Read Online Hidden by Tara Taylor Quinn - Free Book Online Page B

door!”
    â€œIf I hadn’t lived an affluent life myself, I probably wouldn’t have noticed, Trish, but today wasn’t the only time. You get this…air about you. An air of privilege.”
    She sat up until her head and shoulders were resting against the headboard. “So I’m a snob.”
    â€œIt’s not a snobbish air. More, it’s a sense of self. A natural awareness of worth. I think it’s something bred into wealthy children. Something they take with them wherever they go. Sometimes it’s as simple as the way you stand or the way you move about a room.”
    â€œI had a persnickety aunt. She made me spend one summer at a camp where they taught tomboys to be ladies.”
    He believed her. He also believed she’d been born wealthy.
    â€œI told you about my past,” he said.
    â€œI didn’t ask you to.”
    She had him there. Still, it bothered him that she didn’t reciprocate. Was it pride?
    He’d like to think so.
    And feared not.
    â€œYou don’t trust me.” Trust could be freely given—at least the kind of trust where you could tell someone your secret and know it would be safe.
    â€œI don’t trust anyone.”
    He sat up, too, leaning against the headboard, taking the sheet with him. “It’s pretty obvious someone’s hurt you. Badly.” He was trespassing and knew it. The terror he’d felt that morning on the beach, when he’d known she was gone and had no idea where to begin searching, no idea if she was in danger or if she’d ever done anything like that before, drove him on.
    â€œI’m guessing it had something to do with Taylor’s biological father.”
    Her silence gave him nothing. It could indicate agreement. Or a refusal to be drawn into a conversation she’d asked not to have.
    â€œBut that doesn’t have anything to do with me. You’ve been here almost two years, Trish. I responded to your overtures of friendship in a bar, in spite of the fact that you were obviously pregnant and every other guy there was ignoring you. I brought you home and offered you a place to stay, no strings attached, no sex required. And when you let me know you wanted sex, thatyou needed a new experience to replace the memory of the baby’s conception, I was very careful. Hell, we birthed that baby together! I would think you’d know by now that you can trust me.”
    When she turned her head, Scott could see the sheen of moisture in her eyes, reflected by a ray from the moon shining in the opposite window.
    â€œIt’s not you I don’t trust,” she whispered. “It’s me. And because I can’t trust myself, I can’t trust anyone else.”
    He didn’t understand.
    â€œI…made…choices. Bad ones. Really bad ones.”
    Skin growing hot, Scott remained still. This was what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? To know?
    â€œThey affected not only my life, but others as well, and I never saw it coming. I had so much confidence, so much blind trust in my ability to make good decisions, that I almost died. Worse, I could have caused someone else’s death.”
    Tears welled up in her eyes. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen her cry. And two of them had been within the past couple of days.
    â€œThat would be murder, Scott. And all because I trusted my judgment where other people were concerned.” She slid back down, pulling the covers up to her chin as she blinked away any hint of emotion. “I don’t anymore.”
    She must, at least a little. Even if she wasn’t ready to acknowledge it to herself. She was here, wasn’t she?
    And so was Taylor.
    Â 
    Tricia tried to sleep. She closed her eyes. Went to the safe place inside where, no matter what was happening on the surface of her life, things were exactly as she wanted them to be.
    The place was always the same. A meadow. With cool grass, a light