Mail-Order Bride by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Caroline flared. Her outrage got the better of her, and she picked up a book from the end table and hurled it at him.

With a dexterity few could manage, Paul caught the book and the saltshaker that immediately followed. The amusement fled his eyes. “Caroline, what’s gotten into you?”

“You…animal!”

“Tell me what I did.”

“You…beast!” The pepper shaker whizzed past his ear.

“Caroline!”

“You…you…adulterer!” That might not make complete sense, since he hadn’t been married, but it conveyed her disgust.

Stunned, Paul watched as she stormed into the bedroom and viciously slammed the door. For a minute he did nothing but stand with a book and saltshaker in his hand, too bemused to move. Beyond her explosive fury, what shocked Paul most was the hurt he saw in her eyes.

“Adulterer?” he repeated in an astonished whisper.

—

Inside the room, Caroline sat on the edge of the bed. Stinging tears threatened to run down her face, and she rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes in a futile effort to restrain them. Damn it all, she was falling in love with him—head over heels in love with a man who had neither morals nor conscience. If she didn’t love him, then knowing what he’d done wouldn’t hurt this much. Caroline cried harder. She didn’t want to love him. A hiccupping sob ripped through her throat and she buried her face in her hands.

Her crying devastated Paul. He’d planned to wait until her anger had dissipated before trying to reason with her, but he couldn’t. Every sob felt like a punch to his abdomen.

“Caroline,” he called from the other side of the door. “Can we talk about this?”

Silence.

“Caroline, believe me, I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’ll just bet you don’t!”

“I don’t.” He tried the knob, but she’d locked the door. “As your husband, I demand that you open this door immediately.” He felt foolish saying it, but couldn’t think of anything else.

She snickered.

“Caroline…please.” When she didn’t respond, he rammed his hands in his pants pockets. “Are you angry about our wedding night? Is that it?” Standing directly in front of the door, he muttered, “I can see it isn’t going to do any good to try talking to you now. You’re in no mood to be reasonable.”

With that, the bedroom door opened so unexpectedly that he almost fell through.

Caroline glared at him with renewed animosity. “Do you mean to tell me that…that on the night we were married you…you took advantage of me?”

“Caroline, if you’d listen…”

“O-o-h.” Her clenched fists pummeled his chest until her hands felt numb with pain.

“That’s enough.” Paul caught her wrists and pinned her against the wall. Her shoulders heaved with exertion, and tears streaked her face and brimmed in her wide blue eyes.

Trembling, she collected herself and drew in a ragged breath. Briefly, she struggled, but Paul’s hold tightened. His fierce look held her as effectively as his hands. Caroline met his eyes with open defiance.

“Love.” His voice was a hoarse whisper of bewilderment and confusion, his face mere inches from her own.

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