The Bridegroom's Secret. Melissa James

cool, well-bred look disappeared from his face. “What?” His voice rang with disbelief.

      “I don’t know you.” She wanted to look away, to put up a barrier against the utter stupidity of the situation, but she forced herself to keep looking at him. “I don’t think I ever did.”

      The bewilderment in his eyes told her that it was the last thing he’d expected to hear from her. “How can you say that? You know me better than anyone.”

      She shook her head, seeing he honestly believed it. “Tell me how I know you that well—or at all—when you’ve never told me anything that was close to your heart.”

      His jaw clenched shut. His eyes were hard chips of ice. It was obvious he wasn’t going to answer, if he had an answer to give.

      She sighed. “We’ve been together fourteen months, engaged for five months, and you never told me about your daughter. You never told her about me. What does that say about how much you trust me? If you can’t tell your daughter about me until the day I’m going to meet her, four weeks before our wedding, what does it say about how much you love and trust me?”

      His hands gripped the steering wheel until the knuckles showed white. “It wasn’t like that. You’re misinterpreting—”

      “How else could I interpret it?” Suddenly she was fighting tears. “The omissions—all of them—speak more than a thousand words. I’m good enough to take to bed, to get a ring and pretty words, but you didn’t tell me one of the most treasured parts of your life. You didn’t want me to meet your own child.” She bit her lip but said it. “You don’t love me, Matt. I don’t think you ever did.”

      A long silence, so dark it touched her heart, wounded her like a knife. “This has nothing to do with how I feel for you. Not all families are close, or treasure each other as yours does, Julie.”