by Zara Chase
She sent him a glower designed to shrink his balls. “And you don’t?”
Any lingering hopes that Melanie hadn’t tattled to him about her affair with Ward evaporated, leaving her feeling sad yet oddly liberated. She’d been carrying responsibility for Melanie for far too long, but those days were past.
“You think I came here just because I was jealous?”
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“Well, I am, I’ll admit it. I hate to think of another man pawing your…but that’s not it. It’s what I found out about your fancy man that made me come here to save you from yourself.”
“This I must hear.” Tanya folded her arms beneath her breasts and offered him a sarcastic smile. “You’ve got two minutes, then I’m out of here.”
He moved in on her, pressing her against the wall with the weight of his body and the strength of his jealousy. “Why do you think Shannon’s hiding out in this backwater?”
Tanya felt her confidence wobble. She’d wondered the same thing herself too often to be able to spring spontaneously to his defense.
“Yes, you’d like to know that, too, wouldn’t you?” Brad’s breath peppered her face, and she had to fight the desire to slap the smug grin from his lips. “Just so that you know, darling, he got fired from his hotshot spot on a Denver paper.”
“I don’t believe you.” And she didn’t. If that was the case it would have been mentioned online. It wasn’t. She knew because she’d looked.
“Ask him. He got fired after his paper was sued by a reader. A reader whose lights he punched out.”
Tania was furious when her hand spontaneously lifted to her mouth to stifle an instinctive denial.
* * * *
Ward stopped in his tracks when he saw Tanya, pressed against the wall by a guy who looked suspiciously like Melanie. He knew who he had to be, strode forward, and pulled the guy off by yanking the back of his collar.
“Leave her goddamned alone!” he snarled.
“See what I mean about him, babe?” the guy, Brad presumably, said with a smug smile that made Ward’s fingers itch.
“Your timing’s perfect, Ward,” Tanya said. “Is your offer still open to move into your room?”
“Sure, I’ll help you pack.”
“You can’t be serious, Tanya,” Brad whined. “Think about it.”
“Get out the damned way or I’ll move you out of it,” Ward said through tightly pursed lips. The desire to hit the guy was almost overwhelming, but if he did that he had no idea how Tanya would react.
He helped her to throw her possessions into her travel bag, conscious of her heightened color and the fact that her hands were shaking. Brad had clearly gotten to her, and Ward was desperate to pull her into his arms and kiss her bruised expression away.
“Is that everything?” he asked, helping her to scoop her toiletries up.
“Yes.” They went back into the bedroom. Brad remained slumped against the wall, glowering but not speaking. “You can stay here in this room with Melanie if you like,” Tanya said. “I don’t have any further need of it.”
She turned on her heel and headed for the door, head held high. Ward followed behind her, carrying her bags, never having admired her more. He knew how attached she was to Melanie and Brad, and it must have taken courage to walk out on them into an uncertain future.
“Well done,” he said as they slipped down the stairs. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
But she wouldn’t meet his gaze. Something was wrong.
“Just a moment,” she said when they reached the lobby.
Ward stood behind her as she asked the receptionist to let her have the bill for her extras. The hotel would have been paid for in advance, along with meals, but drinks at the bar would be extra and he was willing to bet that Melanie’s had been put on Tanya’s account. She settled the bill with a credit card and told the receptionist not to charge anything else to it.
“That felt good,” she said to Ward. “Okay, now I’m ready to get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Come on, sweetheart.” Ward guided Tanya through the side door to Hadleigh’s. “We’ll take your stuff up and settle you in.”
Tanya followed him up the stairs, her mind completely numb. The anger that had gripped her when Brad showed up had given way to sadness and a whole raft of insecurities. She felt like a child again, awkward and inarticulate, incapable of stringing together any coherent thoughts or thinking beyond the here and now. In spite of her near-catatonic state, Brad’s accusations about Ward did manage to lodge themselves in her brain, and that infuriated Tanya because they couldn’t possibly be true.
Could they?
He was being so kind, so considerate, in spite of the chaos she’d visited upon his well-organized existence, and she was repaying him by having doubts about his character. Talk about paranoid. Just because her eyes had been opened to Melanie’s character, it didn’t mean the rest of the world had hidden agendas.
“Here we go.”
Ward placed her bag on the floor, opened his arms, and sent her such a devastating smile that it heated the air between them. She hesitated for just a second and then flew into those strong, capable arms. There was nowhere else she wanted to be—no one else who would know how to make her head stop spinning and the hurt to go away. He scooped her from the floor and carried her to the bed, perching on the edge of it with her still cradled in his arms.
“I’ve been such an idiot.”
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.
She shook her head against his chest, suddenly overwhelmed. Too overwhelmed to hold it all in. The tears started as a trickle and quickly turned into a flood, soaking his shirt. She was conscious of his large hands sweeping across her back, soothing her like the child she felt she was again as she hiccupped inelegantly against his shoulder.
