Deep in the Alaskan Woods (Alaska Wild #1) - Karen Harper Page 0,1
she would spring up and dart out the door. She had always loved how protective he was, but lately she’d begun to think he might actually be a bit possessive.
“No. I’m beat. I’ll even take a rain check on the kind of welcome I’d like—at my house,” he added, frowning, “where I won’t fall over boxes of face creams and lip balms.”
She was surprised at the relief she felt that he wasn’t staying tonight.
He kissed her again, got up with a groan and said, “I’ll call you tomorrow, and you can come over on Sunday. I take it you’ll be here, cooking up your brews and pastes after work,” he added, stifling a yawn.
“Yes. I need to catch up with online orders and answer questions on my blog. Despite the heat, I’ll be walking Spenser in the morning, of course, and—”
“What in the hell is this?” he demanded, and snatched the eight-by-ten photo from the end table. He frowned at it. “This is a recent addition, and it seems to have a place of honor.”
“I decided at the last minute to go to my high school reunion. Rah, rah, Naperville North! Those are members of the graduating class who attended. I’m there,” she said, pointing, “in the back row, see?”
“Of course I see. Was that guy you used to go steady with there?”
“Mike? Yes, with his wife.”
“That’s him next to you, isn’t it? But no wife here. He’s brought his Airedale into the clinic, but I didn’t let on I knew who he was. I hate that he was your first love.”
“Lyle, his wife was there, but it’s only the graduates in the photo.”
“You got caught up with him, of course. I hope he has a happy marriage, though he probably knows by now he was an idiot to pass you up for the long haul. Any other guys there you knew well?”
“Lyle, so what? I was wearing my big, emerald-cut—expensive, as you say—ring and told people I was getting married soon. I wanted to get out. I was tired of looking at just these walls and the caged animals at the clinic while you were on a fun trip to Scotland!”
“Did he or the other guys call you since?”
“Did you listen to me? Oh, by the way,” she plunged on, her voice sassy now, “I also went out to lunch with my best girlfriend from high school the next day. And guess what? There were men in the restaurant, and who knows if some of them looked at me?”
He seized her upper arms and pulled her against him. “It’s just—just that you’re mine now and need to act like it.”
“I do. And maybe—at least once we’re married—if you go to some great place like Scotland for a week, you’ll take me instead of going with ‘the boys.’ But you don’t hear me asking about any bonny lassies you might have stood next to or said ‘hi’ to.”
“That isn’t the point!” he shouted, and gave her a hard shake while Spenser started barking. “Maybe I will just stay the night!”
She fought to remain calm, keep her voice in control. “I don’t think so and I’d rather you not stay. You need your rest, since you are obviously distraught and unreasonable. Please leave, Lyle. Now. I hope once you’re rested—get back to yourself, that is...”
Her voice trailed off as she managed to loosen his grip on her—one hand, then the other. Lyle looked stony-faced. His eyes narrowed. In the slanted light he looked different, cruel, almost demonic. With a sudden move, almost a wrestling flip and hold, he pushed her back on the couch and lay almost on top of her.
Spenser went wild with sharp barks, but Lyle ignored him. Lyle, the gentle, caring veterinarian she had seen help animals, the suitor who had wined and dined and wooed her. He thrust a knee between her legs, then another. He had her left arm pinned, but she instinctively hit at his throat and jaw with her free elbow.
His head snapped back in surprise. She shoved him off the couch and scrambled up. Grabbing her cell phone, she ran