Read Online Two Nights with His Bride by Kat Latham - Free Book Online

of an experience sitting between them. “He treats me great.”
    He really did. He was constantly showing her how much he adored her, sending her sweet messages throughout the dayasking what she was up to, wanting to spend every free minute with her. They’d only spent a handful of nights apart from each other since the day they’d met. Strange…she would’ve expected last night’s separation to be more difficult, but it was oddly liberating. Maybe because she’d been so exhausted after all the exercise, fresh air, and alcohol.
    “That’s good.” He took a sip of coffee. “I’m happyfor you, Nancy. You’ve accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime, and I admire the hell out of you for it.”
    Pride and shame mingled low in her gut. She had accomplished a lot, but she’d also found ways to get what she wanted, ways she was too ashamed to admit to herself, much less anyone else. Polly and Ruby probably suspected, but they’d never said anything. They’d most likely beenon the same casting couch she had. And she prayed Jared never found out. He’d told her once how he loved that her life was scandal-free. No chance of skeletons leaping out of the closet when I run for governor , he’d said.
    He’d hate her if he knew.
    She wrapped her suddenly cold fingers around the coffee mug and let its heat seep in. “Thank you for not…you know…telling the girls about how my childhoodreally was.”
    “They don’t know?”
    “They know some things. I told them I didn’t grow up with much money. Ruby comes from money, and Polly’s family is pretty comfortable, too, so I don’t think they can imagine what that really means.”
    He lifted his cup for another sip. They were sitting so close his arm brushed hers. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
    “I know. But we’ve been friends for a long time,and I told them so many stories when we first met that I can’t keep track of them all.” She dropped her gaze to the steam coming off the mug. “I don’t think I outright lied to them. I just…”
    “Practiced being an actress before you landed any parts?”
    She blinked. “How did you know?”
    “It’s what I always felt like you were doing as a kid. Putting on different personas to see how they fit. I thoughtyou’d make a great actress before I ever knew you wanted to be one.”
    “I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    “How else would I mean it?”
    “Like I was a little liar.”
    His lips quirked. “I never thought that, but maybe I should ask. Did you ever lie to me?”
    She thought back to all those rides home he’d given her from school, all the tense conversations when her teenage hormones had run rampantand the only way she’d known of keeping them bottled was to snap at him. Tease him. Try to push his patience to the brink. “I guess it depends on your definition of lying. There were things I never told you.”
    He shifted, and she felt his gaze warming her cheek, but she kept her eyes down. “Such as?”
    “Nothing major.” It wouldn’t be right to tell him now about how she’d looked up to his big, badself for years before that horrible day when she’d decided to show him. He’d been an angry kid, battling his way through the life his parents’ mistakes had created for him. She, for the most part, had been a people pleaser, desperate not to rock any boats because her parents had so many troubles that the slightest imbalance would’ve tipped them all over into an abyss. Wyatt had been the only oneshe was comfortable letting her frustrations loose around, the only one strong enough to withstand them. She’d admired the force of his personality, wishing she could harness its energy for herself.
    But the one time she’d pretended to have more confidence than she really had, she’d ended up putting the moves on him and been rejected hard. It had taken her a long time to trust her instincts aboutmen after the double whammy of Brady and Wyatt, and she still