Read Online Sara's Child by Susan Elle - Free Book Online

last night. You did put him in the hospital; but that was no more than he deserved,” he stated derisively.
    “But why no police?” she gasped in shocked amazement . I’ve been waiting for the police to lock me up, for christ’s sake! For eight years, she had steered well clear of Granby Street afraid that someone would recognise her and turn her over to the police for murdering Shipley. I didn’t do it. I’m not a murderer. Oh god!
    Logan’s brown eyes darken perceptibly, a dangerous glint in their depths. “The scumbag could hardly report the attack; if the police had spoken to you they would have heard your side of things, not something Shipley would have dared to let happen.” His brow furrows and his eyes narrow, looking past Catherine and across the lake. “Especially as it wasn’t his first time.” He actually growls then, like a predator envisaging it’s pray. Not his first. Then maybe I really didn’t make it happen. Maybe.
    “I’ve hated myself for eight years thinking I’d killed that sack of shit,” Catherine’s fists clench in her lap, “now you tell me I didn’t and I ought to be pleased; but somehow I’m really not!”
    His own anger subsides when Logan looks over at Catherine. He can see the hate and disgust plainly in her eyes, but he can also see relief. “You wouldn’t harm a fly if you didn’t have to – it just isn’t in you, Catherine.”
    She shakes her head. “It was in me eight years ago; what makes you so sure it isn’t now?” Even I don’t know that. Won’t ever really know that.
    He reaches over to loosen one of her fists so that he can hold her hand. “Because I’ve seen a side of you that no one ever has,” his smile is tender, his chocolate brown eyes melting and soft. “No matter how hard you try to be the cold, hard Colson, you will always be the soft, warm Catherine inside.”
    “Don’t be so sure,” her chin lifts defiantly, “I’ve always said Catherine is a sissy name and you just confirmed it!” Her spine stiffens as she bristles. “I am not soft – when I want something I go after it and sod the people who get in my way. I will never be a victim, I will never allow it !” Never! Never! Never!
    But you are, Logan thinks sadly. Whatever is eating away at you is making you a victim every day. To Catherine he says, “Always the little tough nut…,” he smiles and gives her hand a shake, “…willing to take on the biggest, baddest bully in the playground.” Welcome to my world.
    “Of course…,” Catherine frowns up at Logan, stymied, “…but that’s not just me – that’s life. If you show weakness in your business, how long will it take a competitor to start eating into it? It was the same in foster care; if you didn’t stand your ground you lost it, and anything you thought you owned you suddenly didn’t. And it wasn’t just the bully who treated you like scum from then on,” she recalls heatedly, “it was everyone in that place who had witnessed your weakness and prayed on it.” Never again! No one! Ever!
    “I’m sorry.” Logan is only just beginning to understand how hard life has been for Catherine. His childhood had been idyllic. Most of it spent at Lakelands, until he’d boarded at Eton College and then at Oxford University. However, he has never been a stupid man. He has seen the bullies at work, and knows to what Catherine is referring. “I wish I could go back in time and change all those horrid memories for the good ones all children deserve…”
    “But you can’t,” Catherine interrupts. “And don’t feel sorry for me, I don’t need it or want it. I am who I am and that’s it – I’m just surprised you even like me, which I suppose you must if you put up with all the trouble that seems comes with me.” A grudging smile is tugging at her lips
    I can’t believe you haven’t dumped me. Maybe he doesn’t know everything after all.
    He laughs, bringing their joined hands up to his lips. “Well, life