Freeing Her (31 page)

She pulled his head toward her so she could
whisper in his ear. “It’s one evening. And when we get home, I
promise I’ll do anything you want. You can paddle my ass all night,
Kolson. Just know I’m with you on this. Now give me some sort of
sign that you understand me.”

He looked at her gravely and nodded. Then
she kissed him on the lips. Hard, with passion. They got out of the
car, but not before she told him how much she loved him. She kissed
him again and wiped her lipstick from his mouth. His half-assed
grin made her relax a bit.

When they walked inside, Kestrel greeted
them in the large entryway.

“
Welcome to the Hart
compound. It’s nice to see you again, Gabby, Kolson.”

“
Nice to see you too,
Kestrel.”

Kestrel leaned into her and whispered,
“Beware of the dragon and his lair.”

Kolson was talking with someone else and
didn’t hear, and Kestrel had already turned away. But she thought
it a most curious thing to say to someone.

Kolson took Gabby’s elbow and led her into
the next room to meet his parents. His mother, Sylvia, welcomed
them. She was of medium height, blond and lovely, and nothing like
Gabby expected. Sweet and kind, she hugged Gabby and treated her
like she’d known her forever. “Please bring Kolson home more often.
He never comes here and I rarely get to speak to my son. I miss him
so.” Her words spoke to Gabby’s heart.

When Gabby met Langston Hart, she was
shocked. She’d expected an ogre, an overbearing, manipulative
control freak, but instead she met a charming, handsome man who
went out of his way to make her comfortable in his home. It
confused the hell out of her.

“
Gabby! How wonderful it
is to meet the girl who’s stolen my son’s heart. You must tell us
how you managed to do it. Kolson was a slippery one. But in looking
at you, I can see how easily smitten he must have been.”

“
It was mutual,
sir.”

“
So I hear you’re a
physician?”

“
I am. I’m a
psychiatrist.”

“
Fantastic. It must be
very fulfilling to be able to help people in need.”

“
It is. Mental illness is
a terrible thing. I also deal with addictive disorders. I volunteer
at the substance abuse clinic and at the women’s shelter. You might
say I have a soft place in my heart for people in need.”

“
That’s amazing. Tell you
what. I’d love to make a donation to the group you volunteer with
the most. I’ll have my people contact you and we can get the ball
rolling.”

“
Oh my. That would be
great. Thank you, Mr. Hart.”

“
Please, call me Langston.
We’ll talk this week. Now I hope you’ll forgive me for monopolizing
your time. Enjoy yourself tonight.”

When she turned away, she was smiling until
she saw Kolson. Anger and disgust radiated from him, but it was the
accusatory look on his face that made her cringe.

“
What …?”

He did a one eighty and stomped away from
her, leaving a line of stunned faces, including hers, in his wake.
She quickly followed him up a flight of stairs and down a long dark
hall. She didn’t know where he was going, but she followed at a jog
to keep up with his long, angry strides. He disappeared down a
corridor and now she had to guess where he’d gone.

Heart pumping in her throat, she wouldn’t
give up her chase.

She approached each polished mahogany door
and put her ear up to it, trying to hear something, anything at
all.

Then she started turning knobs. The rooms
were opulent, filled with massive furnishings that made her jaw hit
the floor. She couldn’t imagine growing up in this environment. Of
course, who could envision growing up like she had, either?

When she reached the final door and hadn’t
located him, she didn’t know what to do next. She leaned against
the wall. Hearing a noise, she looked up to see Kestrel heading
toward her.

“
What are you doing up
here? I thought you’d be enjoying the party.”

“
I’m looking for
Kolson.”

“
He’s up here?” Kestrel’s
narrowed eyes confused Gabby.

“
Yeah. He was upset when I
… never mind. Anyway, I followed him but lost him up here. This
place is too damn big.”

“
You get used to it. Hang
here for a second. I may know where he is.”

