Have a Little Faith (14 page)

“It is. I need to go change.” He took a step over the threshold to her room and touched the tips of her hair. “You look stunning.”

“Thank you.”

“Ten minutes,” he promised
and strolled down the hall into the guest room.

Within an hour, Lane was sliding in across the table from Alex in the corner booth of the nicest restaurant in the city.
He ordered a bottle of wine that had the waiter ginning like a fool. They both ordered their
meal and Lane took her hand, caressing
her fingers in an absent gesture that sent her heart racing.

“I booked us a room here tonight. Kind of like a honeymoon.”

“You did?
Here?
”

“Yes.
Well, at a hotel.” He chuckled lightly.
“
And I’ve already got Jack on all the chores you do in the morning so you’re not to worry about anything.”

“I don’t have clothes.”
She had to wor
ry about something.

“You won’t need them.”

“Oh.”

The waiter brought a bottle of pale wine and popped the cork. After tasting and approving, he left them alone again. Lane poured for Alex and smiled when she delighted in the taste. “It’s my favorite,” he told her sipping from his own glass.

“It’s wonderful. I feel like a queen or something. Everyone is staring at us.” Because it made her self-conscious, Alex studied the desert menu.

“We’re probably the richest couple here. People are curious.”

“Richest couple?”
Alex looked at him sharply and shook her head. “I’m not rich at all.”

“You are now.”

Her brows stayed together as she thought about it. Funny, she had never
seen
him as rich. She hadn’t thought of money when she married him. She only wanted some control over her home. And she couldn’t deny the thrill of being his. She had felt it at the creek when they had
made love and she realized she would be a lucky woman to belong to someone like Lane.

“You don’t like money?”

“No,” Alex answered honestly. “We have a love-hate relationship. I hate it because I need it.”

“Do you see needs as a weakness?”

The conversation was making her uncomfortable. She felt his gaze boring down on her and she cleared her throat. “Not always. It would depend on the need.”

“Yes, it would.” Lane thanked the waiter as their plates were put down in front of them.
She ate slowly, savoring the most delicious meal she had ever tasted.

The fact that he had money did frighten her a little. She knew now that nothing would truly ever be the same. And she didn’t know how to hope for the best.

“I have something I need to see to downstairs. The bath is through here if you want or there’s
cable
.”
Lane led her into a spacious suite
that his company owned. Tanner Enterprise was top notch.

Alex slipped out of her shoes and let her feet sink into the plush carpet.
“All right.
I think I’ll take a bath.
”

Lane smiled, kissed her cheek, and then quit the room.

Alex slipped out of her gown and into one of the
silky
, white robes she found in the closet. She filled the tub with
steaming water and added
an exotic
soap the hotel also supplied. When the bubbles grazed the top of the tub, she turned off the taps. She
sighed
in pure relief against her aching back
as she lowered herself in.

She
could feel every single bruise
. It had been years since she had felt the ache and stiffness
of abuse. It came back quickly however. Bruises faded in time, but the pain never seemed to go away.

Her father had been dead for months and she still hurt inside when she heard his name. Not many people knew what Joshua Morgan was really like, so they talked about him in town and at the feed store. They probably thought their fond memories comforted Alex
,
but they didn’t. They made her sick
.

She didn’t want to hear
how someone could camouflage himself so successfully.

People with ugly souls should have marks to warn others of their nature, Alex mused as she ran her hand down her leg. The water slid across her skin like satin. She could have easily fallen asleep in the tub
,
but she didn’t want to miss the heavenly feel or
scent of the bubbles
.

With her back to
t
he door, she didn’t hear Lane step in
the bathroom
. He stopped at the threshold and began to unbutton his shirt. She looked so peaceful, he mused. Her mass of black hair was pinned up high on her
head;
her
posture
relaxed beneath the bubbles. It was almost upsetting to disturb the
stunning
scene. Almost.

Then
she shifted. A subtle movement, as if she were crossing her legs
,
but the water moved briefly showing an array of black and purple bruises along her back
beneath a thin layer of foamy bubbles
.

Lane’s blood froze and he stopped three buttons down.
His first thought was
that
he had caused them during their
heavenly
encounter at the creek. Then, he discarded it
immediately
, remembering her creamy unmarked skin in the dress she wore when they were married. No, this was something very new.

“What in the hell happened to your back?”

She jolted and almost went under before catching herself
on the lip of the tub
. She was still
modest enough to attempt to cover her naked chest with her arms. With her heart beating in her throat, she faced an enraged Lane.

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Answer my question, Alex,” h
e demanded.

Her body began to shake
as she stared at him with wide, unblinking eyes
. With
out a word, he picke
d up a towel and handed it to
her, then strode out of the bathroom.

He was mixing a drink when she walked out into the sitting room with her hair down and robe clutched t
ight at the lapels. She looked
as if she
was facing
execution.

“Do you want anything?” He gestured to the bar.

“No, thank you.”

“I do.
An explanation.”

“I had an accident at work.”

