All's Fair in Lust & War by Amber Page Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d loved to surprise her. A midweek picnic aboard a chartered sailboat here. Front row seats to the summer’s hottest concert there. A private dinner prepared by the city’s top chef whenever anything was seriously amiss.
    All wrapped in miles and miles of seemingly sincere promises. He’d painted beautiful pictures of the life they would create together—working opposite each other all day, then playing together all night, making sweet love whenever the mood struck them. He’d even included children in their mythical future: a girl with her hair and his height, and a boy with her eyes and his strength.
    She’d thought she’d been transported from her dreary hand-to-mouth existence straight into a fairytale. Unfortunately her happily-ever-after had never put in an appearance.
    At least not with Pence. And not in Detroit.
    But she’d spent the last five years here in New York, creating a new direction for her story. And, unless she was sadly mistaken, she was almost to the good part.
    She put the tumbler of wine to her lips, only to find it empty.
    It was time for bed.
    She shuffled into the closet that served as her bedroom and crawled beneath the sky-blue goose down duvet that was her biggest extravagance. Her bed was her sanctuary, and normally her lavender-scented sheets relaxed her within minutes.
    Not tonight.
    Tonight she could only toss and turn, searching for a comfortable place to lay her head.
    She was tormented by images of the flowered treasure box that lay hidden under her bed. The one that contained memories she couldn’t stand to destroy—and that destroyed her to remember.
    Sighing, she twisted the knob on the delicate crystal lamp on her nightstand and clambered out of bed.
    With the box settled in her lap, she gently lifted the cover.
    Resting there was a picture of her, snuggled against Pence’s broad chest at sunset aboard a sailboat. The camera had caught him midlaugh, his blue eyes crinkling, looking happy and relaxed. She could remember the exact moment. She’d felt so safe. So loved. So incredibly sure she was right where she belonged.
    The ruby promise ring he’d given her was also there, nestled in its green velvet box. As was the long gold chain he’d insisted she hang it on, so she could wear it “next to her heart.” She’d loved to feel it hanging between her breasts, imagining it was him touching her every time the ring had brushed a sensitive area.
    There were other pictures, including one taken at the dinner held in honor of her first award-win. He was scowling darkly at the camera, unhappiness obvious in every line of his body.
    That was when things had started to go wrong. He hadn’t liked it when she’d started succeeding on her own.
    At the bottom of the box was the memory she was most dreading. A grainy black-and-white photo of the peanut-size blob that had been her baby at eight weeks.
    The baby she had aborted a week later.
    She remembered the day the picture had been taken as if it was yesterday. She’d known she was pregnant for three weeks. After the first test had come out positive she’d bought an economy-size pack of pregnancy test strips and taken a new one every morning. The little pink line indicating the baby’s existence had got darker and thicker with each passing day, but it hadn’t been until her doctor had shown her the blurry black-and-white ultrasound image on a video monitor that she’d allowed herself to believe it was real.
    And when he’d found the heartbeat her soul had melted, reforming itself around the tiny little being growing inside her. She’d promised the little peanut that she’d take care of it. That she’d be the best mom ever.
    What a joke that had turned out to be.
    The next night she shaved every last hair from her body and perfumed every crevice before sliding into the sexy white lace lingerie Pence loved. She’d donned silky back-seamed thigh-highs and a skintight black dress that showcased her newly voluptuous