Upon A Midnight Clear Anthology by Deveraux Jude

Author:Deveraux, Jude [Deveraux, Jude]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Christmas Stories, Contemporary Romance - Anthology
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1996-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

There was no reason for Isabel to tell John about her marriage… other than she had to

know if he'd look down on her for it, if he'd find her unappealing. She'd been fast denying the feelings for him that had been blooming inside her since he'd almost kissed her at Rigby Glen. She'd wanted him to. She wanted him to now.

But he had to know who she was.

A lot of men were put off by divorced women. Not that she'd told a lot of men. In fact, John was only the second person she had told, Duster being the first, in that long night spent at the Blossom's kitchen table.

"Where's your husband?" John eventually asked.

It was a logical question. "I don't know. Down in San Diego, last I heard. He could be anywhere."

"You're still married to him?"

"No. I divorced him on the grounds of abandonment." She nervously plucked at the fringe on the colorful blanket "I had every right to… but that doesn't change the fact that I'm a divorcee."

She waited for his disdain to show—his cool reception, the silent distance he would put between them. Rather than reacting the way she expected, he asked another question.

"How'd you meet him?"

Isabel looked at her lap, then out the tent's opening to watch the rain fall in little beads that bounced off the meadow. "I was an operator for the City of Angels Telephone

Company. He would call the same numbers daily and I happened to get him most of the

time. After a week, he began asking for me to connect him. I fell in love with his voice before we ever met." That last part she probably shouldn't have said, but it was true.

"The marriage wasn't any good from the start. Those calls he made were to

bookkeepers—and I don't mean the legal kind. He wasn't reliable… only I was too blind

to see it at the time. We barely lasted a year. Then after he was gone for two, I filed for the divorce." Meeting John's eyes, she shrugged. "And that's all."

Again, the disapproval never came, no condeming eyes. Maybe she'd been hoping to

scare him off, unable to face the facts: She was more than a little attracted to him. She enjoyed his strength and take-charge air. It was nice having a man do things for her, like when he'd watered her trees. She'd never had that before. Her husband had been quite

self-centered. Money, the lack of it, had been the root of their problems. She'd always wondered if they would have stayed married if they hadn't been so broke.

"Well… ?" She could stand the quiet no longer. "Aren't you going to tell me I'm a ruined woman?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I've been married before myself." His eyes darkened with distant memories.

"So many times, I've lost track."

She hadn't been prepared for such a confession. Her pulse betrayed her and skipped

several beats as she fought dismay. One marriage was bad enough—but numerous?

"Bartenders have married me to dozens of women, but come morning, I was single

again." He ran a hand through his damp hair and gave her a slight grin that sent her heartbeat leaping.

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