“I didn’t want to stain your childhood memories with the truth.”“You couldn’t possibly have done that, since most of my memories involve you and the fun we had . . .” His eyes went distant, and Gerard watched his mouth form a foul word. “All those so-called sports injuries? He did that?” Gerard nodded, and Rick swore again. “Sonofabitch! Shit, Gerard . . . I’m so bloody sorry.”Not your fault.” Gerard shrugged.“How many of those knocks did you take for me?”“It’s not important, and this is why I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to blame yourself. I made a decision to protect you and I did. End of story.”“Why didn’t you tell Cindy about this?”“Tell her what? That I allowed a dictatorial bastard to use me as a punching bag? That I may turn into the same dictatorial bastard and use my fists on her and Kayla someday? She’s a hell of a lot better off without me.” The words burned like acid but they had to be said.“Why do you think you’d hurt Cindy or Kayla?” Rick asked him,

“Cindy,” you can’t mean to argue with me on this matter,” he said aloud. “I know you don’t want to drive in this weather.”We can all go in your car, she decided. Paul can pick mine up in the morning.He looked a little stunned by that decision but agreed quickly as if he were afraid that she would change her mind.Cal—who was proficient in sign language and had been following the conversation—looked relieved that they had made up their minds and ushered them toward Gerard’s sleek car.“Do you think my car will be okay here?” she asked Cal worriedly as he held the car door open for them.“Don’t worry about it, ma’am, I’ll have one of my guys pick it up tonight,” he assured her.I don’t want to inconvenience anybody, and this weather is atrocious.”“It’s our job,” Cal said with a polite smile. “We’ll take care of it.” Realizing that he wasn’t going to bend on the matter, Cindy ducked her head and climbed into the back of the car; Gerard followed, his bulk taking up most of the space in

She was a lost cause. Her face was streaming with tears, and she reached for him but he flinched away and got up to pace to the window. He didn’t want her to touch him, and she wept for the lonely, hurt child he had been and for the emotionally distant and psychologically scarred man that he had become. He was sharing what he felt were his most shameful secrets, and it broke her heart that he thought this was his shame and not that of the pathetic excuse of a man who had fathered him.“I never felt like I deserved you,” he said, keeping his rigid back to her. “But like I told you before, I just couldn’t stay away from you after that first meeting. I kept making and breaking promises with myself just to spend time with you. When I proposed to you, I thought that I could manage the relationship; that I could keep your love for myself without tainting you, without hurting you. God, what a miserable job I did of that.” He started pacing in front of the window, prowling back and forth like

Well, since I’ll never get tired of saying them, I guess we’ll have to resign ourselves to making each other revoltingly happy for the rest of our lives.” He stepped away from her reluctantly, and Cindy had to bite back her protest as his gorgeous—and visibly aroused—body moved beyond her reach. When she unconsciously raised one of her hands toward him, he tut-tutted and waved a finger back and forth in front of her face“Hands off the merchandise, lady. I have plans for this evening and I can’t have you distracting me. Why don’t you head up for a nap and a shower? And chat with Kayla like you’ve been dying to do for the last hour? Leave me to prepare our dinner.”She grinned at the thought of him bumbling about in the kitchen. He really wasn’t the domestic god he seemed to think he was. He made a terrible mess and his meals were often culinary disasters, with unpalatable over- or undercooked dishes. Still, he tried—bless him—and she appreciated his efforts. He was always so disgustin

“Sensitive,” he grunted unnecessarily, his voice filled with primal satisfaction. He barely lifted his mouth from its delicious task to utter that guttural observation before dipping back down to where the creamy, berry-tipped treats awaited him. He had one strong, large hand braced firmly against the small of her narrow back. His other hand was working at the snap of her jeans, and before she knew it, he’d deftly pushed the stiff denim far enough down past her narrow hips to allow his eager fingers room to delve between her slender thighs, where they cupped the dripping-wet band of satiny material at her core.Cindy ground herself up against his hand while Gerard , a consummate multitasker, still had his mouth on her overwhelmingly sensitive breasts. His fingers were burrowing beneath the line of her panties, and one very talented digit immediately found its way to the little knot of nerve endings at the junction of her thighs. He strummed her delicately for a few seconds, and Cindy