Read Online Lined With Silver by Roseanne Evans Wilkins - Free Book Online Page A

her attire. “Sensible.” He
approved.
    Sondra could feel the color steal up her
face. She couldn’t seem to be around him without some kind of
physical manifestation of her feelings. She kept her eyes lowered
and hoped he wouldn’t see the evidence of recent tears.
    He reached out and gently lifted her chin.
“Are you okay?”
    She nodded, not trusting her voice.
    He reached to stroke her still-wet hair.
“Storms don’t usually get this cold here. This is unusual.” He ran
a finger over her flushed cheek. “After last night’s terror, this
was a bit much, wasn’t it?”
    Tears threatened to flow again, but Sondra
bit the inside of her lip and steadied herself. She’d practiced law
for too many years to let her control slip away. She took a breath
to compose herself. “A little cold around the edges, but the shower
helped. Has the chocolate arrived?” She hoped the mention of food
would distract him from his too-close perusal.
    “I was putting it on the table when you
knocked.” He turned to indicate the covered dishes behind him.
“Shall we?”
    The tray included large chocolate-dipped
strawberries, some white and some dark. Even though she hadn’t felt
hungry, they were a temptation she couldn’t resist.
    He dabbed at her chin with a napkin.
    Sondra giggled. “Sorry. These strawberries
are messy.” She rolled her eyes in appreciation. “But oh, so
good.”
    “I thought you might like them. They were
Mom’s favorite.”
    She swallowed a bite. “Did you come here with
her?”
    “This was a frequent spot for our family
vacations.” He glanced around the room.
    “This hotel?”
    “This room.” He indicated the connecting
door. “We usually kept the doors open. Jade and I would watch TV in
your room when Mom and Dad wanted some privacy.”
    Sondra blinked. “Ummm. Uh. That’s… nice.” So
they were spending their honeymoon in a place Zack’s family had
vacationed in. She didn’t know if she should be shocked or
flattered. Shocked he would want her in his private family space or
flattered he wanted to share it with her. She knew so little about
this man who was her husband.
    Would their marriage even last long enough
for her to figure him out? Did anyone ever really know their
spouse? Her work as an attorney made her believe most relationships
were built on the beliefs of each participant. She had to remind
herself she was seeing broken relationships, not healthy ones.
    After that exchange, they ate in
companionable silence with Sondra managing to keep her unruly
thoughts in check. She pushed back from the table when they
finished. “I’m really tired. Jet lag is catching up with me. What
time did you want to meet?”
    “Same as this morning—around 7:30. Is that
alright?”
    “That will work fine.” She scurried into her
room, locking the connecting door behind her. She leaned against it
a moment, her breath coming in dry sobs. This was close enough to
her youthful dreams to catch the moment but far enough to make it
an unreachable gulf. How was she going to keep her feelings in
check during their short marriage? His father might die tomorrow,
but the process of the embryo implant and then delivery would take
months, and part of the unwritten agreement was to stay married
until the baby was born.
    As she thought about the months of keeping
her emotions under tight wrap, she let them loose. She buried
herself in her pillow and cried herself to sleep.
    * * *
    When the alarm rang at 6:30, she had managed
to get enough sleep to feel semi-rested and able to tackle the day.
She rolled out of bed and looked out the window. Even through the
pre-dawn darkness, she could see the sky was clear. Zack’s weather
report seemed to be accurate. Hopefully, they’d be able to get the
car unlocked. She didn’t want to have it towed to the rental
agency.
    They had breakfast in her room again, Zack
opting to go through the connecting doors as well. He looked as
good in jeans and a polo as he had in his