Summer Heat (Wyoming Fever Book 2) by Elizabeth Lennox (books for new readers TXT) 📕

“But I loved it!”  His fingers tightened again, not hurting her, but simply conveying his urgent need to understand.  “Who told you that your desires were shameful?” he asked again, but with more intensity.

He didn’t think she was a bad person?  He didn’t mind that she…enjoyed what he’d done to her?

“My ex-husband,” she whispered, then lowered her lashes, unable to watch the disgust in his eyes.

There was a stunned, painful silence after that statement.

For a long moment, Arik processed the fact that Sage had been married. It took him a full sixty seconds, maybe longer, to tamp down on the abrupt fury, the jealousy, that made him see red at the idea of some other man holding Sage, making love to her.  Or maybe…the look in her eyes, the pain and humiliation she was desperately trying to hide warned him that the marriage hadn’t been a love match.

Taking a deep breath, he released her hands, stood, and turned to brace his palms on the counter.  “I didn’t know that you had been married, Sage,” he finally said, his mind reeling after that bombshell, but there was more to his reaction.  A hell of a lot more!

She looked up, obviously stunned at his gentle tone.  He continued to hold her gaze, willing her to see beyond everything else.  Willing her to see the understanding.

“You aren’t…horrified?” Sage finally asked.

He laughed, lifting her hands to kiss them.  “That you’re divorced?  I’m relieved that you’re no longer married to an ass that humiliated you.  I’m a little confused as to why you’ve never mentioned him before.  But if he was the one who tormented you, then I’m glad that he’s out of your life.”

She stared at him, trying to tell if he was serious.  “You don’t mind that I was married before?”

“No.  But would you tell me more about your marriage? Please?”

Arik watched, seeing the hesitation in her eyes.  He knew that something horrible had gone on during that marriage.  But was there more?

And would she tell him?  Would she let him understand?

“Did he hurt you?  Physically?”

Sage shook her head and he felt his stomach muscles ease up.

“But sometimes I wondered if a physical beating would have been easier to recover from,” she whispered.

He pulled her into his arms.  “Tell me,” he urged, trying to share his warmth and strength with her.

Xena and Minx, suspecting that more help was needed, moved in and leaned against her legs.  She glanced down, then laughed, but the sound came out a bit weepy.

Arik rubbed her back and buried his face in her hair.  “Talk to me, Sage.  I’d like to understand what you went through.”

For a moment, she allowed it, even pressed her face against his chest.  But this was something she needed to do with her own strength.  He got that.  He didn’t have to like it, but he understood.  This was her way

“Jerry would…” she sniffed and turned to look out the window, crossing her arms over her chest.  “My ex belittled me.  He thought that my desires were…” she swallowed hard, her chin trembling with the memories.  “He said I was a whore.”

There was a stunned silence for a long moment.  When he spoke, his voice was shaking with fury.  “You’re not!” he replied with finality.  “Not even close!”

Sage blinked, and she might have nodded her head.  “It hurt at first, but after a while, I just stopped hearing his insults.  He told me I was useless.”

“You’re not useless!” he said with a vehemence that made her smile.

“Thank you,” she replied.  But she couldn’t look him in the eye.  Not right now.

Sage inhaled slowly.  Deeply.  It took her a moment to get her mind back in the present before she could continue.  “Jerry was my father’s choice.  I didn’t want to get married.  I was still in college, majoring in English literature.  I loved it,” she sighed, tightening her arms around her waist. “I loved reading the classics and the not-so-classic novels.  But my senior year, my father repeatedly told me that I was unemployable.”  Her voice cracked on that last word.  “He said that I’d be useless to society except as a wife.  And since I’d chosen my studies so poorly,” she covered her mouth with one hand, taking a moment to pull herself out of the past.  She straightened her shoulders and forced herself to continue.  “Since I’d chosen to study literature, the best I could do was to become someone’s wife and not embarrass him at dinner parties.”  She turned, leaning a shoulder against the wall.  “In the beginning, my father was completely on board with my choices in college.  I studied literature at Columbia University.  And I graduated Magna Cum Laude.”  She closed her eyes, her lips trembling.  “He’d never said anything negative about my choices until the final few months of my senior year.  Then he started in on how I needed him to guide me through life.  That I was too stupid to make my own decisions.”

Arik muttered several choice expletives.  “He’s an ass.  I’ve met him and he’s an absolute ass!”

She laughed, but the sound was closer to a sob.  “Yeah, I know that, now.  But it took me a long time to get out of that mentality.”  She perked up.  “Want to know how I did it?”

He looked down at her warily.  “Sure.  Tell me what you did.”

“I killed him!” she replied, her eyes lighting up.

Arik blinked at her, confused.  “As in murdered him?  Your ex-husband?”

She laughed, wiping the tears that had escaped with the back of her hand.  “Initially, it was my father that I murdered. Over and over in my mind, I murdered him.  After I married Jerry, things were pretty good for a while.  Dad backed off his criticisms and life was boring.  I cooked and cleaned, organized dinner parties for Jerry’s