Page 6 of The Bride's Desire

“Okay, then. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience, and I’ll be on my way.”

She bent, picked up her suitcase, and threw her backpack over her shoulder.

She reached the door before a hand wrapped around her upper arm.

“Whoa, wait a damn minute. Where do you think you’re going?”

She tried to pull away, but he held her tight.

“I’m going to town, I’ll figure out where I want to go when I get there.”

“How do you expect to get to town?”

“Walk.”

“Jesus Christ, woman. It’ll take you three or four days to walk to town.”

“It didn’t take Stanley that long to get me here.”

He grunted. “He was in his jeep, and if you didn’t notice, he drives like a maniac.”

“I … no, I didn’t notice. But this is not your problem. All I ask is that you tell your mom not to do this to anyone else. It’s … it’s made it very hard for me.”

She tried to pull away again, but he dragged her back to the office and to her chair, sat her down, and then leaned against his desk, facing her.

“I can’t let you walk back to town.”

She shook her head. “As I said, Mr. Dawson, this is not your problem.”

“I disagree. It was my mother that put you here.”

She looked down at her hands. She didn’t know how to answer that, and she needed a moment to steady her control.

“Okay, is there a cabin I can sleep in until Stanley comes back tomorrow?”

“He won’t be here for a few days. The route is too long to do every day, so we won’t see him for three days.”

She could feel the shaking inside that she was usually normally able to hide, and it started to rise. She knew if she didn’t get it under control, she’d be shaking and crying, and sheneeded to wait until she was alone for that.

“Will there be an employee maybe going to town tomorrow?”

He shook his head.

“I’m assuming there are no taxis here, so my only option is walking. I can wait until morning if there is a place I can sleep. All I need is a blanket.”

She really didn’t need much, and she was thankful for whatever she got because it would be more than what she’d received from anything she’d gotten from anyone. She also knew not to ask for anything because she’d pay the price, and she was expected to do things that made her ill.

Chapter Four

He saw how her hands got a tighter hold of the backpack on her lap, and her knuckles grew paler. He wanted to strangle his mother.

“Hold up. I’m going to call my mom.”

“It won’t matter.”

She looked like she was ready to shake apart, and he didn’t know how to make her feel better because he was pretty freaked out himself. He reached behind him and pushed a button on the phone. It rang a few times.

“Hello.”

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