Broken Ties

by Gloria Davidson Marlow

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Praise for Gloria Davidson Marlow

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A word about the author...

  Thank You

  Broken Ties

  by

  Gloria Davidson Marlow

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Broken Ties

  COPYRIGHT © 2014 by Gloria Davidson Marlow

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: info@thewildrosepress.com

  Cover Art by Debbie Taylor

  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  PO Box 708

  Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

  Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

  Publishing History

  First Crimson Rose Edition, 2014

  Print ISBN 978-1-62830-479-4

  Digital ISBN 978-1-62830-480-0

  Published in the United States of America

  Praise for Gloria Davidson Marlow

  “Sweet Sacrifices grabs you right from the beginning and doesn’t let go. A surprisingly good mystery with some suspense and clean romance adding interest to the story.”

  ~Vicki, Sizzling Hot Book Reviews (5 Hearts)

  ~*~

  “Turning a tangled web of deceit and pain into a sweet love story is not an easy thing to do. But that’s exactly what Gloria Davidson Marlow does…. Immediately drawn to her characters and driven by the constant mystery surrounding them, I couldn’t put the book down.”

  ~Rebecca, The Romance Reviews (4 Stars)

  ~*~

  “Sweet Sacrifices ensnares the reader’s emotions and imagination with heartbreaking scenes of Kendal’s past when she is at the mercy of circumstances she cannot control. However, Ms. Marlow creates compelling, interwoven subplots that reveal Kendall’s strength, courage, and capacity to love as the story, so full of sacrifices, becomes a story of amazing, euphoric love that is strong, patient, and, true. This story shows the flaws and foibles of human nature, bit it, most of all, shows love that overcomes all.”

  ~Camellia, Long and Short Romance Reviews

  (4 Books)

  Chapter One

  Outside her office window the high school chorus launched into “Carol of the Bells,” and Sidra Martin tossed her pencil on her desk with an exasperated sigh. She gave up. There would be no working in peace tonight or any other night for the next four weeks. Christmas was in full swing and, from here on out, it would be carols and lights at every turn. Her yearly neurosis would kick in, and she would live in an inexplicable state of fear and anxiety until the final Christmas carol was sung and the last string of lights was back in storage.

  With a glance at the clock, she grabbed her fleece-lined coat from the rack behind the door and rushed to the elevator. If she didn’t hurry, she’d miss the bus again, as she had every night for the last month. Thanks to Levi Tanner and his increasing demands, she stayed later and later every night. Not that she minded, really. She supposed spending her evenings with a real flesh-and-blood man was always better than spending them with the make-believe hero in a romance novel, a dog named Coda, and the unnamed calico cat that lived next door but had recently made itself at home with her, as well.

  “Sidra!” Levi yelled, just as she had buttoned the last button on her coat and placed one high-heeled foot inside the elevator.

  She sighed heavily and stepped back, letting the elevator doors slide closed as she went back to his office.

  She expected to find Levi hunched over one of the files that littered his desk. Instead, he stood with his back to her, leaning against the window that overlooked the town square. One raised hand was flattened against the cold glass pane, and his shoulder muscles bunched beneath the light blue cotton of his shirt and pulled at the waistband of his khakis. The other hand was wrapped around a double shot of whiskey on the rocks. His dark hair gleamed in the light cast by the hundreds of colored bulbs outside his window, and he spoke softly without turning around.

  “You missed it. They just lit the tree.”

  Coming to stand beside him, she glimpsed the lights and oversized ornaments hanging from the town’s large evergreen. Fear wormed its way through her, the same old questions hammering at its heels. What would he think if he knew the sight of Christmas lights filled her with dread and she had no idea why?

  “Was there something you needed?” She made no effort to hide her annoyance, and although it had as much to do with her own strange paranoia as his demands, she didn’t tell him that. Let him think she was angry he’d kept her late again, or, she thought as she shot a disapproving look at the glass in his hand, because he was ending one more day with a drink that would leave him even more surly and impatient than usual.

  “No. Sorry. Just feeling a bit nostalgic, I guess.”

  She softened at the sadness in his voice, studying his handsome face in the artificial glow. He looked more weary and worried tonight than usual, his cheeks hollow above his five o’clock shadow and a deepening furrow between his dark brows. The hurt he hid beneath his tough exterior showed more every day.

  “Well, I’ve probably missed the bus anyway,” she told him with forced lightness, “and the next one isn’t for an hour and a half. Is there anything else you’d like to get done before I try leaving again?”

  He turned toward her, his dark, shadowed eyes raking over her, taking in everything from her dark blond bob to her tweed heels, before settling on the leather gloves she still clasped in her hands.

  “I never think of you taking the bus. Do you walk alone to the station every night?”

