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Hope swelled in her chest. “You’re arrogant,” she couldn’t help opining, even when her mind was starting to make way for hope.
He was, but arrogance alone wasn’t informing him. “Perhaps.”
Her smile was involuntary. “But you don’t know him. He’s very obstinate,” she niggled, shaking her head. She sucked in a breath, and lifted a hand to his broad chest. “There must be some way we can use legal means to get him to go away.”
Oh, there were. And Hendrix intended to employ them fully. But the satisfaction of letting William believe them to be engaged was too sweet to resist. “Do this my way. Let me help you.”
Courage came to her when she needed it most. “The thing is,” she prevaricated softly, “I … like you, Hendrix Forrester.” Oh! It was such a bland way to describe how he made her feel. “I like spending time with you. And I like getting to know you. And I like being with you.” She forced her eyes to meet his without cowering. “And I don’t want to ruin that by putting us into a crazy hot house.”
Feelings that were new and uncontrollable were weaving into his being. “I’ve known men like your husband all my life.” His lips were a grim slash. “Rich, entitled, arrogant sons of bitches who think they can control anyone they want.”
Chloe watched his face darken, her own expression thoughtful. “Yes,” she murmured, lifting her fingers to her temples and massaging her foggy head. It was a perfect description of William Ansell-Johns.
“He won’t care if he hurts you.”
A sob bubbled in her throat. She swallowed it. “He never has,” she said, so quietly Hendrix had to strain to catch her words. “But I don’t know that stooping to his level is the answer.”
“It’s the only way.” His hands were warm on her sides. “He’s going to make you sound …”
“Like a bad mother,” she interrupted, despair evident in the tightening of her mouth.
“Yes. On paper, he will have a point. You don’t have the financial means …”
“Because of him!” She cut in again, shaking her head with fury.
“Yes. And we’ll address that. I’ve had a team working up what we’d need to go to the authorities with a watertight case of theft. But more than that, it’s his name. It’s his family. It’s that he’ll be able to claim you kept him out of Ellie’s life. Your apartment. Even Georgia. The fact you have a British passport and could permanently flee the country. He will be able to make a persuasive case against you.”
Chloe’s breath was ragged. Her lungs were burning with exertion, as though she’d run a marathon. “He didn’t want her. And he doesn’t really want her now. I had to leave him. I was scared of what he might do.” Her thoughts were coming in little bursts. Her mind was a series of blocks that weren’t quite fitting together.
Hendrix nodded. “You didn’t go to the hospital.”
She looked up into his eyes, her brain still not quite focussing. “When? When I had Ellie? I did. I was there three nights. I had the medical bills to prove it.”
The bastard hadn’t even helped with the medical expenses. Hendrix wanted to pound William. He wanted to make him suffer, for all the pain he’d inflicted on both Chloe and Eleanor in their young lives. “When William hurt you the last time.”
“Oh.” She shook her head. “The last time? No.” She furrowed her brow. “I was fine. Scared, but okay. I think I was just so shell-shocked to have left him, it never occurred to me.”
“I understand. But it’s going to be your word against his. It’s not easy to show a pattern of abuse when you didn’t go to the police or hospital.”
“It wasn’t a pattern of abuse,” she denied hotly, embarrassed to think of herself as a victim. That very emotion of embarrassment shamed her. For it hadn’t been her choice, nor her fault.
Her defence of William made his blood run cold. “Hitting a woman even once is unacceptable.”
She nodded. “Yes, but …”
“But what?” He pushed, reigning in his temper with enormous effort.
What were they arguing about? What was she saying? What did she need? Ellie. She just needed to know Ellie would be safe. “This is a nightmare.”
“No.” He wrapped his arms around her middle, holding her tight and hoping that some of his confidence would flow into her. “I’m not going to let him take Ellie, sweetheart. I’m only preparing you for the ugliness of the fight. But I can promise you, I will use every tool at my disposal to make sure he gets out of your life, and stays out.”
She swallowed, but her throat was dry. “But he’s not going to go quietly.”
“Perhaps not,” Hendrix murmured, stroking her back, marvelling at the warmth of her skin beneath her clothes. “But he will go.”
Chloe rested her cheek against Hendrix’s chest. She could feel his steady heart beating; it was strong and defiant. Confident and in control. She breathed in his fragrance and felt some of her fear ebb away.
“I’m glad I have you,” she said softly. The words came out of nowhere, and she straightened awkwardly, after she’d said them. “I’m glad I have you as my lawyer, I mean.” Her cheeks flushed.
