Tossing her purse onto the bed, she took a deep fortifying breath. “I never thought I would go back on a promise to you, Luke. And God knows that having to say this to you now is killing me. But I just can’t do this anymore. I thought I could, but I can’t.”
His eyes narrowed as he tugged his tie loose and released the button at the collar of his shirt. “And just what exactly is it that you think you can’t do, Haley?”
“Th-this.” She struggled to keep her voice even, but she knew she was failing miserably. “I can’t continue this charade any longer.”
“I think this would be a good time for me to remind you that we have a couple of written contracts,” he countered, his tone so calm and collected she wanted to scream.
“You mean the prenuptial papers you had me sign?”
He nodded. “Those protect my assets and custody issues if we have a child.”
“Don’t worry about that,” she disclosed, feeling more desolate and alone than she’d ever felt in her life. “I don’t want anything from you. I just want out.”
“We also have a marriage certificate. I was under the impression that made things very real. And let’s not forget our verbal agreement for you to have my heir,” he reminded. “In most courts, that’s just as legal and binding as a written document, sweetheart.”
Why did it not surprise her that he’d bring up the threat of litigation if she tried to get out of it? But then, that’s all their marriage had been to him, all it would ever be—a business deal to get what he wanted.
“Why are you doing this to me, Luke?”
“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who brought all of this up.” He shrugged out of his suit coat and tossed it on a chair along with his tie. “You agreed to have my heir if I met your requirements.” He started walking toward her. “I followed through with my end of the bargain and we got married. Now I fully expect you to follow through with yours and have my baby.”
She held up her hand to stop his advance at the same time that she backed a few steps away. If he touched her, she knew for certain her resolve would crumble.
“Please don’t, Luke. We both know this isn’t a marriage. It’s a…” She searched for a word to describe the biggest mistake she’d ever made. “…a farce, a sham, an outright degradation to the sanctity of marriage.”
Folding his arms across his chest, he gave her a look she’d seen many times before. He was going into serious negotiation mode again. But this wasn’t up for compromise.
“What do you think our marriage should be, Haley?” he asked calmly.
“Not this,” she retorted, becoming more upset with each passing second. She walked over to the sitting area by the balcony doors to put more distance between them. “Whether it’s a temporary situation or not, I’m your wife. But there hasn’t been one single time that you’ve introduced me as anything more than your employee. Not to your clients. Not to your family. When you introduced me to your brothers and their wives this evening, you told them I was your executive assistant.”
“And your point is?”
“We’re supposed to be married. We live together. Sleep together. That makes me your—”
“So you’re saying that you want me to start referring to you as my wife?” he interrupted.
How could he be so intelligent and still be so stubbornly insensitive?
“No. I want you to want to think of me as your wife.”
“What makes you so sure I don’t?”
Haley felt her stomach twist into a tight knot. He wasn’t the type of man who conceded even the slightest point of an issue.
“Don’t patronize me, Luke. If you thought of me as your wife, you’d introduce me to people that way. Instead of telling everyone my name is Haley Rollins, you’d tell them I’m Haley Garnier.” She shook her head. “You couldn’t possibly think of me as your wife. I don’t even wear the basic symbol of marriage.”
“A wedding ring?” he asked, his intense stare seeming to bore all the way to her soul.
“Y-yes,” she said as a wave of dizziness washed over her.
“You told me the day we got married that it didn’t matter that I hadn’t bought you a ring,” he argued, taking a step toward her.
As she fought the swirling sensation making her head pound, perspiration broke out on her forehead and she had a hard time focusing on what he’d said. “I tried to tell myself…that I didn’t care…but God help me…I do.”
“Why, Haley?” He took another step forward. “Why do you care so much? Why do you want me to tell people you’re my wife? And why do you want to take my last name?”
The thundering roar in her ears made his voice sound as if it came from a very long distance. “B-because…I—”
“Haley!”
She heard him shout her name, but she couldn’t speak and her limbs suddenly felt leaden. Swaying, she tried to focus on Luke rushing toward her, his arms outstretched.
But as the relentless spinning in her head pulled her further into the deep vortex, suddenly and without warning an excruciating pain shot through her temple and a split second later, everything went dark.
As he raced his Escalade through the dark streets of Nashville, Luke’s heart pounded against his ribs with the force of a sledgehammer and his gaze never wavered from the back of the ambulance with its siren screaming and lights flashing just ahead of him. When he’d watched Haley turn ghostly pale and crumpled like a marionette with severed strings, he’d tried his damnedest to get to her, tried to keep her from going down. But she’d backed too far away from him and he hadn’t had a chance of catching her before she fell and struck her head on the corner of the coffee table in the sitting area.
He took a deep shuddering breath. He would never, as long as he lived, forget the nightmarish sight of her limp, unconscious body on his bedroom floor, blood trickling down her pale cheek from the cut at her temple. And she hadn’t yet regained consciousness.
When the ambulance finally turned into the emergency entrance of the hospital, Luke brought the SUV to a sliding halt not far behind and threw open the driver’s door. He briefly noticed that he’d parked in a restricted zone, but he didn’t give it a second thought as he ran toward the gurney being unloaded from the red and white vehicle. Let the police tow his car. He didn’t care. All that mattered was getting to Haley and making sure that she received the best medical care that was humanly possible.