  She looked around pointedly. It was only the two of them, now that Teddy was gone. The women who had worked here when she started four years ago were long gone, unable to cope with the bickering between the brothers. They had slipped away one by one, until she alone was left to prefer the sniping over the silence that had enveloped the office the last few months.

  “Yes, I suppose you do,” he murmured in answer to his question. “And Teddy knew that, didn’t he? That’s why he walked you out every day. That’s why he didn’t want you to go alone that night, why he kept insisting you should stay until we closed the office. It’s why he offered to drive you home.”

  “Levi,” she said, placing a comforting hand on his arm. He’d beat himself up long enough over his decisions the night of the accident. It was time for him to forgive himself.

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed a long-fingered hand through his unruly hair. “Go home, Sidra. If you hurry, maybe you can still catch your bus.”

  “But—” S
he didn’t want to leave him alone, not tonight when it was obvious he was in such a brooding, melancholy mood.

  “I said go!” he barked, and she turned on her heel and strode back to the elevator.

  She practically ran across the town square, pulling her collar up against the chill night air, the sounds of Christmas that drifted her way, and the feel of Levi’s eyes burning holes in her back. Leave it to him to make her miss the bus for no good reason at all. Had he really called her back so she could see the lighting of the Christmas tree, of all things? In all the years she’d known him, she had never given him any reason to think she would want to see the town tree being lit. Of course, she’d never given him any reason to think she wouldn’t, either.

  As far as he knew, she was a normal girl with the same enthusiasm for the holidays everyone else had. Normal people wanted to see Christmas decorations and listen to holiday songs. At the very least, they wanted to gather close to the people they cared about and share the most wonderful time of year with the ones they loved. She had been trying to act normal for as long as she could remember. She had tried to smile and act excited, tried to sing the songs and dance the dances they forced on her every year in school, but more often than not she ended up in tears, huddled in a corner somewhere while the other kids performed. It hadn’t really mattered, since there was no one in the audience to notice her absence and no one behind the scenes who cared.

  All these years later, she still had no friends or relatives to gather close about her or notice that she participated in the holidays in only the most superficial ways. She had never told anyone about the nearly debilitating fear that came upon her each holiday season or the breathless panic that seized her each and every time she caught a glimpse of the massive evergreen in the town square. She just rushed past it each year, closing her mind to the fear it caused.

  As she turned the corner past the town square, the lights and sounds faded away, and she glanced at her watch. If she hurried and was lucky, she could still catch the bus to Barrington Station. From there, a bus ran to her Reynolds Park neighborhood. That would shave an hour off her wait for a bus that took the direct route home, and she much preferred the warmth of the bus to the cold darkness of the bus stop.

  She had never been an exceptionally lucky person, so she wasn’t surprised to see the tail lights of the Barrington Station bus disappearing around the far corner when she reached the stop. With a heavy sigh, she adjusted her purse and glanced around her. The diner across the street gleamed with light and warmth, and the windows decorated with multicolored bulbs and garland were the perfect frame for the diners within. There was no way she was waiting there. Nothing underscored a person’s loneliness like being alone in the midst of a dozen laughing families and flirting couples.

  She shivered violently as a particularly vicious gust of wind whipped around her, cutting through the sheer stockings she wore beneath her knee-length black pencil skirt. Perhaps the diner wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “Are you waiting on the seven-thirty to Reynolds Park?”

  Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of the thickly accented male voice, and she turned quickly, her breath catching in her throat as she met the stranger’s dark gaze.

  “Yes,” she forced out, hooking a finger toward the café, “but we’ve decided to wait inside.”

  “We?” he asked, one thin eyebrow tilting sardonically.

  “My husband is already there.” Even to her own ears, it sounded like a lie.

  “He left you here? All alone? In the dark?”

  “He’s a bit put out with me. We missed the early bus, and he thinks it’s my fault.”

  She laughed, a hollow, high-pitched sound she barely recognized. Her hand went to her chest, as if to still her frantic heartbeat. What in the world was wrong with her? He was not the first stranger who had ever asked her a question at the bus stop. So why was she finding it so difficult to keep from running away? She laughed again, much too nervously, and offered him an apologetic smile.

  “I’d better hurry. The longer he waits, the angrier he’ll get.”

  “Of course.” His mouth turned up in a smile that didn’t come close to reaching the cold dark pools of his eyes, and a shiver of apprehension rushed up her spine.

  Clutching her purse tightly in her hands, she turned away, intent on hurrying toward the diner. She lifted her hand as if waving to someone on the other side of the window as she stepped away from him.

  Without warning, his large body pressed against her back, a cloth covered her mouth and nose, and she spiraled into chloroform-induced darkness.

  “Wave good-bye, Princess,” he whispered as she fell against him.

