Page 23 of Saved By Love at Christmas
Ben pulled me against his solid form, and I felt him tremble. I moved out of his embrace and clutched at his hand.
“Look, that asshole is the only one to blame. If I ever see him again it’ll be too soon. I hope he rots in hell for what he did to me.”
“Maybe I could hunt him down and castrate him. It’s no more than he deserves. Remember, I know how to do it, and it’d be without anaesthetic.”
“And I’ll be right behind with a blunt knife.”
I hadn’t heard Marie enter the room. She held out a tray to us and we grabbed the mugs. Even though I was stressed, I giggled. It really seemed to be the Brits’ therapy of choice.
Ben moved to sit in Grandad’s recliner chair so Marie could sit with me. He had one long leg resting on top of the other. How had I never seen how well he filled out his jeans?
Marie cleared her throat. Had she noticed me ogling Ben? I felt a blush burn the tips of my ears.
“What do you plan to do about Jamie?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Nothing. I’ll document the calls and what he said. And I have photographic evidence of what he did to me.” I saw Ben grimace out of the corner of my eye. “Hopefully, he’ll have got the message and leave me alone.”
Marie hugged me. “I wish this hadn’t happened to you.”
“So do I, but the one saving grace is that I had the strength to leave when I did.”
Ben looked at his watch, a pained expression on his face. “Sorry. I have urgent paperwork for the practice to do this evening. I really must go.”
“That’s okay,” Marie said with a smile. “I’ll stay with Ruby until Tom gets home.”
“I’ll see you out.” I stood up and followed him to the front door.
“Thank you for coming to rescue me… again.” I reached up and kissed his cheek.
He smiled and caught my hand in his, bringing it up to his warm mouth. I was certain the look in his eye wasn’t one of a friend caring for another friend. But was I deluding myself? Was I trying to makesomethinghappen between us so I could believe in love again? Overthinking was usually not my style.
“Anytime. My phone is always on, Rubes. All you need to do is call. I’ll bring Fred over tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
He paused, eyes dropping to my lips. Then he ran a hand across his face and was gone.
CHAPTER8
RUBY
After seeing Ben out, I headed back to the front room. Marie was staring at the fire while the flames flickered and wood crackled.
“I’ve always found a real fire comforting.” She smiled.
“Me too. As a kid, I’d sit in front of the fire for hours while Grandad told me stories about dragons.” My heart warmed at the thought.
I squeezed my eyes shut at a memory of Jamie staring down his nose at the fire in Grandad’s sitting room.‘It stinks in here. Central heating is so much better than staring at flames,’he’d said as he shook his head.
“Ruby?”
I glanced over to see her watching me with concern.
“Sorry. I was thinking about how Jamie said how much he hated a real fire.” I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “He really was an ass.”
She grasped my hand. “Well, he’s gone from your life now, so you can enjoy sitting in front of the fire without him bitching and moaning. I’m just happy to have you back.”
“I’m glad I had the strength to leave. I only hope no one else has been taken in by his charming bullshit. It’s made me wary of love or trusting any other man.”
