Page 40 of Wyoming Heart

“That it hurts a man to have to come to a sudden stop.”

She bit her lower lip and looked away.

He frowned. That didn’t look like any experienced woman he’d ever known. “Tell me,” he said quietly.

She pressed her small hands into the softness of his shirt, feeling thick hair and muscle under it. “Mama’s boyfriend. Henry. He tried to...” She bit back tears. “I was asleep. I had the door locked, but they all opened with one of those funny-looking long keys and he had one. I woke up with him on me. I pushed him away and he groaned and said it hurt him to stop and why wouldn’t I let him do what he wanted to? After all, my mother did...”

He wrapped her up in his arms and just held her, rocking her. “How old were you?”

She choked back a sob. “Fifteen.”

“That wasn’t the only time, was it?” he asked, his voice deep and cutting. Angry.

“No. But I learned to push heavy furniture against the door. That made him mad. It was just after that when he came after me with the belt and beat me bloody.”

“Dear God,” he whispered.

“I called the sheriff and they sent a deputy, but my mother said I hated Henry and made up stories about him. She wouldn’t let the deputy see me. I was covered with bruises all over my back.” She choked back another sob. “The only good thing,” she said in a miserable undertone, “was that Mama kept him away from me, after that. Well, after he got even for me calling the police. I was really bruised then. I missed two days of school.”

His big hand smoothed her long hair. “You poor kid,” he ground out, pressing his mouth to her forehead. “What a hell of a life you’ve had.”

“They say what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” she said, her voice wobbly. “I guess it does.”

“No kid should have to go through that.” He eased back from her and looked down into her wet eyes. He bent and softly kissed away the tears. Which only brought more. Nobody had ever been comforting to her. Not even Bart, who knew that she disliked being touched, even if they were friends.

“I never had anybody to run to,” she whispered, leaning her head against him. “Cousin Rogan lived mostly in Australia. Bart was my friend, but much later.” She sighed and laid her cheek against his broad chest. “I’ve never had anyone to talk to, about what happened.”

His arms tightened. She felt his lips in her hair.

“I went to Iraq to save the world,” he whispered. “But combat isn’t like that. It’s bloody and cruel and you lose buddies who die right beside you.” His eyes closed. He’d never talked about it, either, except to his brothers. “It does something to you, inside, to go through an experience like that.”

She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “You have nightmares, don’t you?” she asked, as if she knew.

He hesitated. Then he nodded. His face was hard and cold and taut with remembered pain.

She reached up a small hand and smoothed back a strand of cool, dark hair that had fallen onto his broad forehead. “I have nightmares, too.”

He smiled tenderly. “Life is hard.”

She smiled back. “‘The night is dark and full of terrors,’” she quoted from her favorite television series.

He chuckled. “So it is. Wolf or lion?” he added.

“Wolf. Definitely wolf. I love Ghost,” she said, referring to the direwolf who was the companion of one of the main characters of the show. She cocked her head. “And you?”

He shrugged. “Bear.”

Her eyes widened. There was only one faction that had a bear as its sigil, and it was headed by a little girl with a brave heart and a bad attitude. “You’re kidding!”

He smiled. “She’s the underdog. She doesn’t even have a hundred fighting men. Besides,” he added with a chuckle, “she’s got more guts than some of the soldiers.”

She beamed. “Yes, she does.”

He framed her face in his big hands and slid them back into her long, soft hair. He sighed. “I loved what we did,” he said after a minute. “But I’m not prepared.”

She flushed. “Excuse me?”

He grinned wickedly. “I’m all out of prophylactics,” he said bluntly, and laughed when she flushed even more. “And you probably wear a metal studded chastity belt.”

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