  ****

  Levi watched Sidra hurry across the square, her caramel-blond curls blowing about her face as she pulled the collar of her coat up to block out the cold. The belt hugged her waist, accentuating her soft curves and the gentle sway of her hips, and he could almost hear the no-nonsense clip of her shoes as she quickened her pace, fleeing the Christmas pageantry like the hounds of hell were on her heels. He lifted his glass to his own hyperbole. Sidra had far too much dignity to flee anything. She would walk as sedately as possible, spine straight, head held high as if she were scared of nothing.

  That’s how she’d entered his life four years ago, when she followed Teddy into his office as if she already had the position he hadn’t even known they were trying to fill.

  Dressed in a brown plaid skirt, turtleneck sweater, and boots, she sat in the waiting area as he and Teddy argued over hiring her, their voices loud enough for the whole office to hear through the door of his office. And while they argued and she did her very best not to look their way, he watched her through the glass wall that separated his office from the rest.

  She sat, legs crossed demurely, no sign she heard them other than the pink that crept up her cheeks as they continued. She was dressed conservatively, with not an inch of unnecessary flesh showing, yet the longer he watched her, the more attracted he became to her. Though that made him that much more determined not to hire her, in the end Teddy wore him down, and he gave in if for no other reason than to silence his younger brother’s whining.

  In the four years since that day, his attraction to her had never waned. She was efficient, classy and poised, but above everything else, Sidra Martin was a beautiful woman.

  He took a long slow sip of whiskey, hoping the slow burn of it would dampen his desire and dilute the painful memories and loneliness that haunted him tonight.

  He knew he’d been too harsh with Sidra, but he couldn’t bear the sympathy in her deep brown eyes, the soft touch of her hand on his arm. He didn’t deserve her kindness or her pity. No matter how badly she might want to, she couldn’t fix him. She could never bridge the gap and ask his brother to forgive what was unforgivable.

  Now, a movement behind her caught his eye and he pressed his face closer to the cold glass of the window. Something about the way the man slipped from the shadows as Sidra passed him made the hairs on the back of Levi’s neck stand on end. When she disappeared around the far corner, and the man darted a look around him before slinking down the street behind her, Levi knew he had to follow them.

  He reached for the drawer where he kept his gun, pausing only a moment before jerking it open and cupping the familiar weight of his pistol in his palm. Jamming it into his waistband, he rushed from the building and through the town square. He might be overly cautious, but better that than sorry. He had learned that lesson the hard way, and the experience had cost him and Teddy dearly. He wouldn’t risk Sidra by playing it too safe this time around.

  The street past the town square was empty when he turned the corner, and he picked up his pace. He was running by the time he took the left at the next block, and the bus station came into view. Sidra’s back was to him as she spoke to the stranger, and Levi could almost feel her unease when the man stepped toward her. He wanted to yell out a warning as she turned away from the man, lifting her hand t
oward the diner as if she were waving at someone there, but before he could make a sound, the man closed the space between them. His arm snaked around her shoulder, his hand covering her face with a rag as her body crumpled against him.

  “Sidra!” Levi yelled, drawing his gun and running toward them.

  Without sparing him a glance, her assailant hoisted Sidra over his shoulder and ran toward the back of the platform.

  Frightened he’d hit her if he shot at the man, Levi continued his pursuit, firing into the air as he closed in on them. The man stumbled, the weight of his burden throwing him off balance so that he landed on his knees on the platform.

  Mere yards away, Levi commanded him to put her down, while the man struggled to stand with Sidra still over his shoulder. Finally, with a vicious curse, he let her slip to the ground and darted away.

  Levi reached the edge of the platform just as a dark sedan peeled from the alleyway behind the station and sped down the street.

  A soft curse escaped him as he turned back to Sidra. He knelt beside her, feeling for a pulse and breathing a sigh of relief when his fingers felt the steady beating at the base of her neck. A glimmer of gold near her hair caught his attention, and he picked the coin up, to study the design with sickening recognition.

  “Is she all right?” a woman called to him, and he looked up.

  A group of people hurried toward them from the diner.

  “We thought we heard shots,” one of the men said. “The police are on their way.”

  As if on cue, a siren sounded in the distance.

  “She’s just fainted. She’ll be fine,” Levi answered before slipping the coin into his pocket, scooping Sidra up in his arms and hurrying away.

  Chapter Two

  Sidra’s eyes fluttered open, and she sat up with a cry of alarm.

  “Steady, Sweetheart.”

  Relief at hearing Levi’s low, soothing voice instead of the accented voice of the stranger made her weak with relief, and tears sprang to her eyes. Without warning, she threw her arms around him.

  “I’ve got you,” he murmured, his arms coming around her, holding her shaking body against him as she savored the warmth and strength of his embrace.