Montana Secrets by Kay Stockham

Author:Kay Stockham
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

THROUGH THE ROARING in her ears, Grace vaguely heard Seth’s vicious curse. It didn’t matter, though. She squeezed the rest of the way through the door and raced down the hall to the front of the house, all the while ignoring his bellows to come back.

On the porch steps, she pulled the hair band off her wrist and captured her hair into a ponytail, desperate to get away.

“Grace, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” Maura called from somewhere behind her. “Are you all right?”

She waved a hand, unable to turn around because of the tears blinding her. “I’m going for a run,” she choked out.

“But you’ll freeze in this wind! And it’ll be dark soon!”

Freeze? She was burning up inside. She shook her head and kept going. Down the long driveway, past the barn and outbuildings, farther and farther away from the house. All the while wishing she could pack up and leave.

Maybe she was like the others. When push came to shove, Seth had proved to be a master at getting rid of his therapists.

What right did he have to question her?

Her thoughts raced too fast for her to concentrate on any particular one so she focused on emptying her mind instead. Her breath formed white puffs in the air around her as she pushed herself faster. Harder. Her legs pumped out an impossible rhythm she didn’t have a prayer of maintaining.

After a mile she told herself she needed to turn around and go back. She kept running.

At two miles the images in her head began to take shape and she gasped for breath, remembering the threats. The slaps.

The pain of Earl pushing himself inside her.

She dug deep and kept going. Every stride longer than the last. She was stronger now, able to fight back. And she’d survived.

She’d done what she’d had to to live through the horror and keep her promise to Brent. She’d kept her mouth shut so she and Brent could stay together and not abandon each other the way their mother had abandoned them.

Then Earl had died and she’d been freed, spared, but by then it was too late. The damage had been done, and she’d been pretending all these years. Pretending to live and breathe. Pretending nothing was wrong and she’d recovered. Pretending to be strong. She was twenty-seven years old and never had a real relationship except for Seth, and she’d handled that so badly.

Since then there’d been a handful of dates who’d called her cold because she’d never let them get to her. Never let them get close. And the one time she’d tried—

She shuddered, remembering her companion’s horror when he’d been getting into things and she’d shoved him away in time to hurl on the apartment floor.

Grace groaned and continued to run, unable to go any faster but determined to distance herself all the same. Then she simply stopped, gasping in pain as her body pitched forward onto the road and she threw her arms out to catch herself. Fire

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.