Tomorrow's Dreams Read Online Free Page A

abuse—”
    In the blink of an eye, Seth released Julian’s hair and savagely slammed his forearm against his windpipe, effectively silencing him. “Damn you, Tibbett. I ought to strangle you here and now for even implying that I’d strike a woman.”
    Julian clawed ineffectually at Seth’s garroting arm, gurgling hideously. Terrified that she was about to witness murder, Penelope furiously pummeled Seth’s legs. “Seth! No! You’re killing him!”
    Seth glared down at her, the steely command in his eyes directing her to cease her flailing attack. As if under some dark spell, her arms fell to her sides. Visibly easing his pressure on Julian’s throat, he rasped, “Never fear, Princess. I won’t kill your lover. Even I’m not heartless enough to leave you without solace in the wake of our broken engagement.”
    Penelope heard his words, and her mind registered their meaning, but she was too incensed to care.
    With his arm still wrapped around Julian’s throat, Seth marched him to the door and flung him out into the hall. There was a loud thud as his body bounced off the facing wall, a sound accompanied by the buzz of shocked voices. Apparently their argument had drawn attention.
    Pausing briefly on the threshold, probably, Penelope thought sourly, to intimidate the crowd with his glower, Seth ordered, “Please relay the message that Miss Parrish and I don’t wish to be disturbed.” With that, he slammed the door and faced her.
    Infuriated beyond all reason, Penelope sprang to her feet and stalked across the room, stopping directly in front of him. “How dare you!” she spat. “How dare you humiliate me like this!”
    â€œYou humiliate yourself by carrying on with a womanizing bastard like Julian Tibbett,” he sneered.
    Bristling like a cat with its fur ruffled the wrong way, she hissed, “You’re the bastard, not Julian. And if you were half the man I thought you were, you would have listened to reason instead of jumping to sordid conclusions as you did.”
    His eyes flickering like twin flames, Seth slowly leaned forward until his face was just inches from hers. In a voice that was little more than a savage whisper, he replied, “Then, perhaps you don’t really know what kind of man I am after all.”
    Penelope jerked her face away from his. “Apparently not. The Seth I know and love would never have made such vile accusations.
    â€œAnd the Penelope I wanted to marry wouldn’t have insulted me by whoring with a sorry excuse of a man like Julian Tibbett.”
    â€œDamn it, Seth! I wasn’t doing anything illicit with Julian.” It was all she could do not to stamp her foot in anger. “I can’t understand why you’re having such a hard time believing me. I’ve never given you any reason to doubt my loyalty.”
    â€œThe little scene I witnessed between you and Julian just now gives me every reason to doubt it.” He let his cool gaze slide from her face to focus on her waistline. “Though I was blinded by your false sweetness, I now see you for the faithless jade you are, and I’m not about to be cuckolded into giving my name to the evidence of your infidelity when it makes an appearance in say … eight or nine months.”
    Never in her life had Penelope hated anyone as much as she hated Seth Tyler at that moment. Desperate to hurt him as badly as he had just hurt her, she lashed back, “If you think that I’d even consider marrying you after the way you treated me this evening, well …” She shot him a look that should have knocked him dead on the spot. “I wouldn’t marry you if marriage was my only salvation from eternal damnation and you were the last bachelor on earth. Your offensive behavior has proved that you’re nothing but … but … a gutter rat trussed up like a gentleman!”
    Seth eyed her with contempt.