Husband by Choice

“Her house key is missing.”

“It looked like it to the officers here, we just needed your confirmation that a house key had been on there in the first place. I’m guessing she kept it.” Chantel’s tone was soft, filled with a nurturing that he knew she didn’t often express. “It’s further proof that she left of her own accord, Max. An abductor isn’t going to wait for her to take a key off her ring. Just like he wouldn’t wait for her to write a note.”

“Any news on Steve Smith? Surely the man didn’t just disappear into thin air.”

Chantel’s hair bounced around her shoulders as she shook her head. “He’s not coming up in any databases,” she said, leaving Max with the feeling that their attempts to find the man had been cursory—a matter of professional courtesy only.

“Can I come in?”

He was facing another sleepless night. Alone with a panic he’d promised not to feel. He had to get her to understand that Meri was in danger.

“Sure,” he said.

And tried to pretend he didn’t notice when her hand brushed his arm as she passed.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_60a1431e-1625-571a-8b59-ca8ff08cc5fa)

ONE OF THE things Meredith Bennet never failed to marvel at in her life with Max was being able to crawl into bed beside him every night. Like magic, she could cuddle up to the warmth of his body, rest her hand atop the springy dark hair on his chest, and sleep without fear.

Without nightmare.

Meredith’s alter ego, Jenna, who’d awoken alone no fewer than four times with cold sweats the night before, was just as happy to be sitting on the antique chintz sofa in Lila’s sitting room, even if it meant giving more of herself than she wanted to give.

If this plan—to put an end to Steve’s presence in her life—was going to work, she had to be flexible. To go with the flow. At least until she’d had enough time to get ready....

And the plan was going to work. One way or another....

She was out of choices. Out of the will to run, to invent yet another life. She’d found the life she was meant to live—the only life she wanted.

She’d found a love that was real and true and as deep as it got and the only way to honor that love, to keep it in its purest form, was to love unconditionally. Selflessly.

There was no way Max would let her confront Steve on her own, and no other way to make the man go away. Max trusted his cop friends. Jenna was dealing with a man who could think like the cops and stay ahead of them at every step.

A man who didn’t respect the jurisdiction of any law but his own.

She knew. She’d seen him in action.

If Max knew that Steve was after her, he’d call the cops and end up getting hurt. Cornered, Steve was the devil himself. He very well might snatch Caleb, hurt an innocent little boy, just to get her to do what he wanted.

Which was why she had to let him know she’d left her family, rather than chance going home again. She’d left her cell phone so he’d find the van, the note she’d left. He’d read that note and think she left Max just like she’d left him. She hoped she was buying time by making him look for her again.

To keep him in the game of finding her.

“Did you go to college?” Lila, sitting in a wing-backed armchair opposite Jenna, asked her. She held her cup of tea with both hands, and looked as though she was settled in for a long chat.

“Yes,” Jenna said. She’d tried the tea. Didn’t like it all that much. The milk made it too heavy. But she’d sip it. Slowly. Because she could tolerate pretty much anything as long as she didn’t focus on it going down.

For now, her cup sat in its delicate china saucer on the walnut claw-footed table beside her.

“What did you study?”

“Various things. How about you, do you have a degree?”

“Yes.”

She’d been at the Stand a little over twenty-four hours and it hadn’t taken her that long to realize that no one knew much about the managing director. After Lila’s visit to her room the night before, she’d done a bit of quiet asking around.

“What did you do before coming to The Lemonade Stand?”

Lila’s gaze was pointed as Jenna’s question lay between them. Jenna expected a prevarication. Just as she wasn’t being completely honest with her. Such a contrast to the day she’d had, sharing lunch with women who told their stories openly. Dams bursting and releasing the hell of terror they’d experienced in one form or another.

“I was a school teacher,” Lila said conversationally.

From school teaching to managing a shelter for battered women?

“Do you miss it?”

“No.”

Because Lila was satisfied with the life she was leading? Fulfilled by it?

Meredith Bennet knew about living a fulfilling life. And so Jenna knew. But that wasn’t for her to dwell on. Not on that or anything else that would take away focus and strength from the task at hand.

She’d been called to Lila’s suite for a chat. So she chatted. “You didn’t like teaching?”

“Yes. I liked it very much. But it was time for a change.”

Lila’s gaze wasn’t piercing anymore. It was...assessing. And warm. In a motherly sort of way.

Jenna took a sip of tea. Admired the rose silk flower arrangement on a side table.

“What about you?” Lila asked. “Do you have a career?”

“I’m a speech pathologist.”

Lila’s brows rose and she asked, “What’s your specialty?”

“Pediatrics.”

“Are you willing to donate some time while you’re here?”

A slippery slope if ever there was one. They wouldn’t find a license for Jenna McDonald. But, if she could have even a small piece of her real life back, just enough to remind her how great it had been, to keep her strong while she prepared to face down the evil spirit in her life....

If she could help others while she was protecting Max and Caleb....

Lila’s stare was intense. It was as if the woman could read her mind. And her mind was the one thing no one got close to unless she invited them in. Max and Caleb were her only guests. Ever.

She’d fought too hard, for too long, regaining control of her mind from Steve, to give it up again.