Read Online One True Love by Barbara Freethy - Free Book Online Page B

never could lie worth a damn.”
    “Let me go, Nick.”
    “I’m not holding you, Lisa.”
    But he was, with his eyes, with his voice, with his memories. They’d stood together like this before at the door to Robin’s room. They’d watched their baby sleep. They’d held each other and smiled with pride and joy before they’d gone back to their bedroom to make love. She took in a deep breath and let it out. “You’re not making this easy.”
    “Why should I?”
    Lisa took another deep breath and silently counted to ten.
    “You didn’t answer my question,” Nick said with a baiting smile.
    “Where are you planning to sleep?” Lisa asked instead.
    A light burned through his eyes.
    “I’m taking Maggie’s room,” she added hastily. “I guess that leaves you with the couch.”
    “What if I want her room?”
    “You’re out of luck. In fact, you really don’t have to stay.”
    “I promised the kids I would. I don’t break my promises.”
    “Fine. Stay. Are Dylan and Roxy asleep?” she asked, as they walked down the hall together.
    “Dylan’s asleep. Roxy’s reading.”
    “I’ll get my bag out of my car then.”
    Nick dogged her steps down the stairs. “Why don’t you go home, Lisa? I’ll take care of the kids.”
    “I made a promise, too. I intend to keep it.”
    Lisa opened the front door and walked onto the porch. She paused, suddenly realizing how long it had been since she had smelled the ocean and lived in a neighborhood where crickets sang through the night.”I can’t believe you came back,” Nick said after a moment. He leaned against the porch railing, crossing his arms in front of him. “The last time I saw you was the night Mary Bea was born. You ran off so fast, I didn’t get a chance to say hello.”
    Lisa looked into his curious eyes and shrugged. “I don’t think hello was what you were planning to say.”
    He tipped his head. “You might be right about that.”
    “I love Maggie, Nick. That’s why I’m here. You know how much I care about her.”
    “I know you did love her. But you loved a lot of people—eight years ago.” He paused. “It’s almost her birthday, you know. A week from Sunday—Robin would have been eight years old.”
    “Don’t.”
    “You can’t even say her name, can you?”
    Lisa didn’t want to say Robin’s name. She didn’t want to think about her baby. She didn’t want to remember. It hurt too damn much. “She’s gone, Nick. Saying her name won’t bring her back.”
    “Maybe it would bring you back.”
    She looked at him, confused by his cryptic answer. “I’m here.”
    “I don’t mean here in San Diego. I mean here—in your heart.” He suddenly reached out, and his palm covered the curve of her breast. An irrepressible tingle ran down her spine, a shock wave of warmth and love and sex.
    “Don’t,” she whispered.
    His hand curved around her breast. “You died that night, Lisa, as surely as she did. At least the Lisa I remember, the Lisa I married, the Lisa I loved.”
    His words cut her to the quick. She pushed his hand away from her body. “Died? I wasn’t the one who disappeared for almost twelve hours while people were calling and crying and calling again,” she said passionately. “I wasn’t the one who came to the funeral home smelling like a brewery.”
    His face tightened. “Stop it, Lisa.”
    “Why should I?”His eyes blazed with anger and pain. “Because you made your point. I wasn’t there for you. I wasn’t there for Robin. Everything is my fault. We’ve had this argument before. You’ve never understood what I went through.”
    “And you’ve never understood what I went through. That’s why we didn’t work, Nick. Maybe we were never meant to work. That’s why it happened. It was an end to what never should have begun.” Silence fell between them, broken only by the sound of their breathing, angry and rushed. “It’s pointless to rehash the past,” Lisa said finally.
    “It’s