Sherry's Wolf by Maddy Barone Read Free Book Online

could catch her at breakfast but she was working in the kitchen. He’d waited in the pantry for her to finish her chores, the same pantry he’d held her in last night, where she had kissed him and he had touched the most intimate place on her slender body. She had slapped him…
    He stared at her now, stomach churning, as he touched a hand to the counter he had held her on only ten hours ago. “Is it because I went too far last night?”
    She blushed so brightly he could almost smell the blood in her cheeks. “No, Stag, I told you that wasn’t your fault. At least, not all your fault.”
    She tried to hide the lie, but Stag could see it. “Then why are you telling me to leave you alone for a whole year?” he demanded.
    Now her gaze left him to look at her hands twisting on the head of the cane he’d made her. She was wearing that huge diamond ring on her left hand again. He hated the sight of LeRoi’s claim on her. She took a deep breath and met his eyes. “When we were kissing last night, I liked it. I liked it a lot. But it takes time to get to know a man. I was overwhelmed by you. Dixie told me it would take some time to learn to trust after … It takes time.”
    There was something she wasn’t telling him. “I’ve given you time!”
    “I need more. Just until Christmas. It’s only eleven more months. Taye’s parents waited three years. Eleven months isn’t so long, really.”
    Stag’s blood ran cold. “I’m not waiting three years!”
    Sherry’s narrow back straightened with a snap. “I said eleven months, not three years. I talked to Dixie this morning, and she suggested a set amount of time. That way you aren’t left wondering when you should come back. Okay? This is fair. It’s less than a year. Time enough for me to get myself straightened out. Go back to the Clan, Stag.”
    He’d already waited months for her. Last night had given him only a tiny, tantalizing taste of what it would be like to make love to her. He didn’t want to put that off for a year. How had Uncle Del survived three years? “Don’t I get a say in this?”
    “No,” she said baldly, glaring at him now. “I’ve had my rights trampled enough, thank you very much. Suck it up.”
    “Suck?” That word drove fire right to his cock. “I liked sucking on you.”
    “Stag!” Her cheeks glowed with even more blood. She smelled of rage, though, as much as embarrassment. “You want to go for two years instead of one? Or maybe you want me to refuse you completely right now?”
    She looked ready to do it. Stag forced himself to sound reasonable. “How can you get to know me if I’m not even here?”
    “You can visit, okay?”
    “No, not okay!” he roared.
    She glared. “Okay, fine. Go away until at least June. That’s four months. Better?”
    His furious growl made her glare harder. “Sherry, what do you need more time to think about?”
    “My husband,” she flung at him.
    “He’s dead,” he retorted. “He didn’t even treat you right, and you need more time to ‘deal with it’?”
    “You son of a bitch,” she breathed through clenched teeth. “He wasn’t perfect, but I loved him and he loved me.”
    Her fury aroused him; her sorrow broke him. “I’m sorry, Sherry.” He dropped his hand when she jerked her head aside to dodge it. “But it’s true, he’s gone. If he loved you, he’d be glad you found someone to take care of you.”
    She stabbed her cane into the floor. “Why does everybody think I need a man to take care of me? Am I a five-year-old? I don’t know you! For all I know, you’ll beat the crap out of me any time you have a bad day. Last night you scared me. I didn’t know if you would stop.”
    Blood rushed to his feet. Shock almost robbed him of his voice. “I would never, never hurt you!”
    “I’ve heard that before.” The cynicism in her voice bruised like a sharp stone under his heel. “Give me the time I need or say good-bye.”
    He’d already given her a month. In June,