Read Online Outsider by Sara Craven - Free Book Online

going to bed at night. I used to pray that he'd leave me
    alone—not touch me. Our whole relationship was a sham, and as a wife, I
    was the biggest phoney of all. In fact, my husband's last words to me before
    he stormed out of the house that day' were, "It's your own fault, you frigid
    little bitch!"'
    The old nausea, the old trembling began all over again, and she pressed her
    hand convulsively over her mouth. Eliot Lang had succeeded in reviving
    memories she'd hoped were buried for ever. Memories that should have been
    buried.
    Memories that would be...
    She telephoned the vet, who said he would call early that afternoon. She
    called the builder, who said work on the new looseboxes would be started
    the following day. She dealt with the mail, moving like an automaton.
    It would be healthier, she thought, to concentrate on her other grievances
    where Eliot was concerned. The way he'd dismissed her involvement with
    Sharon's problem, for instance, still rankled.
    He might be the boss, but he was still a comparative stranger to the yard. His
    relationship with the stable lads was predominantly a working one. Most of
    them had been at Wintersgarth for some time, so it was natural she should
    know more about their lives and personalities than he did. She knew which
    of them were courting local girls, and which of them preferred to spend their
    free time adventuring in Leeds. And she also had her feminine instinct to go
    on.
    I'd bet a month's salary I know who it is who's pestering Sharon, she thought
    as Ben Watson's image presented itself. It wasn't just the way he looked at
    her. There was a television and video set in the recreationroom at the
    blockhouse, and she'd heard whispers of late-night blue movie sessions, with
    films Ben had brought back from his day off. And not that long ago she had
    found two of the youngest lads goggling over girlie magazines of the most
    lurid and explicit kind. When she'd questioned them rather sharply, they had
    admitted Ben had lent them to them. These were things Eliot had no means
    of knowing.
    And it was herself that Sharon had turned to, after all, so help her she would.
    She rested her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her clasped hands,
    as she pondered what to do. It would be useless to accuse Ben directly.
    Sharon had seen no one, and there was no actual proof, so all he would need
    to do would be to protest his injured innocence.
    Although a confrontation might warn him off from any future prying, she
    thought dubiously. But he would still be around, a sly and distasteful
    influence, especially on the younger and more impressionable lads.
    And she couldn't simply request Grantham to fire him, as there was nothing
    wrong with his work. His horses were well turned out, and Wes, who was a
    stickler for standards, had no real complaints about him, because she'd
    checked during Grantham's absence.
    But if he could be caught in the act, she could insist that he was dismissed.
    The trick, of course, was catching him. She thought for a while longer, then
    nodded. She would see Sharon later during the rest period before evening
    stables and tell her what she had in mind.
    And all Sharon had to do was agree.

    'I feel a real fool,' said Sharon, three nights later. 'Maybe I imagined the
    whole thing. There's no need for you to bother any more, Miss Natalie. Why
    don't you give up, and go back up to the house?'
    Natalie smiled as she put her flashlight down on the bedside table. 'Because
    I refuse to be defeated so easily,' she returned. 'I'll give it one more night, and
    if there's nothing we'll assume that Mr X has given up in disgust.''
    Sharon lingered, frowning. 'But I know Eliot wouldn't like it if he knew,' she
    said abruptly. 'He was talking to me about it only today—asking if there'd
    been any trouble, and telling me I was to go straight to him, if so. I didn't
    know where to put my face.'
    'Oh, he won't mind,' Natalie said mendaciously, 'Now, off you go, and get a
    good