"In other words, she should treat me the same way you do."
"Exactly! What she's doing is fine if you're content to lie around and sip the martinis she brings you and eat your meals from her hand. If that's the quality of life you want, then far be it from me to argue with your decision. If you want to watch your nice hard belly turn to fat and the muscles in your legs shrivel to mush and your arms become flabby from disuse, not to mention your chin and chest, then fine. Go to the altar with her and say, 'I do.'
"But if you want to be Adam Cavanaugh, if you want to walk and jog and ski and climb mountains, which is what you told me you wanted, then you'd better set her straight or ditch her altogether."
"Adam!"
Lilah disregarded Lucretia's exclamation of outrage and drove her point home. "Before you make up your mind, though, consider this. When the ski season rolls around and all her buddies are jetting off to Saint-Moritz, where do you think that'll leave you? Huh? I'll tell you. Alone. Abandoned. Because she'll go to Saint-Moritz. And you'll urge her to go because you'll feel guilty because she's sacrificed so much for you. You'll be left cooped up in some stuffy bedroom with an even stuffier servant, who will despise and deride you for your weakness and take his sweet time in answering the tinkling little bell on your nightstand.
"While your gorgeous wife is out taking on the slopes — and probably a few ski instructors, because by now the newness of her noble gesture will have worn off and she'll be thinking that she made a bad deal — you'll be lying helpless and useless. You'll be torturing yourself, wondering who she's with and what she's doing. You'll be remembering with bitterness the days when you picked up ski bunnies and took them home to snuggle. You'll be lamenting the days when you controlled a globe-spanning corporation and left people breathless in your energetic wake.
"Eventually she'll leave you more frequently to go sailing or grouse shooting or to meet a lover, and then the day will come when it's just not chic to be married to a paraplegic anymore and she'll divorce you and probably take off with a few of your millions, which she'll feel she earned for giving you her time and trouble."
"Of all the — I won't stand here and — "
"You're free to leave anytime, Lucretia," Adam said blandly.
"What? I wouldn't think of leaving you alone with this wretched person. She's obviously unbalanced."
"I'm no such thing," Lilah shot back. "And as for being alone with him, I was here for weeks before you showed up."
Snow White's cheeks turned a deep, rosy pink. "What does she mean by that, Adam?"
"Use your imagination, Lucretia," he said.
"You actually engaged in … in…"
"Sexual dalliances. Can't you bring yourself to say it?" Lilah taunted. "He kissed me. More than once."
"Not only kissed, but enjoyed," Adam added softly. "Very much."
Lucretia was rendered speechless by the impetus behind his whispered words. So was Lilah. She locked stares with Adam and it was several moments before she could continue. "Which brings us around to the subject of sex."
"It does?" He smiled that grin, that endearing, beautiful, wonderful grin that gave his face a piratical aspect.
"That's what this is really all about, isn't it?" Lilah asked rhetorically, as though they were alone. "You're afraid that if you don't grab the first woman who is sympathetic to your condition, you might miss out on women altogether. Adam," she said earnestly, "if I thought she was sincere, I'd pin a medal of self-sacrifice on her myself. But if I were you, I'd examine why she conceded the point of not having children so quickly."
Both ignored Lucretia's gasp. Lilah plunged on. "Did you ever think that she might be relieved? Maybe she's glad she won't have a husband who'll demand that she dutifully eke out an offspring. I doubt she would want to sacrifice her figure or her time to a child. She just doesn't seem cut out to breast-feed and change diapers. And while a nanny can do one, she sure as hell can't do the other."
"Breast-feeding isn't essential," he reminded her quietly.
"To me it would be."
"Would it?"
Deep down inside, Lilah quivered. "That's not the issue. You're getting me off the track." She began again. "I don't think you'll have a single problem in your marital bed, either for recreational or procreational purposes. To any woman who truly loves you, it won't matter either way. But I know it matters to you. So if you're that worried about its not working, I'd rather you try it out on me before taking a chance that it won't and marrying Snow White."
A stunned silence followed. None was more stunned than Lilah. She heard her own words, but she couldn't believe that she'd spoken them. It had been an impulsive statement. Though now that she had time to review it, she realized that it was true and conveyed her deepest feelings.
She didn't mind what Lucretia thought about her speaking her heart, but she did mind what Adam thought. She couldn't bear looking into his eyes. They revealed nothing except the intensity of his reaction. But the reaction itself remained a mystery.
Turning on her bare heel, she left the room.
Several ponderously silent seconds ticked by before Lucretia daintily cleared her throat and spoke. "Can you believe that a hired person would have the gall to speak so candidly about what is absolutely none of her affair? What a trial she must have been for you, darling." She shivered with revulsion. "I'm amazed you tolerated her this long. I'll see that she's packed and out of the house by nightfall."
Adam caught her arm as she brushed past his chair. She glanced down, surprised by the strength of his grip. "Lilah won't be packing, but you will."
Her cheeks paled. "You can't be serious, Adam. Surely you didn't put stock in anything that deranged woman said? You couldn't have. You're more intelligent than that."
"I'm very intelligent. That's why I keep tabs on every acquaintance, friend, enemy." He paused before adding, "And lover." He released her arm and leaned back in his wheelchair. "Lilah didn't tell me anything I didn't already know." He smiled thoughtfully, as if momentarily distracted. "Not about you anyway."
When his attention focused back on Lucretia, his expression turned serious again. "I know about the creditors beating down your door."
"How crass of you to mention finances, Adam."
"I wouldn't if finances weren't the reason you're here." He pressed on before she could offer a lame denial. "We had some good times, Lucretia."
"Some good sex."
He made an offhanded gesture. "It was so easily attainable it lost its value before we ever got in bed."
"You — "
He shrugged off her scathing insult. "I was never close to marrying you. Not by a long shot. I knew from the moment we met why you pursued me so relentlessly."
"I fell instantly in love," she cried.
"With my stock portfolio."
"That's not true. I care for you deeply. I came here to — "
"To do exactly as Lilah guessed. You wanted to smother me with your tender, loving care until I married you out of gratitude. And it would have been a bargain for both of us. I would have a wife who tolerated my incapacities. You would have a husband with the means to buy you out of hock.
"Only you miscalculated one thing," he continued. "I won't settle for being nursed the rest of my life. I've always done things for myself. I refuse to let this setback be anything but temporary. I might have to run my corporation from a wheelchair, but I'll never become a bedridden invalid content to let my brain atrophy while my loving wife takes advantage of me."
"You seemed to enjoy being an invalid the last couple of days," she remarked coldly.