Yours in Black Lace Read Online Free PDF Page A

she felt the tension leave him. “Was he the same guy who broke your nose?”
    She twisted out of his grasp, shame bringing hot color to her cheeks. “I think the slight bend gives my nose character.” Her attempt to lighten the mood fell flat when her voice cracked.
    “Tell me about him.” Emelio’s gaze was soft, understanding, however, his voice was firm. She shook her head, but he gently persisted. “Is there any possibility he did this? I need to know what we’re dealing with.”
    “Tom didn’t trash my apartment. I made sure when I left New Orleans that nobody knew where I was going.”
    “Could your family have—?”
    “The last people I’d ever tell are my family.” Stevie turned to open the French doors.
    He followed her outside to the balcony. “What happened, Stevie?”
    “I guess I owe you an explanation, don’t I?” She gave a short laugh of embarrassment and leaned one hip against the railing, her arms wrapped protectively over her waist. “There’s not much to tell. I married young. I married wrong.”
    She stared blindly across the street at the Miami-Dade Community College campus. “It started off with Tom picking my clothes, suggesting what I should do, where I should go. It was important for the wife of an aspiring politician to project a certain image. Then things changed and he started to dictate every aspect of my life.”
    All of it was for her own good, of course. She wasn’t capable of taking care of herself, wasn’t smart enough to make her own decisions. And if she dared to ignore his advice… She shivered, remembering as if it were yesterday.
    “Did you tell anyone? Try to get help?” Emelio’s face had darkened with anger but his voice remained low, soothing and, most importantly, nonjudgmental. A few of the tears blurring her vision spilled over her lashes.
    “My parents didn’t believe a ‘nice boy like Tom’ would treat me that way. He just had ‘a quick temper’ and the best thing I could do was to keep him happy. Later, I tried to tell my brother, Eric, but he didn’t believe me, either. That sort of thing doesn’t happen to ‘people like us.’”
    His hazel eyes reflected his understanding as he brushed the tears from her face with the pad of his thumb. “You didn’t call the police?”
    “I was ashamed, Emelio. I felt trapped and alone and I thought if my own family didn’t believe me, no one else would, either. Tom belittled me until I had no self-esteem left. He made me a prisoner in my own life. And I let him do it….”
    “You were victimized, Stevie. You didn’t do anything to deserve that. No woman ever deserves that.”
    Following his instincts, Emelio tried to gather her into his arms, wanting to offer the sympathy and compassion he knew she’d never accept from his words. She hesitated, tensing when he refused to acknowledge her body language and held on to her anyway. Slowly, in resistant increments, she eased into his embrace. Her breathing became audible and then she cried, aching sobs that seemed torn from her soul.
    Rocking gently from side to side, he tightened his grip as her tears soaked into his shirt. Pressing his mouth to her temple in a gesture of comfort, he stroked one hand over the corn-silk strands of her hair. He’d been denying his attraction to her, knowing it wasn’t to be. But for the first time, he saw the vulnerable woman beneath her tough exterior, and it touched his heart in a way he couldn’t allow.
    Stevie’s breath hitched and her crying subsided almost as quickly as it had begun. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to ignore the feel of her lean, athletic body against his. He wouldn’t think about the way her soft, full breasts flattened against his chest or her long legs pressed between his thighs.
    It would be a huge mistake to kiss her. But it had been so long since he’d allowed any contact with a woman that his body responded instinctively. Shameless desire filled him, lengthened and