The Loner by Joan Johnston

Author:Joan Johnston [Johnston Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56969-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

SUMMER PRETENDED TO BE ASLEEP WHEN BILLY woke the next morning. Will’s painful gums had kept him from sleeping soundly, and she’d gotten up with him in the middle of the night and stayed up till nearly dawn. Billy had offered to help, but she’d reminded him that he had to spend the next day on horseback, while she could sleep in. She was counting on Billy to feel too guilty to wake her up to have coffee with him, a wifely duty she’d performed every morning over the past month.

She couldn’t face him after last night.

She’d been more than a little frightened at the prospect of having sex for the first time with Billy, because he had a reputation with women that was as wild as his reputation for making trouble. She was afraid he wouldn’t want to bother with someone who had no experience.

She’d thought all that stuff about men desiring their wives to be virgins was propaganda to keep women from experimenting. She’d been surprised—and moved—to see how much it meant to Billy that he would be the first man to make love to her. It had warmed her heart to see how gentle and tender—and passionate—a lover he had been.

She’d been basking in the glow of their lovemaking, her heart full with everything she’d just experienced, when he’d proceeded to rip and tear and stomp out what remained of their precious interlude together.

He thought she wanted out of the marriage. He expected her to cut and run now that the going had gotten tough. It hurt to know he had so little faith in her.

And, oh, by the way, making love to her once was plenty. He didn’t want any child of theirs coming into the world by mistake, so he was willing to forgo any further activity of that sort. It was humiliating to think something that had meant so much to her had meant so little to him.

Summer rolled over and stared at the crack in the ceiling plaster. It seemed she’d been trying to prove herself all her life—first to her father and now to Billy—and always came up wanting. She felt like running far, far away. Tahiti sounded perfect, strange and exotic, an ideal escape from all her troubles.

Who was she kidding? Since her father had cut her off, she didn’t have the cash for a bus ticket to Mexico.

She punched the pillow and rearranged it under her head. As tempting as the thought of flight was, she couldn’t leave Billy in the lurch. He needed her. Will needed her. And, though Billy’s mother was often difficult—actually, a real pain in the ass—Dora needed her.

For the first time in her life, Summer was an indispensable part of a family. She felt strings of responsibility—and love—tugging at her, holding her to this ramshackle homestead.

She stared at the chipped nail polish and ragged cuticles of the hand lying not far from her nose. She’d never thought too much about how easy her life was at the Castle.

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.