Free Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) by Tara West Page A

day. I smoothed a hand down my face and groaned as I recalled the nightmare that had caused me to wake. I hadn’t dreamt of Katherine in ages. Why now? Why was I thinking of my cursed wife and her sister when they’d been out of my mind for decades?
    At least I tried to keep them out of my mind. Maybe they were in my forethoughts. Maybe. But of one thing I was certain, they were both out of my heart, although I doubted Ash would believe it.
    I looked at the clock. It was half past nine. Ash usually crawled into bed with me around ten. She wouldn’t share my bed this night, maybe not any other night again. All because I’d called her Mar and then was stupid enough to lie about it.
    I could tell by that look in her eyes, like a wounded animal who’d been kicked one too many times, she was contemplating ending our relationship. And how could I blame her? My foolish lie had probably not been my best moment, and I felt like a sack of dirt for my behavior. Why hadn’t I come clean? Why hadn’t I told her about Mar from the start? That she was a woman I’d once loved, whose scorn had driven me away.
    But the real question I kept asking myself was why I’d called Ash by my former fiancé’s name. I hadn’t spoken to Mar in over twenty years, not since her last visit ended in harsh words and scarred hearts. Her bitterness toward me vacillated between hurt at me marrying her sister to anger for not saving Katherine from eternal damnation. As if it had been my fault my spoiled, selfish wife was also unfaithful.
    I’d tried my best that night to save Katherine. After the floods had come, sweeping our possessions into the torrent, I’d rescued her from our crumbling house and helped her into a sturdy oak. How was I supposed to know every island snake had found sanctuary in that same tree? I had been swept up by debris just after I’d pushed Katherine onto a solid branch.
    My last dying thought as the current pushed me under wasn’t for my new bride or my lost love. It had been for my brother. I was crushed that I’d never had the chance to tell my twin all had been forgiven. For though I knew what Callum had done was wrong, I did not have it in me to hate him forever.
    Maybe if I had forgiven Callum, God would have, too.
    A knock at the door pulled me from my melancholy. Perhaps Ash had come to talk. If so, I would beg her forgiveness and convince her I loved no other. Even though I had yet to profess my love to her, I knew it was time. Back in my day, love came before marriage and certainly before sex. Today things were all turned-around. Well, it was time I turned things back. Ash had to know how much she meant to me. I couldn’t risk losing her.
    My shoulders stiffened when I opened the door revealing Boner, the unkempt friend of Ash’s from the Delta Squad with shaggy reddish hair and clothes that looked like they’d been slept in. The only welcome sight was Ash’s canine, Jack, who whimpered by Boner’s side. He was obviously full on cookies and anxious to get back to Ash.
    “S-sorry to disturb you, Mr. Grim, sir.” The man shuffled from foot to foot, his cheeks reddening as he stumbled over each word. “But have you seen Ash?”
    “She should be in her room,” I said and then proceeded to shut the door.
    Jack’s ear-splitting howl made me pause.
    I peered through a crack in the door at Boner, the bulging whites of his eyes set in panic mode. “She’s not there, sir.”
    I leaned down, stroking Jack on the neck. “What’s wrong, buddy?”
    He pranced backward, trying to jerk out of the leash as Boner pulled against him.
    “Mr. Grim.” Boner’s voice cracked, and he coughed into his fist. “I don’t know if Ash told you about our psychic Basil, but she had a vision.”
    A chill whispered across my spine as I slowly stood, glaring at Boner and waiting for him to finish.
    Boner averted his gaze, his cheeks coloring even more. “It was pretty far out there, and I hope it’s not true, but she saw Ash