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

that sort of girl.”
    “How do you know if you’ve lost your memory?”
    She looked up at him with a stricken expression. “Lucas,” she breathed out, “are you saying that I was a … a scarlet woman?”
    There was a heartbeat of silence before he answered. “No, Jess. All I’m saying is that you were sweet on me.”
    The breath she’d been holding rushed out of her lungs as relief swamped her, then she sucked it in again when she saw the humor in his eyes. “Just tell me what happened that night,” she snapped, then, remembering thatshe’d decided to be conciliatory, “Tell me. Please. I have to know.”
    He hesitated then said, “I was not long back from the war and was drinking with friends in the Black Swan’s taproom, celebrating my engagement to Bella Clifford. Soon after my friends left, your father entered. He’d been drinking and was in a towering temper. You’d told him, so he said, that we were lovers. He accused me of ruining you for other men. There was a fight. When he pulled his pistol on me, I took it away from him. He left. Shortly after, I left, too.”
    She was shaking inside. “Why would I tell him we were lovers if it wasn’t true?”
    He studied her face for a moment, then exhaled an exasperated breath. “Because, from the time you were a girl in pinafores, you’d set your heart on me. Everyone knew it. In fact, it was a great joke in Chalford. I tolerated your attentions because, well, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You were only a young girl, and I was flattered, I suppose, that you hero-worshiped me. But that night, you went too far.”
    This unflattering picture of herself made her writhe, but she couldn’t deny it. She was remembering how she’d felt when Lucas had kissed her and she’d practically allowed him to take her on the kitchen table.
    She lifted her chin. “It wasn’t all one-sided,” she said.
    “No,” he said simply. “It was easy to ignore you when you were a child, but …”
    “But what?”
    He turned his head to look at her. “But when I came home from the war, you were all grown-up.”
    His eyes were locked on hers, and she felt it again, the irresistible tug on her senses. He felt it, too. She heard the catch in his breath, saw the way his lids grew heavy. Not again. Dear Lord, not again.
    “Jess,” he whispered.
    She caught his wrist, preventing him from touching her.
    “Why did you buy Hawkshill, Lucas?”
    “What?”
    “You heard me.”
    His lips thinned. “Why does anyone buy a property that adjoins his estate? I wanted your acreage.”
    “The attorney says you paid more than Hawkshill was worth. Was it blood money?”
    He swore. “Blood money for what?”
    “Murdering my father.”
    “One more crack like that and I’ll put you over my knee and paddle your backside.”
    “That’s no answer. The attorney said you felt guilty because you’d disarmed my father and he couldn’t defend himself. Is that true?”
    He nodded. “That’s about it.”
    His answer was a tad too pat for her liking. “There must be more to it than that.”
    He looked as though he were ready to explode. “Look, I wanted your acreage and I paid a fair price for it. That’s all there was to it.”
    “Where did you get the money? The attorney told me you were living off the charity of relatives then. So where did the money come from?”
    “Rempel doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. I borrowed it from friends.”
    “Oh, don’t worry! I had to pry everything out of the attorney. He wouldn’t answer my questions. That’s why I’m asking you. What friends?”
    “Rupert Haig for one. My cousin Adrian for another. They’ll tell you.”
    “Do you know what I think, Lucas? I think you’re lying.”
    He spoke through clenched teeth. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Jess, or you wouldn’t speak to me like that.” “Then tell me!”
    “I wanted to provide for you in case anything happenedto me. Yes, I felt guilty about your father