Gabby couldn’t answer.

“I won’t be furnishing you with any further experience,” he said gently. “You know that, don’t you? I will never be able to trust you again, and no marriage could be successful in those circumstances.”

Gabby pulled herself together. She had to make herself clear, and then she would leave. “I will not try to change your mind, but I want you to understand. Sudhakar assured me that the medicine would not injure you. Given that, I decided that lying to you was justified.”

“Justified!” Quill spat. “God, you are such a smug little thing. Justified lies! To your husband! Were you lying when you said you worshiped me, after we consummated our marriage?”

But she was battling tears again and couldn’t answer.

“Of course, that was before you realized just how much my injury was going to affect your daily life,” Quill remarked.

“No! That isn’t it. I won’t have you saying such cruel things!” Gabby had suddenly found her voice. “I never lied to you about important things.”

“Only when justified.” His voice had a savage ring to it.

“I never told you a lie as awful as the one you told me,” she retorted.

Quill folded his arms and regarded her. “And what lies have I ever told you, Gabby? I should warn you that I pride myself on my truthfulness.”

She raised her chin. “In that case, you should not have lied to me about the reasons you wished to marry me. You said that you loved me.”

Quill suddenly remembered a few details from his so-called dream of the previous night.

“I apologize,” he said finally. “I did lie to you.”

But Gabby was gratefully allowing anger to dull her grief. “You lied to me at one of the most sacred moments in life,” she spat. “You forced me to give up a man whom I loved, whom I wished to marry, and to marry you instead.”

“I forced you—”

“You and your brother schemed behind my back,” she said. Her eyes met his, and there were no tears in them now. “You were correct, last night. I am a romantic. I thought you loved me. I foolishly believed your lies, and so I jilted my fiancé. Of course, he was lying, too, since I gather he found me too fat to marry. Fool that I am, I even believed you when you said that I was beautiful.”

Quill opened his mouth, but couldn’t think of anything to say.

“At least I lied to you for your own good,” Gabby said. “I would never have tricked you into a loveless marriage. I wouldn’t have been able to stand the shame.”

“It is not a loveless marriage!”

She shrugged. “It is no longer a marriage at all, according to you.”

Too late, Quill understood that he had never really meant his earlier threats.