Sleeping With The Enemy (A Stranger's Touch) by Mary Eason Read Free Book Online Page A

stairs to her father’s bedroom, dreading this moment more than ever when she would look into his eyes and see the truth.
     
    Her father had been ill for a long time. After the last heart attack, the doctor urged him to slow down. He’d retired less than a year ago.
    Kate pushed open the bedroom door and glanced around the room. Her father was standing near the window, looking out at the late fall morning.
    When he turned to look at her, even before he said a single word, the expression on his face told Kate everything she needed to know.
    “It’s true, isn’t it, Dad? All of it’s true?” she asked still holding onto hope.
    “Why didn’t you tell me about this, Dad? How could you?” She didn’t finish. Kate wanted to blame her father, but it wasn’t his fault. It was hers. She hadn’t listened to her conscience. She’d rushed into sleeping with Alex. Given away too much of herself too soon.
    “Katie.” Her father took a step closer, holding out his arms to his only child. She went willing into them. “I would have told you about him one day. I guess I never thought you’d meet, and there never seemed to be the right time to tell you. I guess I wanted to spare you—and myself the embarrassment of having to relive that nightmare again. I’m so sorry, my baby. I’m so very sorry.”
    Kate couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Somehow, through all the moments spent replaying everything in her head as she read those terrible things about Alex, she’d always believed once she stood before her father he might tell her it was all just a terrible misunderstanding.
    “Daddy…” Kate tried to speak, but the words just wouldn’t come over that shattering realization.
    “What are you going to do, child?” Robert watched his daughter’s pain with the helplessness of a man who was powerless to ease her suffering.
    “What can I do? I can’t believe I’m such a fool. I actually believed he loved me. I gave away everything to him, Daddy. I believed Alex’s lies.” Her father’s reaction was hard to take. She was going to cry and she couldn’t let her father see her tears.
    “I need to get away.” She started pacing around the tiny room. “Just for a little while. Until I can figure out what to do. I’m so confused; I can’t think clearly anymore. I’ll have to get the marriage annulled as soon as possible,” she said with a strangled gulp. She was crying and she couldn’t seem to stop the tears. “I want to forget I ever met Alex Bradshaw.” Kate didn’t believe there was anything Alex could do to her or her father that would hurt as much as his deception.
    “Katie, maybe you should talk to him first before you do anything. I can’t imagine Alex going to such an extreme over something that happened years ago. Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding.”
    “It’s not, Dad—you know it’s not. And I won’t let him lie to me anymore. I can never trust him again. I’m just so stupid .” She brushed away the last of her tears. “How could I actually believe he loved me? I’m Me—of all the women in the world Alex might love. I can’t accept all of this is just some strange coincidence, Dad. It isn’t! It can’t be! I’m going back to my old apartment to pack and then I’m leaving. I’ll make all the necessary arrangements to have the marriage annulled as soon as I return.”
    “Katie, stop! Wait. I know you’re hurting, but you’re not thinking this through either. Take some time before you do something you might regret.” Kate couldn’t hold back the bitter laughter bubbling up inside of her at how many things she’d done since meeting Alex that she would live to regret for the rest of her life.
    “At least speak to him. Come stay with me for a while. I love having you here. Don’t run away like this. What about the bookstore? You love the store. You can’t just leave it.”
    “Dad, I have to go away. I need to sort all of this out in my head. Brandy can watch the store