“Sorry,” she said when the tears finally dried up.
“Hey, no problem.”
“Melanie got him here because she was jealous of us.” She shook her head and regarded him through tear-stained eyes. Knowing that was why she’d done it was one thing. Saying it aloud made it real somehow. “Can you believe it?”
Ward nodded. “I figured as much.”
“Why, that’s what I can’t understand. I’m only here for a week. What we have going is just a fling.”
“Is it?”
Confused by the question, she took a leaf out of his book and dodged it. “What made her take such drastic action?”
“She has a mood disorder, probably brought on by what she suffered as a kid. The clues are all there. She let herself get fat because she thought that would make her unattractive to her father. It didn’t, but she had nowhere to turn so she self-harmed. It’s a common enough pattern in these situations, and it’s treatable, but I’m guessing she’s never sought professional help.”
“Right. I should have known. Her mother was worse than useless, and she didn’t have anyone else to turn to except me.” Tanya shook her head. “This is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault. You were just a kid yourself. If anyone’s to blame, it’s her teachers. They’re trained to spot the signs.”
“Stop trying to make me feel better.”
“When she lost weight she used her sexuality to gain affection. It worked with her dad and it was all she knew.”
“That’s just so sad.”
“It explains her eating disorder and her need to be the center of attention. You took that from her on this trip, so she convinced herself you were cheating on her brother.” He smiled at her. “She will have told herself that she acted in your best interests, not her own, and wonders why you’re not more grateful.”
“Even if what you say is true, why did Brad come running? We’ve been over for more than three months.”
“But he kept trying to get you back, right?”
“Yes, but I still don’t see—”
“And Melanie kept putting you down i
n little ways?”
“Well, not put down exactly. I’ve always felt like an elephant next to her. Everything about her is small and beautifully proportioned, but with me it’s not.”
“Who put that idea into your head?” Ward asked sternly.
“I’ve got eyes in my head.”
“Then use them to look in the mirror, darlin’.”
She did so but wasn’t convinced. “I don’t see it.”
“Brad did, and so did Melanie. That’s why she did a number on you. Now the two of them have undone all my good work.”
She sighed. “I know you’re just trying to be kind, but I’m a realist.”
He grabbed her shoulders and peered intently into her face. “I don’t do kind, babe. I just tell it like it is.”
“I’ll bet you regret the day you met me.”
“Stop it right now!” Ward looked like he was spitting expletives beneath his breath. “Self-pity doesn’t become you.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “Is that what you think this is?”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
“Sorry.” All the fight drained out of her. “I’m just not used to…well, to all this attention.”
“Right, this situation calls for emergency measures. I’m gonna take you downstairs, feed you, and then we’ll have to start your lessons all over again.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Okay then, straight to the lessons.”
“Can I ask you something first?”
“Sure, anything.”
“What are you doing here in Nevella, Ward? You’re a great ski instructor, but you’re worth more than that.”
* * * *
Shit, what instinct made her echo Leo’s words of earlier? What made her demand to know about him, now of all times, when she was so upset about her so-called friends? He looked into her face. Her lovely eyes were still brimming with tears, but a resolute expression had broken through them, which made up his mind for him.
He was in love with her. He’d realized that was what he felt when he saw her pinned against the wall by that ape Brad. His every sinew had ached to pulverize the bastard, and he still didn’t know how he’d managed to resist. He’d felt a rush of blood to the brain as the urge to protect her overwhelmed all reason. Whoever said it didn’t take five minutes to fall in love was right on the money. What he had with Tanya, what he felt for her, deserved the truth. If that drove an insurmountable wedge between them, well, at least he would have tried instead of spending the rest of his life wondering how she would have reacted to his shameful secret.
Tanya had the power to help him overcome his weaknesses and become the man he was supposed to be. But would she be willing to do so? Only one way to find out. He sat back down and pulled her into his lap.
“You asked me once about my family, and I avoided answering you.”
“Yes, I remember. You closed me out so I didn’t push it. I figured it was none of my business anyway.”
“My mom and dad were happy together, until my dad died of cancer when I was fourteen.”
“I’m sorry.” She reached up and touched his face. “That’s so unfair.”
“Yeah.” He was quiet for a moment. “I went off to college at eighteen, and when I came home after the first semester, Mom was dating again. I was real pleased to see her losing that haunted look and coming back to life. She’s an attractive woman and was too young to shut herself away. Anyway, long story short, the day after I graduated college I gave Mom away to Peter in a quiet ceremony in Denver.”
“That must have been fun.”
His smile probably reflected the bitterness he felt. “I thought so. I’d just been taken on by a big Denver paper and lived in a small apartment downtown. I was glad Mom had someone to take care of her because I was working all the hours God sent and didn’t see much of her.” He paused, flexing a jaw which had become painfully rigid with tension. Talking about this wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be, especially when Tanya’s reaction meant so much to him. “The next time I did see her she was sporting a black eye.”
