Her Desert Knight by Jennifer Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

souk for nine months before a single word was exchanged.
    But she was wearing jeans and a khaki T-shirt and looked like an American today. Even the lush green hillside with its winding, rocky trails looked like somewhere in the Ozarks. He didn’t care where they were. All he knew was that he needed to keep her here. If he drove her home now he’d never see her again. “Let’s climb higher so we can look down on the eagles. Maybe we’ll even see their nests.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Her dark eyes wide, she looked so confused he just wanted to take her in his arms.
    “Of course it is. We’re grown adults and we can do anything we set our minds to.” He scanned the horizon, hoping for an impressive eagle, or at least some rare sparrow to distract her with.
    “I don’t know what came over me. I haven’t kissed anyone since...since...”
    “Your marriage?”
    She nodded. A furrow formed between her elegant brows. “I didn’t think I’d ever want to kiss someone again.”
    He smiled. “And then you did.”
    He heard her inhale. “It was a mistake.”
    “I should take that as an insult.” Her whole body was so tense he could tell she was deadly serious, but still he wanted to lighten the mood.
    “It’s not you, it’s me.”
    “You’re a lovely woman. You’re single, or at least so you’ve told me. What’s wrong with you enjoying a kiss?”
    “I am single.” She looked shocked that he’d called that into question. “And believe me, I am not looking to get into a relationship ever again.”
    He wanted to quip that she’d found the right man for that—relationships were not his strong point—but he restrained himself. “Just because it didn’t work out with one man, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever enjoy romance again.”
    “Yes, it does.” She hugged herself as a breeze ruffled the trees. “Can we leave now?” Her eyes implored him.
    “I guess we could start walking back toward the car.” It was a good twenty minutes away. Hopefully he could win her around by then. “Why are you so afraid of another relationship?”
    She walked ahead of him. “Being part of a couple turned me into someone else.”
    “How?” He walked faster to catch up with her.
    “I lost myself. I became the person he shaped me into. The weak and useless person he despised.” He saw her shoulders shiver.
    “You didn’t become that person. He just made you feel that way. Was he abusive?”
    “Not physically. He never hit me.” Her voice was very quiet. “He didn’t do much at all. I became a victim so easily. I gave up my career, gave up my friends, stopped doing everything I enjoyed and turned into the nobody he wanted to hate.” Gravel scattered at her feet as she hurried along the loose surface of the trail, over tree roots and around rocks. At this rate they’d be back at the car in less than ten minutes.
    “He sounds like a jackass.”
    She stopped and turned around. “Yes. He was a jackass. I can see that now, but at the time I thought it was me. I lost all perspective on my own life. You can see how I don’t want to get myself into a situation like that again.”
    “You won’t. You just had the bad luck to give your heart, and your trust, to someone who didn’t deserve it. Most men aren’t anything like that.”
    “Aren’t they?” A pained expression flickered across her face. “My father thinks I’m a fool.”
    “Then you need to get away from him, too.”
    “I can’t. I have no job and very little money. The divorce lawyers took almost everything I had left, which wasn’t much. We didn’t have any assets to split and I didn’t want alimony as it would have given my ex-husband a hold over me when I needed a complete break. With my—as both my father and ex-husband pointed out—useless career, I’m not likely to make money anytime soon.” Tears rose in her eyes. “I guess I planned my life like a fairy tale, where I’d live my dreams surrounded by art and