Rogue Alpha (Alpha 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t see what business that is of yours.”
    He leaned back in his chair, wholly appreciative of how beautiful Diana looked with her hair disheveled and her cheeks flushed with temper. “If you want me to help you, then we do this my way. And knowing the status of your marriage is something I need to know.”
    “I don’t see why—”
    “You don’t need to,” he bit out. “You just need to answer the fucking question.”
    Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
    How many times had that phrase gone through Diana’s head during her brief marriage to Jeremy? Too many to count.
    He had been so handsome, so charming, so attentive during the weeks they were dating, how could she not have fallen in love with him?
    Street angel, fireside devil.
    Her head was full of these stupid clichés, and none of them changed the fact that Jeremy’s handsome face and charming manner were the façade behind which he hid a monster. A manipulative and twisted monster she had been making arrangements to leave when she was kidnapped.
    Jeremy’s murder had saved her from going through the mess of separation and then divorce.
    Which, if known, would no doubt make her the prime suspect in Jeremy’s murder.
    And was one of the reasons she was reluctant to share any of the details of her marriage with Seth Armstrong.
    But only one of the reasons.
    It was humiliating to admit how gullible she had been. How totally bedazzled she was by Jeremy that she had married him after knowing him for only three months.
    She’d had cause to regret that hasty marriage as early as their honeymoon.
    They had decided to spend a week in Barbados lazing on a beach, just enjoying relaxing and being together. Which was exactly what they had done for the first three days. On the fourth evening, Jeremy had taken exception to her laughing at an offhand comment made by the barman in their hotel.
    She had seen the monster for the first time that night.
    Jeremy had been so full of apologies the following morning, had sworn it would never happen again, that it was because he was so much in love with her he couldn’t bear to see other men near her, or her smiling at them.
    Like an idiot, Diana had believed his assurances.
    Once they returned to England, they had lived harmoniously together during those weeks leading up to their move to Colombia. So much so she had managed to convince herself she must have imagined what happened on their honeymoon.
    Wasn’t that what all battered wives did? Lied to themselves? Even taking part of the blame onto themselves for what had happened? Convincing themselves it was because their husbands loved them so much?
    She looked across the kitchen table at the quietly watchful Seth. Jeremy looked youthful and uncomplicated but wasn’t. Seth looked like a hardened man capable of violence, and undoubtedly he was. Yet Diana knew instinctively which man she trusted never to deliberately hurt a woman. The work Seth did showed he was a man of honor, and not one of violence for violence’s sake. Most especially against a woman.
    Her chin rose as she met his dark and narrowed gaze. “My husband was an abusive bastard, and if he hadn’t died, I was about to leave and then divorce him.”
    Seth wasn’t in the least surprised by her announcement. On paper and to look at, Jeremy Moore seemed like perfect husband material: twenty-eight, charming and handsome, hardworking, destined to go far in his chosen career. Everything a woman could want in a husband, in fact.
    Except, unlike every other widow Seth had ever met, Diana didn’t tear up or become emotional whenever her husband’s name was mentioned. Admittedly, it had been eight months since Moore died, but even so…
    She called him an abusive bastard .
    Did that mean the other man had physically hurt her? Maybe taken his fists to her?
    Seth’s own hands curled into fists against his thighs at the thought of a man hitting a woman for any reason. There was no excuse for a husband hitting his wife.