For All of Her Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

before the divorce, of course. But somehow she’d wanted it just right, she’d wanted it all—the love, the laughter, the devotion, the passion. And if she couldn’t have it, she hadn’t wanted a commitment that offered anything less. Jordan, on the other hand, did have something going. He hadn’t remarried yet, but she was convinced it was just a matter of time before he did.
    She threw open her closet door and stared at the rows of clothing. Hmmm. What was just the right outfit for a late dinner out with an ex-husband she couldn’t help but want to impress?
    Back to basic black?
    She almost managed to grin to herself. Summer in the city was hot, and she did have the perfect black dress, a cotton knit halter-type with a not-too-long and not-too-short skirt. Not too dressed up and not jeans and a T-shirt either. She drew it from the closet, tossed it on the bed, and warned herself sternly that her ex-husband was a man she had left for a reason, that she wasn’t up to a good time in the least, that he was involved with a girl not much older than their daughters.
    It wasn’t that. She wasn’t looking to recapture the past. She just wanted the dignity of Jordan knowing that she hadn’t fallen apart, that she was still a person. One who counted in her own right, perhaps. She sighed. Who was she kidding? He’d always respected her intelligence. She’d found that to be one of the most endearing of his traits when they were young. He’d loved to listen to her, sometimes argue a point—be it about the house, their lives, or world issues—and sometimes concede.
    Certain that he considered her a person still, and respected her intelligence, she wanted more. Pride, perhaps. Vanity. She wanted him to still consider her desirable. Because she found him attractive.
    “No, no, no!” she chastised herself firmly. Jordan was no longer a part of her life.
    But what had gone wrong between them had never been physical. She didn’t want to let herself remember just how good sex had been, not now. Maybe she’d been alone too long. Maybe she’d taken “responsible” relationships too far, and maybe that was why intimate details were now springing unbidden into her mind. Yet more than those came to her. Memories of closeness... after intimate details. Waking together, being held—
    “Quit this! Or else you can’t go to dinner with him!” she hissed to herself. She had left him because she had already lost him, somehow. Because the trust had been gone. Because of the way he had looked at her.
    Maybe she had thought he would come for her, she told herself wryly. That he’d follow, determined to break the barrier that had risen.
    After Keith’s death...
    She wasn’t going to dwell on it now. She was going to go to dinner and establish a civil relationship between them. Dignified and civil.
    All right, so she still hoped she could be dignified and sexy.
    She pulled her tailored nightshirt over her head, ready to slip into a dignified and—hopefully—desirable black dress.
    And that was when all hell broke loose.
    She heard the shuddering of the condo’s front door; the slam as it was thrown inward, striking the wall.
    “Kathy, Kathy!”
    Her name was shouted in a deep, male voice. Footsteps came tearing down the hallway to her room.
    “Hey!” That was Jordan’s voice. That incredible baritone, startled, outraged. Furious, defensive.
    The door to her room burst inward, and all she saw at first was a blur. It had all happened so quickly! She let out a shriek, startled and alarmed.
    Caught naked except for the lace panties she’d worn beneath the nightshirt.
    Her fear quickly faded as the blur cleared as two men hit the floor, Jordan having tackled...
    Jeremy.

Three
    “W AIT, WAIT!” SHE CRIED, making a mad dive for her discarded nightshirt, then grasping it to her chest and trying to break up the two men at the same time. They were well matched. Jeremy was honed to perfection—muscle-building was his job. But