Free Truly Married by Phyllis Halldorson

going to get.
    He wrapped his hand around hers and repositioned it to cup his cheek. It felt warm and soft against his skin, and he held it there while he fought to speak around the lump in his throat.
    “I’m sorry you thought I wouldn’t welcome your condolences,” he said. “Actually, hearing from you would have gone a long way toward helping me to deal with a very dark and agonizing time in my life.”
    Sharon was close to tears, and she could see that she was upsetting Fergus, too. Why was it that she couldn’t do anything right in her dealings with him? She’d only wanted him to know that she sympathized with him over the death of his wife, but all she’d done was reopen the wound and make him hurt again. She should never have started this. She couldn’t handle his pain as well as her own.
    “Then I’m sorry I didn’t send the letter,” she said, and quickly changed the subject. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get dressed so we can go to lunch.” She got up and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
    Fergus had put her overnight suitcase on the floor and laid the long dress bag across the unmade bed. She opened them and found a dress and a tailored pantsuit in the bag, and several changes of underwear, makeup, shoes, a pair of jeans and a knit shirt, and a nightgown and robe in the overnighter.
    Good heavens, Anna must have thought she expected to stay there with Fergus for a while! Whatever made her think that? While it was more convenient last night, and Sharon appreciated his concern in giving up his bedroom to her, she was going to be sleeping in her own bed tonight.
    That scene just now in the living room had scared her witless. When Fergus had kissed her fingers she’d wanted to melt into his arms, and when he’d cupped his cheek with her palm she’d had to restrain herself to keep from caressing it with her fingertips.
    Obviously she was still highly susceptible to her ex-husband, and that would never do. It had taken her too long to get over him; she wasn’t going to give him another chance to reject her.
    If only he wasn’t so damn nice!
    She dressed quickly in the peach raw-silk pantsuit, then applied a touch of makeup and combed her hair. Her image in the mirror told her that she’d regained her natural rose color and lost the look of utter desolation that had been stamped on her face the night before.
    That was good, because she had no intention of letting this experience beat her down. No matter what it cost her emotionally, she was going to accept Fergus’s offer to defend her, and do everything she could to help him.
    * * *
    They had lunch in the hotel restaurant, and although Fergus did ask Sharon questions, he steered clear of the subject of the murder and asked instead about her friends and co-workers.
    “Now, tell me about your other lawyer, Ray Quinlan,” he said, after they’d exhausted the subject of her housemates, Anna and Tracey.
    Sharon swallowed a mouthful of quiche and washed it down with a sip of hot tea. “Ray’s the son of our next-door neighbors. He doesn’t live with his parents, so I don’t know him very well. He just happened to be the only lawyer Anna and I knew at all, so I asked her to call him.”
    Fergus frowned. “That’s not a very smart way to select an attorney who will be defending you on a murder charge,” he said grimly. “Where did he go to school, and how long has he been practicing?”
    “He’s a native of St. Louis, and got his bachelor’s and his law degree from Washington University right here in town,” she said. “I met him when I moved next door to his parents four years ago. Ray was in his second year of law school then, and he graduated last year.”
    Fergus’s expression was thunderous. “Are you telling me that you were willing to place your life in the hands of an attorney just out of law school? My God, Sharon, didn’t you learn anything about the law while you were married to me?”
    “Very