An Eligible Bachelor by Veronica Henry

Author:Veronica Henry [Henry, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780307338617
Google: OOVpR51ZeosC
Amazon: 0307338614
Publisher: Broadway
Published: 2005-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

Mick was lying stretched out on the hideous brown sofa that was one of the few items of furniture left in the bedsit – one of the few things they hadn’t sold, because nobody in their right mind would have bought it, stained as it was with sweat and spillages. He was slurping from a can of Woodpecker cider, wiggling his toes with excitement. The nails were long and yellow, and he sported a toe ring, the skin underneath black with tarnish.

Sally paced up and down in front of the gas fire, desperate to know what was going on in his nasty little mind. He’d been infuriatingly smug since they’d read that article in the paper. He’d disappeared off somewhere the day before and come back very full of himself. The only thing she could be sure of was that he would be the only one to benefit from his scurrilous plan. Whatever it was.

‘What have you done, exactly? Blackmailed her or something?’

Mick gave an exaggerated sigh of satisfaction, and tucked his hands behind his head, smiling cheesily.

‘I’ve sold my story. The truth behind the real Lady Jane.’

‘You haven’t!’

‘Why not? The silly cow’s been lying about her past. The public deserve to know the truth.’

‘What did you tell them?’

His bloodshot eyes swivelled round to meet hers.

‘I gave them lots of juicy details. About what a little prick-tease she was. About how she wouldn’t take no for an answer. How could a red-blooded male resist, when she was flashing it in front of him twenty-four seven?’

Sally had heard the story so many times before. It was true, if someone repeated something often enough, you believed them. Especially if the other person wasn’t around to defend themselves. But somehow, this time, his tone was so mocking, so sarcastic, so gleeful, that she knew it was a lie.

Suddenly, she found herself saying the words she’d never had the courage to say, all these years. Voicing the fear she had pushed to the back of her mind time and time again, because it was so much easier not to face the truth.

‘She didn’t come on to you, though, did she?’

‘Huh?’

‘Rowan. I bet she never even looked at you twice. You… forced yourself on her, didn’t you?’

She couldn’t bring herself to say the word ‘rape’. It was too ugly. Mick just laughed.

‘I gave her what she wanted. And she loved it, let me tell you.’

For a moment Sally was tempted to hit him, to pull back her arm and give him as hard a clout as she could manage. She resisted the temptation, though, because on the couple of other occasions she’d tried it, she’d come off far worse. Mick had no compunction about hitting a woman. Instead, she looked down at him in contempt, and he gazed up at her with his cold, dead eyes.

‘You total fucking bastard,’ she spat. ‘To think I’ve wasted my whole life on you.’

‘Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.’

‘I lost my daughter because of you.’

‘Don’t give me that. You never gave a toss about her in the first place.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.