For His Honor by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page B

opposite of what she’d been hoping for, what she’d been praying he might do.

    She was pregnant and he wanted nothing to do with her. That was all she could think, and she just wanted to get the hell away from him and that cabin and the entire town.

    Nicole ran as fast as she could to reach her car.

    Red was calling her name now. “Nicole! Wait!”

    She didn’t care. She needed to go. She needed to be somewhere safe, somewhere she’d be taken care of right now. It was like a horror movie. She didn’t even look back, just ran, picturing him coming after her with his axe still in one hand—like Jack Nicholson from The Shining.

    And then, just as Nicole was about to reach the driver’s side door, she tripped over a huge tree root sticking up out of the dirt driveway, and fell forward. Her arms instantly shot out to break her fall, especially making sure she didn’t hit her stomach when she smashed into the ground.

    But in trying to protect her unborn child—Nicole twisted strangely on the way down and felt a sharp pain in her right ankle.

    She shrieked and rolled onto her back.

    Red was just reaching her side. He didn’t have his axe after all, and he looked absolutely stricken. “Nicole, what happened? Are you okay?”

    She was sobbing, as much from pain as rejection. “Just…just...leave me alone, okay?” More hysterical crying. “Are you…huh…huh..happy now?”

    He knelt down, his face a mask of concern, and shook his head. “No, I’m not happy. Not at all.” He laid his hand gently on her shoulder, and she hated that it felt so good—so right.

    Why was he torturing her? Why had he made everything between them into something awful and sad?

    “Tell me where you’re hurt,” he said.

    “My—my ankle. I twisted it just now when I fell.”

    “Okay, let me see it.” He moved down, slowly removed the sandal on her right foot, and examined her leg.

    His hands felt warm and soothing, healing even. But the pain in her ankle was still throbbing. She craned her head to look and saw that the ankle was already swelling and slightly discolored.

    “Move your toes and foot a bit for me,” he said.

    She winced as she did so. “It hurts.”

    “I think you’ve sprained it pretty good,” he told her.

    “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I need to go. I need to get out of here. Can you find me transportation back to the city?”

    Red shook his head. “I’m not letting you out of my sight while you’re in this condition. You need to be taken care of, Nicole.”

    Hearing him say those very words brought more tears to her eyes, tears of relief.
    But then she thought, how long would it be before he changed his mind once again and told her to leave? She couldn’t depend on him, and she didn’t want to risk being rejected yet again. It was all too much.

    “I should go, Red. I don’t need you to take care of me anymore.”

    His face blanched at her cold words. “That’s not true.”

    “Yes it is,” she lied, staring into his eyes.

    “Well,” he said, eventually, “I don’t know about that. But right now, I’m bringing you inside the cabin and getting some ice on that ankle.”

    As much as Nicole wanted to fight him on it—another part of her was reveling in his attention.

    I know he loves me, she thought.

    The way he looked at her, the care and attentiveness he was giving her right now—it screamed out love. He’d looked so panic-stricken when she’d first fallen, and she knew that was no act.

    Red lifted her in his arms and carried her into the cabin.

    “I’m going to lay you on the couch now,” he told her. “Sorry about the scenery—
    I wish I could put you up at The Four Seasons or something. But they don’t have those around here.”

    He laid her down gently on a soft, worn couch that actually felt like something her parents would have had in their home. Nicole didn’t really mind it at all—in fact, she rather liked it.

    The inside of the cabin was