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'You were saying?'
He grinned. 'That could have been important.'
'Nothing's as important as hearing you talk about our marriage.'
'Well then, let's—'
She let a curse slip as the suite's phone rang, loud and jarring, and she laid a hand on his arm as he reached for it. 'Leave it.'
Sweeping a swift kiss across her lips, still tingling from his recent sensual assault, he said, 'Maybe someone's trying to get hold of you? First your phone, now here? Answer it and fob them off so we can get to the good stuff.'
He nuzzled her neck and she moaned, trying to block out the incessant jangling of the phone before giving in with a reluctant curse and snatching it up.
'Hello?'
'Ms. Lloyd? It's Nurse Peters from the Jacaranda special accommodation facility. I'm sorry to say your father has had another stroke. It's best you come as soon as possible.'
'I'll be right there.'
An instinctive response, a response she might not have given if she'd had time to think, but once it had slipped out and she'd hung up she knew she had no other choice but to go, regardless of her ambivalent feelings towards her dad.
'What's wrong?'
Twisting her hair into a knot at her nape before letting it fall, she said, 'It's my father. He's had another stroke.'
'Hell.' Nick turned away, but not before she glimpsed a flicker of guilt she didn't understand.
'I have to go.'
'Of course. Want me to come with you?'
She shook her head and laid a hand on his arm. 'No, I'll be fine.'
Her hand drifted upwards to stroke his cheek, her heart swelling with love for her husband.
Her husband. She had the right to really call him that now and she couldn't be happier.
'You stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can and we can talk some more.'
He pulled her in for one last, hungry kiss before releasing her and she hurried out the door.
The faster she paid her father an obligatory visit he'd done nothing to deserve, the faster she could start the rest of her life.
Chapter Thirty-One
Britt paused on the threshold of her father's room, focusing on the man propped up in bed. He’d made her life a living hell but he didn't deserve this. No one deserved to suffer with their mind and body wasting away, sapped of dignity, no matter what their sins.
She'd rushed here out of…what? Obligation? Caring? It certainly wasn't love. He'd wiped any semblance of that emotion the first time he raised his hand to her.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room. Whatever sense of familial duty had made her come, she didn't want to stay long. If he hadn't wanted to broach the gap between them a few weeks earlier, no way things would've changed now. If anything, being incapacitated would sour his mood further and she had no intention of bearing the brunt of his temper.
Never again.
'Dad?'
She tiptoed to the bed and reached out to touch his arm before letting it fall to her side when he turned his head slightly, saw her, then rolled towards the wall.
'Go away. Leave me to die in peace.'
