The Ideal Man by Julie Garwood Read Free Book Online Page A

of what she had gone through, Max felt great empathy for her. She had been powerless back then, with no control over what happened to her. He knew all about that, and that was why he wanted to help as much as he could. Ellie had been through enough. She didn’t need more heartache. And if she testified . . .
    Max didn’t respond to Ellie’s question. Instead, he surprised her by sitting down next to her on the sofa. He was so close, if she moved, she’d be glued to him. Ellie was confused. What was he doing? There was a perfectly good overstuffed chair he could have taken, and yet he chose the sofa. What did that mean? Ellie didn’t know how to react. Should she move away? She didn’t want to, but should she? Just as she was questioning his motives, Max took a digital recorder out of his pocket. Oh. Now she understood. He had to sit next to her so that the recorder could pick up the conversation. Bummer.
    “Ben, are you ready to get started?” Max asked.
    “Sure,” he replied. “I’m the less experienced agent,” he explained to Ellie. “By eleven months.” He turned in the swivel chair and accidentally knocked the desk, starting an avalanche of papers to the floor.
    Ellie rushed to help pick up. “It’s a mess, I know, but I haven’t had time to go through everything. Most of it can probably be thrown away.”
    “I’ve got this, Ellie. Go sit.” He scooped up several papers, straightened them, and made a pile against the wall. “They can stay on the floor, right?”
    She smiled. “Right.”
    Max grabbed another stack of papers that was headed to the floor and put a heavy anatomy book on top to keep them from falling again.
    “What’s this?” Ben held up several sheets that had been stapled together.
    “What is it?” Max asked.
    “Restraining order.”
    “Yeah?” Glancing at Ellie, Max walked around the desk and took the papers from Ben. Just as he expected, they were orders against Evan Patterson. He quickly flipped through them and handed them back to Ben.
    Ben looked over the documents while Ellie remained silent, hoping he wouldn’t read through them.
    “Who is Evan Patterson?”
    “Oh, those papers are old,” she said.
    “Uh-huh,” Ben agreed. “Who is he?”
    She had the feeling changing the subject wasn’t going to work. Ben was FBI, which meant he was trained to get people to answer questions, but she wished he’d leave this alone. The subject of Evan Patterson was very difficult for her to talk about or even think about. She wanted the nightmare to stay in the past.
    Ellie settled back on the sofa and pulled a pillow onto her lap. “I went to Sacred Heart High School for two years. He was there.”
    “Did he leave high school, or did you?” Ben asked, curious.
    “I was the first to leave . . . it was a long time ago.”
    Ben glanced at Max, knowing that he had also picked up on Ellie’s reticence.
    “Where did you go after that?” Ben asked, thinking she had either transferred to another high school or perhaps been homeschooled to get away from Patterson.
    Ellie hesitated before answering. “I was in college.”
    Ben tilted the chair back. He could see her embarrassment.
    “So you’re smart, huh?”
    She smiled. “And poor.”
    “But real smart?” Ben asked.
    “Prod,” Max said. “Chief of surgery calls her Prod.” He turned to her. “That’s short for prodigy , isn’t it?”
    She didn’t look happy that he had shared that information.
    “Just one more question. Where’s Evan Patterson now?” Ben asked.
    “I don’t know. If he was to come back to Winston Falls where my family lives, my father would let me know.” She lifted the pillow and squeezed it to her chest.
    Max could tell she hated talking about Patterson. That was obvious. “I’ll find out where he is now,” he said.
    Frowning, she asked, “Why? Why would you do that?”
    Because I know what he did to you , he thought. “It will give you a little peace of mind knowing exactly where he is,