Rebel's Bargain Read Online Free Page B

English reserve, courtesy of his Italian mother and British father.
    ‘It’s what you want, isn’t it?’
    Poppy stared. Was he offering an easy divorce because that’s what he wanted or because he thought she did? Had he found someone else to fill the rarefied position of his wife?
    For years she’d resolutely turned her thoughts away from Orsino with anyone else. Even though he wore gorgeous women like fashion accessories every time he appeared in public.
    A hollow ache started up beneath her ribs. She told herself it was stress from the long journey and from facing Orsino again.
    ‘Why should I go to such bother, when I could just visit a lawyer and file for divorce?’
    He didn’t like that. She saw his mouth tighten.
    ‘Because I have it in my power to make divorce easy.’ He paused. ‘Or hard. You get to choose whether it’s smooth and painless or drawn out and very, very public.’
    No mistaking the threat in the rough velvet timbre of his voice. It was on the tip of Poppy’s tongue to ask why he hadn’t divorced her. But she wouldn’t give him an excuse to pry into her own reasons for inaction. She hadn’t worked that out herself. ‘Unless—’ his voice dropped to a speculative murmur ‘—you don’t want a divorce after all?’
    Silence throbbed between them, fraught with vulnerabilities she’d thought she’d conquered years ago, and a challenge she didn’t dare refuse.
    Divorce meant an end to their relationship. No more lingering dregs of regret, no ‘if onlys’ in the wakeful predawn hours.
    A divorce would free her, make her whole. She’d thought herself free of Orsino but her reaction today taught her otherwise. Despite the way he’d shattered her dreams, some remnant of emotion remained.
    It was a remnant she was determined to obliterate.
    A couple of weeks with this arrogant, selfish man would cure her of those last hints of doubt.It would be hell but it would be worth it to finally be free.
    Poppy stepped to the edge of the bed and watched him turn his head towards her.
    ‘You’ve got yourself a deal, Orsino. I’ll give you a couple of weeks for old times’ sake and then I never want to see you again.’

CHAPTER THREE
    O RSINO GRIMACED AS the doctor probed gently and pain throbbed through him.
    ‘How long till I’m fit?’ he demanded, his voice hoarse from fighting pain and the unexpected emotion of meeting Poppy just hours before.
    He felt raw inside, as if the slip of deadly ice and rock had crashed right through his innards instead of merely cracking a few bones and tearing skin.
    Despite his injuries, death from exposure had, by comparison, been a strangely peaceful prospect. Numbness would lead to loss of consciousness then nothing. No pain, no struggle. Only his brain hadn’t let him give in. He’d heard a voice, Poppy’s voice, whenever he’d wanted to give up. He’d known he couldn’t just slip away until he’d finished what was between them.
    ‘For the arm, a month or so, though you could have lingering symptoms in this hand especially. You were in the ice too long for my liking.’
    The doctor scrawled another note in his report and Orsino reminded himself he was lucky hecould see the movement, no matter how poorly. The prospect of blindness had terrified him. He repressed fear that this distorted vision was the best he’d ever get.
    ‘I’d prefer that you stayed here longer.’
    Orsino opened his mouth to protest but the doctor spoke again. ‘I know, I know. That’s not going to happen. Since you insist on leaving I’ll forward a report so your doctor can keep an eye on you. In the meantime you need rest and plenty of it.’
    The doctor’s terseness was a welcome change. He’d grown sick of that unfailingly upbeat tone with which the nurses avoided answering questions about his recovery.
    ‘You’ll have to be careful of the ribs for some time. As for the lacerations and bruising, that’s all healing nicely.’
    Orsino let himself sag against the