Read Online You Only Love Twice by Elizabeth Thornton - Free Book Online

three days, she’d come a long way.
    Her eyes flicked to Lucas. She would be much further ahead if Lucas Wilde would only consent to answer a few questions. “Lucas,” she said, trying for a conciliatory tone, “what do I have to do to convince you I’m telling the truth?”
    “You can begin by telling me when, exactly, you found out that your father had been murdered.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she’d found out, not half an hour ago, from the attorney. Then she saw his trap. She’d recklessly told him that first day back that she’d returned to Hawkshill to find a murderer. If he’d visited Hawkshill and questioned the nuns, he would see that there was a discrepancy in her story.
    “I was told in the convent,” she said, and made herself remember to breathe.
    “By the woman who recognized you?”
    She saw where he was leading and tried to circumvent him by going on the attack. “You did go to Hawkshill to spy on me! Well, you won’t get any answers from thesisters, because they don’t know anything. I … I didn’t tell them about my father. I … I just couldn’t.”
    After studying her expression for a moment, he said, “That’s not all. Explain if you will what happened between us three days ago. If you’d lost your memory, I would be a stranger to you. So how do you explain that you came damn near to allowing me to take you on the kitchen table? Does that sound as though you’d lost your memory?”
    She was appalled. “Are you saying we were lovers?”
    His eyes moved slowly over her face. After a moment, he let out a breath. “No, we weren’t lovers. But I would like to know what’s going on. If you didn’t know who I was, why did you fall into my arms when I came out to Hawkshill?”
    Relief shivered through her. She sniffed and offered an explanation she thought he might accept. It was as close to the truth as she was willing to go. “You attacked me. I was frightened and confused. Then you took me in your arms. I didn’t know what I was doing, where it was leading.” She looked directly into his eyes. “I know nothing of men. If I was ever in love with you, I have no memory of it.”
    “Is the past gone forever, Jess, or will your memory come back?”
    She was silent for a moment, but deciding it was a serious question, she answered him seriously. “They told me that my memory would probably come back in a few days, but that was three years ago. Then they said it might come back to me suddenly, in one fell swoop. Or it might never come back.”
    He stared at her then said softly, “I’m still not sure that I believe you, Jess.”
    “Why would I lie about a thing like that?”
    “A convent would be a good place to hide, would it not?”
    “Hide?” She sat up straighter. “From what?”
    “From me.”
    She jerked at his words, knocking his elbow, and the horses reared up.
    “Now look what you’ve done,” he roared, holding his team steady.
    She was breathing hard. There was something there, a memory, just out of reach. “You quarreled with my father the night he was murdered. Don’t deny it. The attorney told me.”
    “Why should I deny it? It all came out at the inquest. And there was a full house that night. About twenty people witnessed the fight.”
    “You took his pistol away from him so that he could not defend himself.”
    The words jerked out of his mouth. “I took his pistol away from him so that he would not kill me.”
    “What did you quarrel about?”
    “You, of course. You told him that we were lovers in a deliberate attempt to trap me into marriage.”
    She gasped. “I told him? I can’t believe I would do such a thing unless …” Her face blanched, and she stammered, “unless it was true.”
    His face darkened. “What kind of man do you think I am? Of course it wasn’t true! I was going to marry Bella. Then your father came barging into the Black Swan and that was that.”
    “I’m sure I had no part in it. I’m not