Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 124

He touched his head, which was probably beginning to throb.

"Oh wait, I shouldn't even be worrying about that since you have legions of servants in your gigantic estate!"

He moaned.

"It should be a pretty nice stroll," I continued, "especially on that back you fell on not a few minutes ago."

Cole gripped his scalp. Maybe he was hoping the pressure would somehow dull the pain. "I bet you have a vengeful streak a mile wide," he muttered.

"For your information," I bit off, "I don't have a single vengeful streak in my body." My eyes turned to slits. "Unless someone deserves to see it."

He lay back down and closed his eyes. "Why won't she just leave me alone?" he told the heavens. "Why?"

My jaw dropped. "Have fun with potentially broken bones, you...you...nodcock!" I burst out, getting into the spirit of Uncle Eddie's extended vocabulary.

Colton jammed his fingers more tightly against his temple, waving my voice away with a mad flutter of his hands, as if they could shoo it away like a fly on a meal. The nerve! I was so offended, I couldn't even form words.

After five seconds, he let go of his head and sighed kind of soundly, "Ah, silence. The most wonderful silence I've ever held witness to at the moment," he declared, sighing again.

"Now listen, you arrogant piece of --"

"I knew nothing lasts forever," he groaned, clutching his head again.

"Oh my God --"

He winced and declared, "Don't speak. Don't say a bloody word." Then he gasped.

He had been battling with the thoughts swirling in his mind, replaying her reaction toward the bitterness he had for Arthur Cutting and how she'd been trying to cope.

Keller had called a while ago, telling him she'd visited the Dunster manor to check on Olivia, only to have been told by the Dunsters that their niece had gone somewhere. Keller had also sweetly gotten Mary to tell her that Olivia's boyfriend chucked her after hearing about her "engagement."

"Do something, dude," Keller clenched, as she barged into his home with his aunt. The two glared at him. "You're her fiancé!"

"I am not her fiancé."

Lady C leaned across the table and narrowed her eyes. "No, but you're absolutely responsible for the fact that she lost her lad back home. I'm amazed you've forgotten that."

"I'll overlook that insult," Cole warned icily, staring at her with slanted eyes, "as having been spoken by a meddling, overwrought in-law and aunt."

Keller's jaw clenched at the insult, while Lady C had forgotten that the cool, uncompromising young man seated behind the desk was no longer the mischievous little boy who'd sneaked to the stables with Michael in the middle of the night to ride a new stallion, then bravely refused to cry while a doctor set his broken arm and lectured him on the folly of inviting danger.