Free His Indecent Proposal by Lynda Chance Page B

a
real marriage, his attitude had changed, the ferocious intensity of
his lovemaking had calmed and he was more gentle with her, careful,
worshipping her body slowly instead of devouring her whole. It
completely enthralled her, and she was for want of a better term, a
smitten kitten.
    She chewed on her nail and nervously waited
for the moment he walked in the door. How mad would he be? Truly,
she didn't think what she had done was so bad, except for the fact
that she had lied to him by omission. And of course, the small fact
that she had married him with a hundred and twenty thousand dollars
worth of debt. Her distress grew.
    His car pulled in the garage and her stomach
clenched with nerves. Her thumbnail was ragged where she had been
biting it for the last half hour.
    She heard the door slam and as usual, he
called her name. "Jenna."
    She took a deep breath and stood to her feet.
"I'm in here."
    He stood in the doorway to the study, his
eyes lighting with fire when he spotted her. He watched her for a
moment. "What's wrong?" His tone was harsh.
    "N-nothing." Her voice held no strength at
all.
    He looked her up and down, a scowl washing
over his features. "Don't lie to me."
    Jenna stood in silence, her teeth tearing up
her bottom lip. She dropped her eyes from his and looked down at
her hands.
    David felt a crushing blow to his solar
plexus when her eyes dropped from his. Guilt and shame were written
all over her, and fury and fear in equal measure took hold of him.
"What happened?"
    "Nothing."
    "Jenna. Spit it out. Now."
    Jenna took a shaky breath and raised her eyes
to his. He was watching her with an intensity that was chilling.
"I'm so sorry. I've lied t-to you."
    David felt the punch to his gut and almost
doubled over. He took several deep breaths, and when he thought he
could manage it, walked over to the drawer in his desk where he
kept a bottle of bourbon. He poured two inches of the amber liquid
in a glass and knocked it back. Just when he thought his world
was perfect. His hand shook as he set the glass down and turned
back to her. He would control himself. Even if he was dying inside. But he would fucking kill the other guy.
    "Tell me." Fear and anxiety, stark and vivid,
glittered from his eyes.
    She twisted her hands and whispered, "I
l-lied on my resume. When I w-went to work for you. The truth is, I
h-have a college degree and I l-left it off because I couldn't get
a job. I kept being turned down because my degree wasn't in the
right field, or I had too much education for the jobs I applied
for." Her eyes flooded with tears. "I needed to work. I couldn't
b-buy food or pay rent--"
    He interrupted her. "Get to the bad part,
Jenna." He held himself rigid, as if he was expecting a body
blow.
    She took a deep breath. "I have debt from
student loans. Way, way more debt than you probably think. Over a
hundred grand. I should have told you. I shouldn't have married you
with all that debt."
    David ran a hand through his hair and the
tension slowly began to recede from his body. "Is that it? Is that
the lie?"
    "Yes."
    "A degree you were hiding and student loans?
That's what's got you so upset? You sure?" His eyes searched hers.
"No other guy?"
    Confusion fuzzed her brain. "What guy?"
    "Is there another fucking guy, Jenna?" He
spit the question out.
    "N-no."
    "Why is your voice shaking?"
    "Because I'm confused about what you're
talking about. I j-just t-told you something that has been
bothering me since we got married--"
    "I know about the loans. I paid them off two
weeks ago."
    She hesitated, bafflement crossing her
features. If she was confused before, she was more so now. "H-how
could you have known? You paid them off?"
    "Yeah, I paid them off. There's not another
guy?"
    Why the hell did he keep harping on another
guy? What the freak? "No! There's not another guy, David. Just
you."
    He paced over to her, lifted her chin and
pinched it between his finger and thumb. "There better not ever be
another fucking guy,