From This Day Forward by Deborah Cox Read Free Book Online Page B

arrived in the Amazon Valley, Jason had tried to defy the midday heat. He'd soon learned the error of his ways from the exhaustion his labors produced.
    Normally, Jason passed the time relaxing on one of the unused patios of the beneficio, napping beneath one of the several palm trees planted there if he'd had a particularly restless night. And even though last night certainly qualified, he knew he wouldn't sleep today. He strode out onto the patio, willing himself not to glance up at the door on the second floor. At the fountain, he splashed water over his face to clear his head, then ran his hands through his hair, slicking it back off his face.
    Damn her. She'd turned the tables on him again. He'd meant to show her what he was, what he was capable of so that she would stay out of his way. He'd meant to frighten her, but when he succeeded, the self-loathing in the pit of his stomach had nearly devoured him. Maybe he didn't have a taste for violence any more.
    You'll end up just like your good-for-nothing fa the r, his uncle William Sinclair's voice taunted him from the past. Just like your fa the r.
    Could a man change his destiny? Could he escape his birthright?
    A shiver trembled up his spine and set his neck to tingling. Someone was watching him. He jerked around to find Caroline sitting on a bench behind him. He released a sigh of relief mixed with displeasure. He'd been disappointed and even a little angry when she hadn't appeared for luncheon, but now he found he didn't want to face her again so soon. What could he say to her; how should he approach her? He'd be damned if he'd apologize.
    "I don't mean to intrude," she said in a voice that dripped honey. "I usually spend the afternoons here reading."
    She had donned a light cotton dress and come to the patio to pass the afternoon. It had not been her intention to force her presence upon her husband again. She didn't relish the thought of facing him so soon after her humiliation. But she'd spent far too much time fleeing to her room, and she wasn't about to do so now.
    Jason ran a hand through his damp hair. He stared at her silently, and Caroline watched the changing expressions that always shifted across his face. At first, he seemed surprised to see her, surprise giving way to something she might have interpreted as gladness, if she didn't know how unlikely he was to be glad to see her. Whatever that emotion might have been, it quickly gave way to curiosity.
    "I had no idea," he said. "I mean, that you spent the afternoons here."
    "How could you?" Caroline asked. "There are many things you don't know about me."
    Anger was getting the better of her, and she struggled for control. If she didn't tread lightly, she'd find herself baiting him again. She didn't want to drive him away, so she'd have to use another approach.
    She turned the leather-bound book in her hand so that Jason could see the title on the spine. It was Bleak House by Dickens. "Your taste in books seems quite eclectic. Your library is extensive."
    "I'm glad you approve. Please feel free to avail yourself of anything that interests you."
    "I wondered if you had anything on coffee cultivation." Her eyes remained on the book in her hand, but she could feel the heat of his gaze on her. "I can't imagine that you would not. You've got everything from Russian history to Goethe to Jane Austen.... If I didn't know better, I'd think that every book in your library was a new edition."
    "They are. It's my only requirement. Derek and his wife bought them on my behalf," he told her. "One hundred and twenty yards of books, enough to fill all the shelves in the room."
    "You don't...?"
    "I don't have time to read," he said.
    The skill with which he told the lie chilled Caroline to the marrow. He was very good at it—at lying. How would she ever be able to know when he was telling the truth?
    / used to sneak and keep some of the money I made working at the sugar mill to buy books, he wrote Derek. I'd hide them under my