Heartbreaker by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

with him in person, so she picked up the receiver and muttered a hello.
    â€œMichelle, darling.”
    She went white, her fingers tightening on the receiver. Had she conjured him up by thinking about him the night before? She tried not to think of him, to keep him locked in the past, but sometimes the nightmare memories surfaced, and she felt again the terror of being so alone and helpless, with no one she could trust to come to her aid, not even her father.
    â€œRoger,” she said faintly. There was no doubt. No one but her ex-husband said her name in that caressing tone, as if he adored her.
    His voice was low, thick. “I need you, darling. Come back to me, please. I’m begging. I promise I’ll never hurt you again. I’ll treat you like a princess—”
    â€œNo,” she gasped, groping for a chair to support her shaking legs. Cold horror made her feel sick. How could he even suggest that she come back?
    â€œDon’t say that, please,” he groaned. “Michelle, Mother and Dad are dead. I need you now more than ever. I thought you’d come for their funeral last week, but you stayed away, and I can’t stand it any longer. If you’ll just come back I swear everything will be different—”
    â€œWe’re divorced,” she broke in, her voice thin with strain. Cold sweat trickled down her spine.
    â€œWe can be remarried. Please, darling—”
    â€œNo!” The thought of being remarried to him filled her with so much revulsion that she couldn’t even be polite. Fiercely she struggled for control. “I’m sorry about your parents; I didn’t know. What happened?”
    â€œPlane crash.” Pain still lingered in his hoarse voice. “They were flying up to the lake and got caught in a storm.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said again, but even if she’d known in time to attend the funeral, she never would have gone. She would never willingly be in Roger’s presence again.
    He was silent a moment, and she could almost see him rub the back of his neck in the unconscious nervous gesture she’d seen so many times. “Michelle, I still love you. Nothing’s any good for me without you. I swear, it won’t be the same as it was; I’ll never hurt you again. I was just so damned jealous, and I know now I didn’t have any reason.”
    But he did! she thought, squeezing her eyes shut as guilt seeped in to mix with the raw terror evoked by simply hearing his voice. Not physically, but had there been any day during the past ten years when she hadn’t thought of John Rafferty? When part of her hadn’t been locked away from Roger and every other man because they weren’t the heartbreaker who’d stolen her heart?
    â€œRoger, don’t,” she whispered. “It’s over. I’ll never come back. All I want to do now is work this ranch and make a living for myself.”
    He made a disgusted sound. “You shouldn’t be working that dinky little ranch! You’re used to much better than that. I can give you anything you want.”
    â€œNo,” she said softly. “You can’t. I’m going to hang up now. Goodbye, and please don’t call me again.” Very gently she replaced the receiver, then stood by the phone with her face buried in her hands. She couldn’t stop trembling, her mind and body reeling with the ramifications of what he’d told her. His parents were dead, and she had been counting on them to control him. That was the deal she’d made with them; if they would keep Roger away from her, she wouldn’t release the photos and medical report to the press, who would have a field day with the scandal. Imagine, a Beckman of Philadelphia nothing but a common wife-beater! That evidence had kept her father safe from Roger’s insane threats, too, and now he was forever beyond Roger’s reach. She had lived in hell to protect her