A Dangerous Widow (A Dangerous Series) by Christina Ross Read Free Book Online Page A

a fist of knots—and yet conversely
also gave me a sense of relief.  
    Clearly, it was the idea of seeing him again
after so many years that made me an anxious wreck, but knowing that he was
about to assess all that I’d heard today gave me a kind of peace.
    The Ben Cade I remembered had a good head on
his shoulders—it was one of the first things that had attracted me to
him, beyond his good looks.   Now
that I knew that he’d become a Navy SEAL, I could only imagine how professional
he’d become.   The Navy would have
beaten that into him—and Ben likely would have craved the experience,
regardless of how difficult that journey had been.  
    While I knew that worrying about how I
looked should have been the last thing on my mind, it wasn’t.   How often in one’s life do you find
yourself thirty minutes away from coming face to face with the person who had
been the first love of your life—and one you hadn’t seen in sixteen
years?  
    When it came to me?   Never.
    And so when I went into the master bath to
assess myself, I was horrified to see that my mascara had run.   It must have happened when I’d been
weeping for Michael during the cab drive home.   No wonder the doormen had looked so
oddly at me when I’d arrived home.   I had been in such a state of shock and sadness when I’d been dropped
off, I hadn’t even thought to check my face before I left the cab.   I’d just wanted to get inside my
apartment.
    As I reached for my compact and started to
freshen my face, I noted the faint lines that were beginning to show along my
brow and at the corners of my eyes.  
    I was nineteen when Ben last saw me.   Now, all these years later, age had
worked its stellar magic and had matured my face.   With my baby fat long gone, my
cheekbones were more pronounced than they used to be, my hair was a lighter
brown carefully layered with highlights by my stylist, and my neck was more
slender than the young woman Ben used to know.  
    Age changes all of us, and even though I was
comfortable in my body, which I kept fit through daily workouts, there was no
denying that age had had its way with me.   Not unkindly—I didn’t mind how I looked.   I took care when it came to my
appearance.   But I certainly had
changed since the age of nineteen.
    And how would he look?   Different, but the same—like
me.   How kind had the years been to
him?   Who knew?
    And who cares , I thought as I smoothed the compact’s pad
beneath my eyes in an effort to erase the smudged mascara.   What matters is
Michael.   What matters is telling
Ben what happened today, and finding out what he thinks of it, and if anything
should be done about it.   That’s
what matters—not how well I’ve aged.   Jesus, Kate.
    Yet, even as I applied a fresh coat of
mascara and lipstick, I did not for a single moment believe any of that.   It sounded shallow, but I did care how I
looked.   I did care about how Ben
would see me now, because, as much as a gentleman as he was, I knew that, on
some level, I’d be judged the moment he saw me.   And that I’d judge him as well.
    And that was only human.

 
 
    *   *   *

 
 
    Like clockwork, Ben indeed arrived thirty
minutes later, which I thought was something of a statistical miracle.   How could he have nailed it like
that?   Manhattan was tough to
navigate.   People were routinely
either five or ten minutes early or late.   It all depended upon traffic.
    But apparently not when it came to Ben.
    When my intercom rang, I went into the foyer
to answer it.
    “Yes?” I said.
    “A Mr. Benjamin Cade to see you, Mrs.
Stone.”
    “Please send him up.”
    “Of course.”
    “Thank you, Christian.”
    I hadn’t changed my clothes.   I was still wearing my jeans and a white
tank top, the latter of which probably revealed more than it should, but when I
had left my apartment for lunch with Laura, I certainly didn’t know the day was
going to end like this.   At least
I’d