H
e didn’t believe
her
for a second
,
but decided to play along. It was time his new wife learned the full extent of his anger. If only to assure her it wasn’t
harmful
.
“Oh?”

She nodded. “I fell into the tractor. Slipped, really. But it’s fine.”

“You must have
fallen
hard.”

“Yes.”

He added a lime to his drink before taking it to go stand over by the window.
He deliberately relaxed the rigid muscles in his back and looked out at the city. “Who hurt you, Alex?”

He had asked her the question once before only for her to evade an answ
er. By process of elimination,
he knew who had hurt her before. Now, Joshua Morgan was dead and someone else was going to be. He expected her to ignore him or even to lie again. That’s why he was surprised when she told him the truth.

“Gary Fuller.” It was said in a whisper. “I made him angry.”

“Who is he?”

“The man I bought Joy and Crazy from.”

Lane sat his drink down and pulled Alex into his arms, careful not to touch her back.
He was relieved when she didn’t stiffen of pull away. Lane forced his voice to be gentle while the blood pounded loudly in his head.
“So he doesn’t stop at horses, does he?”

“No. This is the first time he’s ever been violent with me.”

Lane checked the urge to break something. It wouldn’t solve anyt
hing except damage his hotel
and scare his wife. Instead, he grazed his lips along Alex’s temple and ran his hands
up and
down her arms
soothingly
. “Tell me what happened.”

“It doesn’t really matter.”

“It does to me.” He pulled her down beside him on the couch. “Tell me.”

In a rush, she did. She left nothing out. She was aware of the waves of fury riding off him, but she wasn’t afraid for herself. She knew where his anger was centered even if she didn’t quite understand it.

She tried to shield some of the story without holding it back from him. She didn’t want him to think he was responsible since Fuller’s anger was over his business.

When she finished telling him, she realized his arms were still holding her lightly, but his hands were clenched into fists.

“So it’s my fault?”

“No.” Alex stood up and went to the bar to search for a bottle of water. “It’s Gary Fuller’s fault. And part mine. I knew I was provoking him.”

“Don’t be so foolish as to blame yourself, Alex. He was pissed off because my business with
the ranch and he took it out on you.” Lane crossed the room to her and his hands went automatically to the tie in her robe. “Stop,” he said quietly when she clutched the lapels. “Turn around.” He parted the robe and looked at the purple marks along her back.

“He pushed you into the tractor. He could have hurt you more than this. I should probably take you to the doctor.” His finger traced the line of her spine and sent delicious tingles through her body.

“No. I don’t need to see a doctor. I’m pretty much used to it.” Her eyes were already half closed as she felt his hands caress her back.
Her muscles were turning t
o
liquid in a blink.

“Used to what, Alex?”

Her eyes popped open. She hadn’t meant to tell him this way. She was going to ease into the story of her past. But he was turning her in his arms and pulling her robe back together. “My father did this to me a lot when I was a child.”

“Abused you?” He didn’
t sound surprised or repulsed—o
nly curious and a little angry.

“Yes. He hurt me a lot. I never made him happy and he let me know about it. I’m only telling you
because—”

“You’re telling me because I’m your husband and I have the right to know. I want to know everything, Alex.
All your secrets.”

“You won’t like some of them.”

“I still need to know.”

He led her to the bed and wrapped her in his arms when she settled against him. It was a while before she spoke and when she did, she could only manage a raw whisper.

“My father wanted a son. When Mother had me, he was pleased to be a father
,
but he still wanted a boy to leave things to
and to help him with the ranch
”—wh
ich she a
lways did, she
thought bitterly—
“
I’m not sure why, but my mother couldn’t have any more children. I think I was eight when
they finally gave up trying.”

“
Your
father hurt you after that?”

“He’d always been harsh with me since before I can even remember. I remember always wondering why he hated me. Finally, one time he was hitting me he told me God wasted his life giving him a fucking daughter. He deserved a son. That was when I was eight. I stopped wondering why he hated me and started wondering why God hated me.”

“Your mother never tried to help you?”

“That night
after
he told me all that, I went to my mother. I begged her to send me away. I didn’t want to be there. I went to school with all those kids who bragged about their mom and dad’s and I was so jealous.”

“You never asked for help? Your teachers would have helped you, Alex.”

“Yes, I know. But my mother said things to me that night and I stopped caring what happened to me. When he beat me after that, I just felt detached from it all. She told me it was my fault my father felt the way he did. I may be a girl, but I could have been more of what he needed. By that point I stopped wanting his love.”

Lane tightened his hold on her. She burrowed into his warmth and sought the comfort he was offering. She knew she wouldn’t cry. It didn’t hurt so much anymore. It was like a dull ache to think about her mother’s indifference and she was numb when it came to any feelings about her father.

“When I was twelve, I started hanging out with Sam and Lindsay. We were the three musketeers. We went everywhere together. I wore a bathing suit swimming and had a t-shirt on to cover whelps from his belt. Sam cut his foot on a rock and we used my shirt to wrap it to stop
the bleeding. Lindsay told her parents about the marks and they called my mother.”