Secrets and Seductions Read Online Free Page A

Curtis’s abuse, his threats to take Charlee from her. Didn’t that prove it?
    And now Curtis’s brother seemingly spoke the same language.
    “Taking a moment to decide?” he berated her.
    But Leah refused to rise to his bait. She didn’t know how he’d react. Curtis would have taunted her, and she’d learned early in their marriage that reaction brought brutal consequences. How could she know his brother wouldn’t react in the same way? She couldn’t take the chance. “The farm is all I have.”
    “And if you lose that, how will you care for Charlee?”
    Yes, how? Leah had asked herself that question in the quiet hours of night when the worry wouldn’t go away. So far, she’d come up with no real solution.
    “You need my money.”
    She glanced through the french doors in the darkening of the summer evening, and her heart swelled with pride as she viewed row upon row of her olives. “What I need is to bring in my harvest. Then I can settle the debt.”And she would be free at last. She turned back to face him, grim determination holding her steadfast. “I don’t want Grainger money.”
    For a moment, Mac’s dark, almost obsidian gaze bored into her, but with the downward slice of lashes as jet black as his hair, every ounce of emotion evaporated. “Then you’ve a problem,” he said, pulling himself to his full height, “because you see, you’ve no choice. I’ve bought your debt from the bank. I’m your new business partner.”
    Shock clamped around Leah’s heart. She couldn’t breathe, too scared to. She clutched at her throat as if that would release oxygen into her lungs. It didn’t. “You can’t do that,” she finally exhaled as his words slammed into her conscious.
    “Says who?”
    “But why? I’m nothing to you. We’ve never even met.”
    “Call it taking precautions.”
    “Against what?”
    “Against you doing a disappearing act with my niece. Now all you have to worry about, sweetheart,” he said, his breath scalding a path over her icy skin as he leaned close, eyes glittering with the satisfaction of the hunt, “is me.”
    The butterflies in Leah’s belly sank to the bottom. “Why? You’ve had no contact for years. You can’t be serious.” Her raised voice echoed the length of the compact lounge. “Is this some sort of familial revenge?”
    “As I said, it’s a done deal.”
    Leah reined in her fury, trying for reason. “Then undo it.”
    “No can do. When I set my mind to something, I follow through. You might have been able to fool my brother, but not me. You used to owe the bank; now you owe me. You see, I don’t gamble unless it’s a sure thing.” His lips curled. “I’m not going anywhere, Leah. And since I own half the land and half the house, I intend to stick around and keep an eye on you . Oh, and just to make sure, I’m moving in.”
    “What? That’s impossible.”
    “No it’s not. This document” —he reached into the pocket of his jeans and withdrew a piece of paper, then waved it in front of her— “says exactly that.”
    Leah snatched it from his fingers, scanning words that barely made sense. She tossed it to the table where it landed across her bills, an irony she didn’t miss despite her fractured nerves and the imprisoning disaster unfolding with each breath. “What do you know about olive growing?”
    “I’m a fast learner.”
    “When the harvest comes in, I can pay you back. You don’t have to move in.” Her voice cracked with incredulity while the roar in her head escalated. Aroha Farm was her solace against the world, against her past, for both her and Charlee. Having Mac Grainger in her house was unthinkable.
    “Mummy, Mummy.”
    Charlee!
    The walls of Leah’s sanctuary came crashing down as the cry she had so desperately not wanted to hear reached from behind a closed door. She shoved past Mac, ran down the hallway, pushed open the door and turned on the light. She hunkered beside the pink-painted wrought-iron bed,