Impulse by Candace Camp Page B

did not love. ’Tis not unusual to seek passion outside a loveless marriage. I also know that it would not happen in this marriage.”
    â€œYou are very sure of yourself.” Angela’s voice was laced with sarcasm.
    Her tone cut him to the quick, and he moved forward so that he stood only inches from her, his coal-black eyes boring down into hers. He wrapped his hand around her wrist. “I am sure of one thing. You were a very passionate woman, and you responded to me. I don’t think you can have changed that much over the last few years.”
    Suddenly, before she realized what was happening, Cam pulled her up against him, and his other arm went around her, holding her to him. He bent and took her mouth with his. His lips were warm and firm, moving insistently against hers. It had been many years, but his kiss sparked a memory of that earlier passion. For just an instant Angela was the girl she had been, felt again the desire and the eagerness, and she swayed against him. Then the much more familiar coldness rushed through her, driving out the momentary response, and she stiffened, pulling away from him.
    He let her go easily, but the faint smile on his face let her know he thought he had proved his point.
    â€œThat is what you have returned for?” she asked. “You are forcing me to marry you because of lust?”
    â€œHardly. I could have sex with any number of women. At far less cost than what I have given for that mine and the land. Mr. Pettigrew is beginning to question my business judgment.”
    â€œ I question your sanity. Why are you so eager to marry me, a woman you have not seen in thirteen years?”
    â€œIt is part of a vow I made when I left this place. When your grandfather tossed me off the estate and you married a nobleman, a man of wealth, I vowed that someday I would have that wealth. I would move among your people as an equal. My children would have noble blood in their veins. I swore that I would return here, and I would own the Stanhopes. And I would have you.”
    She stared at him. “That is at the bottom of this? The angry words of a twenty-year-old lad?”
    â€œIt was more than that. It was a vow, a promise to myself. It is what drove me, the reward I would have. I would live in this house, own this land, and you would be my wife. It would be bad luck, I think, to deviate from that plan now.”
    â€œBut surely you cannot claim to love me still, after all these years!”
    His lip curled. “Hardly.” He moved away from her, saying, “I rid myself of the curse of loving you long ago. I am not seeking your love. Only the fact of marrying you.”
    â€œBut why?” Angela cried, exasperated. “What satisfaction does it give you now? What pleasure?”
    â€œThe pleasure of having proved myself to those who despised me. Of having won over my enemies. Of having conquered, finally, that old son of a bitch.”
    â€œMy grandfather?”
    â€œYes. That night, with every blow he dealt me, all the time telling me how you were playing with me, using me, how no Stanhope could truly love a mere stable boy, that was what I kept thinking. That I would prove him wrong. That I would marry you, that I would have more money than the Stanhopes ever dreamed of having, that I would make that blue-blooded bastard sorry.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, he died before I could do it, so I had to use Jeremy as a substitute.”
    â€œA little unfair to Jeremy, don’t you think?” Angela snapped. She looked at him, thinking about his words. After a moment, she went on, “What did you mean, ‘with every blow’? Did he—did Grandpapa hit you? He told me he did not.”
    Cam let out a snort of disbelief. “And you believed him? Of course he beat me. What did you think happened after you left the stables? The other grooms held me, and the old Earl laid into me with his cane. The Earl of Bridbury could