Second Time Around by Katherine Allred Read Free Book Online Page B

going to kill him.

3Chapter Five
    Lanie climbed into the pickup and pulled the door closed behind her. It felt as if every muscle in her body had contracted into one huge painful knot. The feeling was becoming familiar to her. She’d been fighting tension since she’d first opened the court’s letter and discovered that she and Quinn were still married.
    With a sigh she leaned her head against the steering wheel and closed her eyes. For Zack’s sake she had to get a grip. Quinn was his father, and her son’s curiosity had been obvious all evening. But to her, what was more apparent were the wary glances Zack had been giving her. Even though his eyes had bubbled with hope, happiness and a thousand questions when he looked at Quinn, her normally exuberant son had, for the most part, remained silent. There could only be one explanation. Zack sensed her anger, her frustration, and he didn’t know how to react.
    She had to find a way to keep his world stable, even if it meant pretending she was happy to have Quinn on the ranch. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Zack. He was her life, her baby, the only thing in the world that mattered to her. Which was why she’d finally agreed to marry Jared after four years of dating. He loved Zack as much as she did. Jared would make a wonderful father. He had all the qualities she wanted Zack to learn, qualities that would make her son a strong, honest man.
    And Jared loved her. Maybe she didn’t feel that flash fire of heat when he held her, but she’d changed since Quinn. Matured. She no longer expected or wanted fireworks.
    Jared made her feel safe, secure. He never raised his voice, never deliberately prodded her into anger. Jared would never leave her. He was steady as the Rock of Gibraltar, as eternal as the stars in the sky.
    Putting the truck in gear, she headed down the driveway. Not once since she’d been dating him had Jared tried to coerce her into sleeping with him. He respected her wish to wait until they were married, even though she knew he wanted her.
    He hadn’t even shown any irritation with her after she’d gotten the letter from the court informing her she was still married to Quinn. The letter shouldn’t have made any difference in her relationship with Jared, but it had. No matter what her head was saying, her heart was telling her she still had a husband and seeing Jared while married to Quinn was wrong. And it would stay wrong until everything was settled and the divorce became real.
    A niggling sense of uneasiness tickled the back of her mind, but she pushed it away. The fact that she’d refused to sleep with Jared had nothing to do with Quinn. It was her damn conservative upbringing, that was all. Jared understood. He’d continued to stop by for visits, but he hadn’t pressured her to be alone with him.
    3She felt so guilty. She had seen the hurt lingering behind Jared’s smile when he looked at her, and knew she was the cause. Hurting him was the last thing she wanted to do. And now she would have to tell him that Quinn was demanding a chance to make their marriage work. Thank God Sara would be there. She wasn’t sure she’d have the courage to face Jared alone.
    The lights from her truck swept the yard as she turned up Jared’s drive, and picked up a reflection from the blue Volvo parked near the house. Relief rippled through her.
    Sara was already here.
    Jared must have been listening for her, because the front door opened before she turned the motor off, and he started down the steps toward her. He looked so familiar, so dear, that she had to fight the urge to break into tears. His thick blond hair was still a little damp from his shower, falling over his forehead in a shaggy mop. In the light spilling from the house she could see the concern etched on his ruggedly handsome face.
    Without a word, he opened his arms. Lanie threw herself into them, and they closed around her, warm and tight. His lips brushed her hair as she buried her face