Page 36 of At Her Will

“If you share that tape with Rev, he’ll find out what you are.”

She met his dark gaze. He had a straight nose and Rev’s mouth. He was a handsome man, but what she saw behind the mask repelled her.

“Rev is fully aware I’m a sexual Dominant. I’m not ashamed of my preferences, and I’m fortunate nothing important in my life depends on me hiding what so many people don’t attempt to understand.”

Tisha had flinched when Witford brought up the subject, but the revulsion in her face, unmarked by shock, said Witford had shared this with her before this meeting. Shock would set in when she really thought about why Rev might want to be around a sexually Dominant woman. But Vera wasn’t going to be the one to point that out. Rev deserved his privacy.

“Did you even think of how your doing this would make Rev feel?” she demanded of Witford. “What he’d think?”

“I expect he’d wonder if his cousin had lost his damned mind,” Rev said.

He stood in her doorway. Bastion had sent him up unannounced. Vera was glad for that, but she wished she could have spared him the far-too-familiar emotions he was feeling as he stepped into her office. She could see them in his face, in the tension in his shoulders.

Tisha came out of the chair like a jack-in-the-box. “Rev, Witford wouldn’t have done it. We were testing her. If she’d been fine with it, it would have told us she didn’t value you.”

Witford stood to face Rev. “She’s telling the truth. You know I’d never do anything like that to you. We just wanted to discourage her from seeing you. A woman like this…you’re out of your depth, cousin.”

Rev’s gaze shifted to Vera. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Even with what they’d just done, he sensed the turmoil in her, and was concerned about that. The pain in her heart doubled, but she managed to keep it out of her voice.

“I’m fine, Rev. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t seem like you have much to be sorry for. You didn’t ask them to come here and do this.”

He was holding his bill cap in his hand, and he glanced down at it, rotating it meditatively.

“Rev,” Witford began. “Let’s go get some lunch and we can talk about this. I?—”

"No."

Vera was sure Rev hadn’t raised his voice. Yet somehow that one syllable filled her office and bounced echoes off every corner of the top floor.

Two seconds later, Cyn and Skye were outside her door. Vera shook her head, the lift of her hand holding them off.

“Please, Rev. Come home with us.” Tisha pressed her fist to her chest, above the purse. “I feel it in my heart. We’ve prayedabout it, Witford and I. Put this woman behind you. She’s not in God’s fold.”

Cyn stepped forward, but Skye gripped her arm, holding her back. Vera’s gaze sharpened on her coworker, reinforcing the message. She could handle this. Plus, no matter how Rev was feeling about it, he wouldn’t be okay with Cyn body slamming his aunt to the floor.

“Perhaps you should have thought to talk tome. Pray withmeabout it,” Rev said. “You had no call to come talk to Miss Veracity this way.”

"Rev, weareworried about you,” Witford said forcefully. “Maybe we went about this the wrong way, but Tisha loves you. She’s sick with worry.”

Rev stared at the hat in his hand again. "I hearing you, Witford. But I got nothing for you right now. The anger in me isn’t letting me see this clear. I come see you when I ready to do that." He looked up and met Witford’s gaze, man-to-man. “But right now, you take Tisha home.”

Tisha placed her hand on Witford’s arm. “We didn’t mean to hurt you, Rev. I just told Teena Joy I’d look after you, and this situation,” her gaze flicked toward Vera, “makes me very worried for you.”

Rev’s gaze softened perceptibly, but his voice remained implacable. “Teena Joy asked you to look after me when I was a child. I not no child anymore. I respect your love, wisdom and guidance. But I also respect what God tells my heart.” His expression hardened again. “This isn’t a ‘situation.’ I care about this woman, and you will respect her and respect what’s my business. You understand?” His gaze shifted to Witford. “Both of you.”

Witford gave him a tight nod. “You’re still welcome to join us for lunch. We can talk.”

“Not today. Mind what I said.” Rev shifted out of the doorway and glanced toward it meaningfully. “You owe Veracity an apology, but if you don’t think you done anything needing forgiving, just go.”

Witford looked Vera’s way and gave her a cold nod that conveyed nothing resembling an apology. Tisha didn’t look toward her at all.

Tisha tried to pause when she was parallel with Rev, but Witford met his cousin’s gaze and ushered her past him with a firm hand on her lower back.

Vera heard Bastion meet them at the stairs, still cordial but definitely cooler. He’d make sure they took a direct route to the parking lot and off the grounds.

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