He turned the corner and was gone. About ten
minutes later, he returned and his face was tense when he said,
“I’m to escort you back to the party and stay with you.”

“
You found
him?”

“
Yes. Come, Gabby.” He
moved to take her arm.

She stepped away from him. “No. Take me to
him.”

“
I can’t. He doesn’t want
to see you right now.”

“
I don’t give a damn. Take
me to him. If you don’t, I’ll hunt him down, room by
room.”

“
You’ll regret it. When
Kolson gets in one of his moods, it’s best to stay
away.”

“
Take me.” She persisted
in her demand.

“
Don’t say you weren’t
warned.”

She followed him around a corner and down
another corridor. He told her to go up the flight of stairs before
her. She would find a door at the end of the hall. That’s where
Kolson would be. Then he left.

When she opened the door, she found Kolson,
naked from the waist up. His pants clung to his hips as his fists
pounded a punching bag suspended from the ceiling. A fine sheen
glistened on his torso and his muscles strained and corded when his
arms extended, curled, and swung as he pummeled his make-believe
opponent. Gabby watched the beautiful spectacle before her as he
maintained a perfect rhythm, dancing and dipping with each strike.
The hypnotic motion of his flawless form held her captive,
motionless, until drops of blood flew from his raw fists, stirring
her into action.

“
Kolson! What are you
doing?”

“
Get the fuck out of here,
Gabby.” He didn’t break stride but continued to swing his arms,
battering away at the bag.

That he called her by her nickname was not
lost on her.

“
I’m not going anywhere
until you talk to me.”

Not bothering to spare her a glance, he
said, “You’re wasting your time.”

“
You’re being an
ass.”

“
Not the first time I’ve
been called that.” He grunted as his fists flew.

Now she was getting pissed. She walked
closer to him. “Would you please stop and talk to me for a
minute?”

“
No. Get. Out. Of. Here,”
he seethed.

“
No, damn it. You’re not
being fair.” She reached for his fists, which was not the smartest
thing to do, but she knew she had to get his attention … had to get
him to stop and talk to her.

His hand connected with her palm and smashed
it against the bag. Two of her fingers got trapped between his hand
and the bag. She sucked in her breath when they connected. She was
too shocked to scream because it never occurred to her that he was
hitting the bag that hard.

“
What the hell are you
doing?” he yelled in aggravation.

Her breath rushed past her lips in a huff.
She couldn’t speak and it was all she could do to breathe. She
cradled her hand and doubled over as he stared at her.

“
Let me have a
look.”

“
No! Don’t touch it,” she
hissed. Blinding pain shot up her arm, centered on her pinky and
ring fingers. She inhaled through her teeth, attempting to clear
her head, because right now, her fingers weren’t the most important
things to her. Kolson was.

Swallowing her pain, she stiffened her
resolve, and in a strangled voice, she said, “Just talk to me,
Kolson.”

“
Why? You betrayed
me.”

“
What?” She was baffled by
his statement. How could he ever think she would do such a
thing?

“
You knew how I didn’t
want to have anything to do with him and the first thing you do is
fall victim to his game.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
The dragon. My father. He
has you eating out of his scaly hand within five minutes of our
arrival.”

“
Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t
know I was supposed to ignore him.” Pain radiated from her hand to
her arm, but she forced herself to go on. She gritted her teeth and
said, “You refused to tell me anything about him, and when I get
here, he seems like a nice guy.”

“
Seems. That’s the
operative word, Gabby.”

“
It’s your damn fault. For
not telling me. You refused to share anything about your family or
even yourself for that matter. You could’ve warned me. How am I
supposed to act? What am I supposed to say? Tell me and I’ll do it,
Kolson.”

His eyes pierced her for a second; then he
stripped off his clothes.

“
What are you
doing?”

“
Taking a shower. I have
to rinse the sweat off from venting my frustrations.”

