Niko's Stolen Bride by Lindy Corbin Read Free Book Online Page B

then reached to pluck a fuchsia bloom from its vine, twisting its stem between his fingers. “I always thought I’d like to have a dog when I was a kid, but my mother wouldn’t allow it. She was a model, so designer clothes were everyday wear for her. I was only allowed to hug her after she’d checked to make sure my hands were clean. An animal jumping on her would not have been acceptable.”
    Kara tried to imagine a childhood without a mother who’d showered her with hugs and kisses. “It sounds a bit bleak.”
    He shrugged. “I didn’t think so. Mother had lots of friends, so I did too. There was always the nanny, tutors or the housekeeper to keep an eye on me. When she traveled for work, she left me with friends who had children my age, so I got to play with their pets.”
    No matter what he said, it was not the same as having a dog that licked your face while you cried because your first boyfriend dumped you or a cat that lay beside you and purred away a long, rainy afternoon while you read.
    Niko leaned close. With one swift movement, he pushed the stem of bougainvillea that he held under the rubber band she had used to pull her long hair back from her face. His feathery lashes concealed his eyes as he straightened.
    * * *
    “Te l l me about Frank.”
    The words startled him almost as much as her. He needed to know whether she was miserable because she missed him or was troubled about the confrontation that would occur when she returned to face him. Or maybe he just wanted to hear her voice and the words didn’t matter. He waited, tension dragging down his shoulders.
    “That would be – awkward.”
    “How so? There is only me and the cats to hear. We could be just the impartial listeners you need.”
    Her protest was immediate. “You’re hardly impartial.”
    There was a grain of truth in that, one he thought it best not to admit. “Sometimes, just saying the words out loud brings things into focus. It might help you decide how to handle the situation with Frank when the time comes.”
    “I don’t think–”
    “I’ll start,” he interrupted. “You and Frank work together, right? I think that you both drifted into this relationship and everyone around you expected it to go further, so you let it happen. What I can’t figure out is why Frank waited until the last minute to back out.”
    The silence stretched and, for a moment, he thought she wasn’t going to open up to him. She sighed, a long, soft sound that he barely heard over the chatter of tourists who strolled on the paths nearby.
    “I can answer that. Frank was having second thoughts, but wouldn’t admit it. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt me.”
    Leave it to a woman to always find the most compassionate point of view. “Maybe so, but as your impartial judge, I must point out that an honorable man would have talked to you, not cheated on you the first chance he got.” He didn’t try to hide the dry disdain in his tone.
    “He was acting so oddly last night,” she said slowly. “He’s not usually affectionate in public and he was all over that woman in the back of the car.” She pushed a stray tendril of hair back from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. “Frank is a nice man. Maybe it was nerves or the alcohol or his friends egging him on. I’ve never seen him be so rough, and he’s certainly never talked to me as rudely as he did. I wouldn’t have put up with it.”
    His heart jolted painfully, then started again with hard slow throbs. She was making excuses for him. She couldn’t seriously be considering taking him back? Something would have to be done to change her mind. He gave a derisive snort. “A nice man? Maybe. Weak? Definitely.”
    She was silent for so long that he thought he’d stepped over the line. She was still in love with the man. That didn’t change in a day, a week or a month. Along with that love came a need to defend, to rationalize what she hated most about the person so that she could love him