving Ian to endure the silence and the condemning stares of those now watching him.
No matter how many times he had taken Courtney, how depraved he and Khalid had gotten the night before, the innocence that was so much a part of her had remained. She had looked at him as she always had, her eyes filled with light, with purity. As though nothing could mar the untamed spirit inside her.