page47 (1/2)

“It happens, Luca, far more often than it should”

She put her other hand over his Telling hith but it needed to be said Perhaps she could finally be free of it Perhaps with Luca beside her, she’d stop bla herself Perhaps Robert would lose his power over her for good

“He foundthe phone to call the police He ripped it from my hand and started in on me By the time it was over, my mum was still unconscious and I had a concussion, broken ribs and internal injuries from where he—” Her voice broke a little “From where he kicked me over and over He left us there, Luca Left us to die But the postman noticed bloody handprints on the front door and the stair railing He called the police and the rest is history”

“Only it’s not history” He gently tipped up her chin with a finger “Nothing like that can ever coo away, can it Oh, Mari” He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed the backs, his eyes closing She stared at the way his lashes lay on his cheeks, the tender way he cradled her fingers Where had he come from? Hoas it that he was here, exactly what she needed, at exactly the time she needed him?

“I a like that” He whispered the words against her fingertips

And then he leaned forward and touched his lips to hers

She went into his eether between the sofa and table He was strong, and soliness of her past When she ith him she was the Mariella she’d alanted to be, free of the hold Robert Langston had held over her for so many years

The kiss was soft, tentative, sweet She hadn’t known he was capable of sweet

She hadn’t known she was capable of love, but here it was She loved Luca And being completely out of her depth, she had no idea what to do about it

“And now he’s out of prison…are you afraid he’ll come after you? What about your mum?”

His voice drew her back into the present “The authorities keep me up-to-date while he’s on probation Of course I think of it, and wonder if he hateshim to jail But I can’t letI spent tooover s you ever really get used to”

“And what about your mother?”

Mari shook her head “I don’t speak to my mum that often…there seems to be a wall between us now I don’t even knohere she’s living I…” Mari cleared her throat “A part of me still wonders how she could have let it happen How she could have stayed with a et out?”