Read Online A Heart Full of Diamonds by A.M. Jenner - Free Book Online Page B

really take up much space.
    Marilee looked up, saw him and rose from the couch.
    “Hi…” her greeting trailed off. Richard’s gaze swept
Marilee, noting the rumpled clothing smudged with dried mud and grass stains at
the knees. Marilee usually dressed neatly. Twigs lodged in her unkempt hair. What
adventure had she been up to?
    He grinned at her. “You look like you could use a cup of
cocoa. Come into the kitchen. I’ll make you one.”
    “Thanks.”
    Derrek started to rise, but Richard gave him a serious look
and nodded at his school papers. He sank back to the floor, a frown on his
normally happy face.
    Marilee seated herself at the table while Richard busied
himself among the cupboards. “Sorry it’s only an instant mix. Derrek and I used
the last of the real stuff yesterday, and I haven’t been to the store yet.”
    “That’s all right,” she replied, “I can’t make the real
stuff anyway, so I’m used to the instant kind.” She smiled back at him.
    Richard brought two large mugs to the table, adding napkins
and spoons for each. He retrieved the teapot from the stove, feeling the side
to see if the water was still hot from an earlier use. It was. Bringing the
packages and teapot with him, he poured the water. Handing her a packet, he sat
down with his. Both were silent as they opened the cocoa pouches, emptied the rich
brown powder into the water and stirred the contents.
    Richard removed his spoon from the cup, setting it on the
napkin. He dropped one hand to his thigh, the other rested on the table. Ignoring
the cocoa he’d just made, he looked at her. He noticed with a catch in his
throat that even rumpled, she was stunning. He also saw pain in her beautiful
eyes.
    Wanting nothing more than to gather her close and protect
her, kiss her and hold her tenderly, Richard quickly blocked those thoughts
from his mind. She only liked him as a friend. He had to remind himself of
that. They were friends. Just friends. Blast it.
    He took a deep breath and said, “Now, what’s the problem,
and how can I help?”
    Marilee was staring into the mug she’d wrapped her hands
around. It looked like she was using the heat of the beverage seeping through
the ceramic as a lifeline, and he wondered what had happened to her today to
bring her to this point.
    He watched her take  her own deep breath, hold it for a
moment, then let it slowly out, shaking her head as though to dispel the dark
thoughts tormenting her.
    Another deep breath gave her courage to lift her eyes. “I’m
not sure where to begin,” she confessed in a small voice. “It’s all so
complicated.” Her eyes dropped back to her cup.
    Richard didn’t dare move for fear he’d scare her. He wasn’t
sure how he knew that, he just did. He had to consciously keep from reaching
for her.
    His voice low and warm, he said, “My mother used to tell me
to begin at the beginning, go on until I came to the end, and then stop.”
    Marilee smiled, as fleeting as it was small. One more deep
breath and she began.
    “Well, the beginning then. Last October, Tony was late
coming home from a business trip.” Her eyes darted up to his face and then
dropped back to her cocoa. Richard caught his breath with the next sentence.
    “Tony, um, is…my husband.” He easily read the misery and
pain on her face. Richard felt as though the softly spoken words had been
yelled as someone punched him in the gut.
    Shock kept him silent as Marilee continued, her eyes still
on her hands; he took time to school his features to neutral. He hadn’t counted
on another man being in the picture. Oops. Just friends. Just listen.
    “He didn’t have time to unpack his suitcase this time as he usually
did because we had to get ready for a costume party; a benefit his law firm
throws every year for a local orphanage.
    “We came in late afterwards and went straight to bed. When I
got up in the morning, he’d already gone to the office, so I thought I’d unpack
for him. In the bottom of