Read Online Commitments by Barbara Delinsky - Free Book Online

earned each ry promotion. He'd paid his taxes on time and Held been the yo-yo to return the extra ten that the supermarket clerk had mistakenly ' in change. y he'd gone by the book. And still he'd been
    . He was right back where he started - no, because now he wore the stigma firsthand. dn the hell would Sabrina Stone want to have to do with him? Warmth and understanding, said. Apparently her husband didn't provide but Derek could have guessed that months After that day on her terrace, held studied each scrutinized each picture of Nicholas Stone. A of those photos had included Sabrina, and in those olas had always been a step ahead of her, with his to the flash and his eyes on the world. Sabrina was in need. But she was beautiful and ligent. She was wealthy. She was Society. If it was th she needed, she could surely find it in dozens ling and suitable pairs of arms. She didn't need E, slumming. ch brought him back, to square one. Why in the had she corne? . had sent her to drive him mad. That was there was to it. It was psychological torture, pure simple. Annoyed and frustrated, he rolled to his side. The t creaked. He heard the distant sound of the guards'
    tsteps and automatically began to count. Five paces, P, search. Five paces, stop,. search. The footsteps ew nearer, louder. He was fully prepared when a of light searched his cell, then searched his face, en left. 65 He lay quietly, listening to the footsteps systematically recede. He inhaled, exhaled; he counted the beats of his heart. He closed his eyes and pictured nothingness. He concentrated on Page 22
    Barbara Delinsky - Commitments
    nothingness. He tried to make his mind mirror nothingness. It usually worked, but it didn't now. She was still with him. Abruptly he was up, sitting on the edge of the cot. He flexed his fingers, alternately extending them and curling them into fists. He wanted to touch - suede, leather, mohair, skin - woman's skin, Sabrina's skin. Since he couldn't, he thrust an impatient handful of fingers through his dark hair and swore under his breath. He hadn't thought prison could get worse, but it had today. Held been aware of intellectual stagnation and emotional vegetation. But sensual deprivation had only hit him now. Bolting upright, he began to pace. He padded to the bars, wrapped his fingers around them for a minute, turned, strode to the rear wall of the cell, turned, strode forward again. Sabrina had been telling the truth about why she'd come. He knew it in his gut, knew it with a confidence that increased with each oblong he paced. She wanted comfort. She really did. That told him something. She'd felt it, too, the rapport on the day they'd met. She was reacting to it at some level, though how conscious the level was he just didn't know. He did know that every one of his reasons for steering clear of her was valid. And still he wanted her. Which was why he felt so alone. And why he couldn't possibly let her come again. 66 weeks later, he came closer to death than he to come. Acting on impulse, he violated a basic of penitentiary self-preservation: He tried to break a fight between two other inmates. The incident in the shower room. There was no ' to I= the blow when a razor connected with his neck. it been an inch farther forward, it would have re the jugular. Ffis skin was stitched and by evening he was back in cell, but the throbbing kept him awake for much the night. The next morning, he penned a brief note, ed it in an envelope and dropped it in the prisoners' slot.
    Chapter 3.
    Sabrina
    felt like death warmed over. She'd had the flu for three days runnin& and it showed no sign of letting UP. When she sat up, she got dizzy. She couldn't hold down food. And she was very hot. Or very cold. She tried to take care of Nicky, but it was impossible. She'd make it to her feet long enough to change his diapers, then collapse back with him onto the bed. He'd cry. She'd gather her strength. Then she'd try again, this time to feed him, but