He walked away and as soon as he was out of
sight, she doubled over again. Her fingers pulsated with pain. She
was able to wiggle them, though the answering agony told her they
were possibly fractured. She hunted for athletic tape to bind them
together, to keep them from moving. Finding some in a nearby
cabinet, she was finishing up by the time Kolson emerged from the
bathroom.

“
What’s that?” he asked,
pointing to her fingers.

“
I think they might be
fractured.”

“
I broke your
fingers?”

“
It hurts to move
them.”

He went to pick up her hand but she moved
them out of his reach.

“
Jesus, I’m so sorry,” he
said contritely.

“
It was an
accident.”

“
It happened because of my
temper and I’m sorry for it.”

“
Not the first time
something’s been broken. Kolson, the bigger issue is how you
handled things with your father and me. I’m not a mind reader. I
need to know these things. You say you love me. Well, I love you
too and I did
not
betray you. I will
never
betray you.” She turned and walked toward the
door.

“
Where are you
going?”

“
Good question. If we were
in New York, I’d get a taxi and go home. But here, I’m
trapped.”

“
Do you want to
leave?”

“
I want you to
talk
to me,” Gabby said
in frustration.

Kolson cursed. “Damn it. You know I can’t
discuss this.”

“
I’m not asking you to
bare your darkest secrets, unlike you did to me. I’m only asking
you to clue me in to certain things. You haven’t told me anything
about yourself or your family. I’m running blind here. And then you
get pissed off at me for responding to your father, who was kind to
me, and I have no idea what it is I did wrong. Don’t you see where
I’m coming from? How unreasonable you’re being?”

“
You’ve made your point,
Gabby.”

“
And stop calling me that,
damn it!”

“
Isn’t that your
name?”

“
Yes, but
you
never
call me that!”

In three long strides he was standing in
front of her. “So you prefer Gabriella, then?” His voice caressed
her name and then he framed her face and said, “Or would you rather
I call you kea?” Then his lips were on hers, tasting, licking,
nibbling, sucking.

“
Stop it,” she said,
pushing him away. “Kissing me won’t solve this.”

“
No, kea, it won’t. This
issue runs deep and has for a long time. Now, let me take you to
see about that hand.”

“
No. We’re going to stay
here, and you’re going to act like we’re fine. You’ll escort me
around, chat with your mother, and we’ll dance and do the
appropriate things. Then when I deem it’s time to leave, we’ll
go.”

He raised a brow and narrowed his eyes. “But
your fingers.”

“
Right now, I don’t give a
damn about my fingers.”

“
So, I see how it’s going
to be, then.”

“
No, I don’t think you do.
You told me once to trust you. Right now I’m having difficulty with
that.”

She may as well have popped him with a right
uppercut—he staggered when her words plowed into him.

“
You don’t trust
me?”

“
How can I? You accused me
of betraying you. After I swore an oath to you. Those words crushed
me, Kolson. This,” she held up her hand, “was nothing compared to
the pain of your words.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t say it if you don’t
mean it. I’ve shared things with you I’ve never shared with anyone.
You know the ugly truth about me, every last tiny detail. And you
made me believe I could trust you. Well, you managed to destroy
that tonight with a few casual words. I’ve been destroyed, like you
have, too much over the past to put myself at risk again. I
promised myself I would never be vulnerable again. Do you know why
I tried to kill myself? I never told you the whole story. Yes, you
know how Danny raped and beat me. And how he told all my friends I
was a whore. My parents even thought I was one, which was so
ridiculous because I never went anywhere. He pushed all my friends
away from me because their parents didn’t want them hanging around
one of ‘those kinds of girls.’” She squiggled her index fingers in
the air when she said it. “But when the teachers at school treated
me differently, that’s what broke me. The isolation became
unbearable. Danny would mouth things to me, terrible things that
made me sick. And that’s when I wanted to die because I knew it was
never going to stop. My only friend was the fucking ceiling that I
stared at every night.