“Oh no!”
“Right. She explained it away as a clumsy fall, but no one gets a black eye falling over. Anyway, she all but told me to keep out of it, which I reluctantly did, until the next time I saw her and she had a fractured wrist. I still remember the explosion of white-hot fury that roiled through me. I couldn’t control it, so I got hold of Peter and gave him a taste of his own medicine. Told him to pick on a guy his own size and then beat the shit out of him.” He tightened his grip on Tanya’s body, unable to meet the look of quiet sympathy in her eye. “Mom came to her senses after that and left him, but she also made me promise to attend anger-management classes, which I did. We were both a bit taken aback by the way my temper ran away with me.”
“It’s understandable. She’s your mother. You wanted to protect her.”
“I wanted to kill the bastard.” Ward ground his jaw. “I’m still surprised that I didn’t.”
“No wonder you understand so much about Melanie’s situation.”
“Yeah well, there’s more.” He paused, wondering why he felt compelled to tell her. He had her sympathy now. He should quit while he was ahead.
“Go on,” she said softly.
“I rose through the ranks at the paper and got myself a gig writing human interest pieces.”
“I know.” She smiled up at him. “I looked you up online and read some of them. You’re very good. Why did you stop?”
“My temper ruined my career. I was following up a story in a small Colorado town and found a kid locked away in a shed.”
“A shed!”
“Right. No one was at home so I went snooping in the backyard. That’s how I found her. I heard her crying. She was ten, and I don’t think she’d been out of that stinking shed more than a dozen times in her entire life.” He shook his head, still haunted by the memories. “Now, what I should have done was call the child protection agency, but the man holding her there came back before I could and I damned nearly did kill him.”
“Good for you.”
“What!” He couldn’t believe what he just heard. “But I thought you hated violence.”
“I hate men who hit women, there’s a difference. I also hate bullies and child molesters. If I’d been in your situation I’d probably have clobbered the jerk, too.”
“I can’t believe you just said that. I was so scared of telling you.”
She tangled the fingers of one hand in his hair. “We haven’t known one another for long, but I thought you understood me better than that.”
“I was scared of disappointing you.”
“Well, you haven’t.” She gave him a chaste kiss. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Yes, unfortunately the guy I nearly killed wasn’t the one who imprisoned the kid. He was just a neighbor who’d seen me creeping about and came to investigate. I jumped to conclusions and let my fists do the talking. The guy sued the paper.”
“Ah. So why didn’t I find anything about that online?”
“They settled out of court on the understanding that the guy didn’t talk about any of it. I had to be let go, of course, but I got away lightly.”
“How could a neighbor not know that a child was being held prisoner?”
He shrugged. “Happens all the time. People keep to themselves.”
“And the child?”
“Was taken into care. Hopefully she’s getting help with her mental state, but her life will never be normal. How can it be?”
“It’s so sad, but you saved her and gave her a shot of having some sort of life. Never lose sight of that.” Tanya wiped away an errant tear. “Is that why you’re hiding away here?”
“Leo’s an old friend. He heard about what had happened and suggested I come over for a while, let the dust settle.”
She quirked a brow. “For two years.”
“Yeah, well.”
“You’re scared you
haven’t got your anger under control, aren’t you?”
“I guess.”
“But you have. You didn’t hit Brad and I could see you wanted to.”
He offered her the ghost of a smile. “You have no idea how much I wanted to.”
“Yeah, I do, because I was about to do the honors myself.” She fixed him with an intent gaze. “But the important thing is that you didn’t give in to your impulses.”
She wriggled off his lap and sat across him, her knees resting on the waterbed on either side of his thighs, her pussy rubbing enticingly against his cock. He reached up, grabbed the back of her neck, and pulled her head down, claiming her lips in a drugging kiss that sent fire to his loins.
“I can’t believe you were scared to tell me all that,” she said, smiling triumphantly when he finally let her up for air.
“Your opinion matters, darlin’.”
“I don’t see why it should. I’ll be gone on Sunday,” she replied, looking away from him.
“Must you go?”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“I don’t want to leave, but what other choice is there?”
“I love you, Tanya. I know it hasn’t been long, but I’ve never felt like this before about anyone. I can’t sleep for thinking about you, can’t do anything without images of you keeping me company.” He spread his hands. “You’ve rocked my world, darlin’, and I don’t want to let you go.”
An incredulous smile animated her features. “You love me?” She shook her head. “Excuse me, but I thought you just said you loved me.”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
* * * *
Recklessness and pure unadulterated joy competed for dominance inside her. “And you want me to stay?”
“I’ll tie you down if necessary. Leo’s got contacts with the Nevella families. I’d never be prosecuted for kidnapping you.”
“Hmm.” She canted her head and sent him a teasing smile. “I can work from anywhere, so staying here wouldn’t be a problem. I only have a rented apartment back in England and I don’t have many possessions.”