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.'No,' she refused heavily, knowing a deep need to be alone.And yet once she was alone in her apartment it was the last thing she wanted, feeling closed in, unfairly judged, frustrated with that judgement, wanting to know the reason for it, angry with Marcus for so easily accepting whatever it was he had been told about her.It was the latter emotion that was predominant when the doorbell rang seconds later, and she answered it to find Marcus standing on the doorstep.'What do you want?' she scorned.'Have you come to throw more insults at me?' She stood defensively in the doorway, barring his entrance.'I have to talk to you,' he rasped.Her brows rose.'That wasn't the impression you gave earlier.''Earlier I was…' He shook his head.'I have to talk to you, Beth.Now.''I don't think I want to talk to you——''Beth…' the quiet authority in his voice silenced her '… tonight you met the man named as co-respondent in your divorce.Not only did you not recognise him, but he didn't recognise you either, and you called him by completely the wrong name.Beth, my nephew is Kinross Bentley, the man you're supposed to have committed adultery with, and the two of you don't even know each other.Now I want to know what the hell is going on!'CHAPTER TENbeth swallowed hard.That man, that arrogant young man with the knowing eyes and too much self-confidence, was the one Martin had paid to lie about her.Marcus's nephew!'Why don't you go and ask him that?' she dismissed scornfully, a hundred different thoughts coursing through her mind, none of them making any sense.Not yet anyway; she was too stunned for that.'Because I'm asking you,' Marcus grated.'I'm not interested hi anything Ross has to say.''You don't seem to have had any trouble listening to him before!' Because this surely had to be Marcus's informant—a man who didn't even know her!'And now I want to hear what you have to say,' Marcus said grimly.'How do you know I'll tell you the truth?' she derided, her head back defiantly.He shook his head.'I know damn well that Ross hasn't!'Beth sighed, stepping back.'Then you had better come in, hadn't you,' she said dully.She didn't completely understand the situation herself.How long had Marcus known his nephew had been named in her divorce? Did that have something to do with their initial meeting, and the consequent ones? Was that the reason none of their meetings had been a 'coincidence'?She turned to face Marcus across the lounge.'Perhaps you had better tell me what you already know,' she told him flatly.'Or think you know,' she added hardly.Marcus breathed in deeply, his hands thrust into his trouser pockets.'I have a feeling, having come to know you as I do, that you aren't going to like it.''I'm sure I won't,' she muttered.'But it has to be said anyway.''Very well,' he nodded decisively.'As you know, I've spent most of the last couple of years in America.''It has been mentioned,' she said drily.'Hmm,' he grimaced.'Well, while I was there it would seem I neglected my duties as guardian to my nephew Ross.'Beth frowned.'He looked young, but not that young.'Marcus made a face.'Ross is only twenty, for all he might wish, and act, as if he were older.That was why, when it was brought to my attention, I was horrified at the affair and subsequent naming in the divorce of a woman several years older than he, not only in age but hi experience.''You mean me?' Beth realised disbelievingly.He paced the room.'When I challenged Ross about the affair he told me that you had paid him to be named as co-respondent after your affair ended, that you were willing to do anything to get rid of the husband you had become bored with.''That's a He,' she gasped.'Let me finish, Beth,' he urged gently.'Then you can tell me what really happened.''How kind,' she was stung into retaliating.'Beth, this isn't easy for me either—it never is when you realise what a fool you've been.' He looked pained.As well he might!'It can't be,' Beth scorned.'Ross is a very wealthy young man——''Then why take the money my ex-husband paid him to lie about my adultery?' she accused heatedly.'If he didn't need the money——''As Ross's guardian I have the power to decide whether or not he takes control of that wealth at twenty-one or twenty-five.He's had an allowance for the last three years, since my sister and her husband, his parents, were killed hi a plane crash, but it would seem he's been living well above that allowance, that he had debts that needed repaying, the sort of debts that he daren't come to me about,' Marcus added grimly.'He got in with a crowd that were older than him, that thought nothing of losing several thousand pounds a night in a casino——''Martin's crowd,' Beth realised.'It would seem so,' he confirmed.'He had debts that needed paying, and he admitted to me that he had accepted money from you to help you get rid of your husband.''I didn't divorce Martin; he divorced me—with the false evidence Ross gave him!'Marcus shook his head self-disgustedly.'I had no reason at that time to doubt Ross's word.Even the fact that Bradshaw had changed his name to yours after the marriage seemed to confirm you were——''A spoilt little bitch,' Beth finished with a sigh.'That wasn't my idea.As you would have found if you had ever bothered to ask me what happened!'He gave a groan.I'm not proud of my part in this.'She looked at him intently.'Just what was your part in all this? Just exactly why did you go to Italy?''To meet the woman who was so determined to rid herself of a husband she was bored with that she was willing to pay someone to go into court and have their name blackened for her,' he admitted harshly.Beth gasped.'And?''And instead I met a very beautiful woman with an air of vulnerability about her that made me want to wrap her up and protect her from the world!' He shook his head.'I went to Verona, after discovering that was where you had gone to amuse yourself, with the intention perhaps of intriguing you a little myself, so that you would know what it felt like.Instead I ended up totally bewildered, by the contrast in the things I had been told about you, and the ethereally lovely woman I finally met.It didn't make sense.''And so you thought I was playing games,' she said bitterly
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