Free Bearing It All by Vonnie Davis Page B

“Now, tell me what yer neighborhood was like growing up. Did ye live in the same house or move often?”
    They snuggled and talked about their personal histories for over an hour. Ronan shared the pain of losing his da. Anisa talked about losing hers, too, to cancer from heavy smoking. And being picked on in school because of her chubbiness, how Gaston had taught her to fight, and the nun who had stood up for her when the bullies’ parents came to the school to complain. As they talked about hobbies and other childhood things, Ronan sifted his fingers through her curls and listened intently to every word she spoke, as if his life depended on soaking in everything he could about her.
    Gradually, he brought the conversation around to her survival courses, asking her what happened in more detail between kisses and whispers of “Frenchy
.
”
    “Terrible things I’ve never told anyone.” She burrowed deeper into Ronan’s embrace. Slowly, she revealed happenings she’d kept secret from everyone. The electric shock treatments, a molar pulled without painkillers, the guards urinating on her, the lack of baths—all of it for God and country…and her military career. She shifted on his lap, turned her back toward him, and tugged up her turtleneck.
    “Anisa, Holy Mother of God, what have ye suffered? Bloody fokin’ hell!” His warm fingertips trailed the scars on her back. “Nay woman should have to endure treatment like this. Nor man neither.” He pressed slow kisses to marks, the visible remains of all the pain inflicted upon her. “Our clan values our females, for they are the heart of our homes and our lives.”
    “The raised stripes are from a whip. The white scars are from chains, as they hung me from the rafters with ropes around my wrists until my toes barely touched the floor. My pale skin seemed to drive them harder to wear me down. Or perhaps it was because I was a woman. They were determined I’d give in.” She lowered her top and faced Ronan. “I was as equally determined to endure the pain as long as any man.”
    A bear growled and then moaned as if he were in pain. Anisa tried to get off Ronan’s lap to see if she could detect the animal in the snowstorm.
    “Nay, luv. Leave the wild animals to their own devices. We are warm and safe in here—together.” Even though he’d tensed while she shared the substance of her frequent nightmares and her daytime terrors, he had a way of soothing she’d never received from anyone before. One would judge him as a ruffian because of his full-sleeve tattoo and his long hair, but she’d never met a more upstanding man. Fierce, yet gentle. Determined, yet compassionate. Odd how wrong her first impression of him had been until she realized who he was and how secure she felt now in his arms.
    As if emptying her Pandora’s box of secrets deflated her soul’s balloon of fear, a peacefulness encompassed her. Her eyes drooped once, twice, and Ronan shifted her off his lap onto the sofa. “I have to check on the baked chicken and make neeps and tatties for supper. Rest here until I get everything ready.” He brushed his lips over hers. “Sleep, me woman, me luv, me heart.” He strode to the chair she’d occupied earlier, retrieved the blanket, and covered her with it. “Snooze. Ye’re with me now. Safe, loved, and pampered.”
    Ronan hummed as he worked in the kitchen.
Gee, the man even cooks.
Anisa smiled and snuggled into slumber.
    While Ronan stirred the pot full of neeps and tatties, his inner bear pulsated with frustration. “I ken ye need to exorcise yer demons. Tonight, Brother Bear. I’ll let ye loose to run fer hours.”
    They whipped our woman, our family. I couldna stand hearing about all she’d been through. They broke her bones and left scars. Promise me, we’ll protect her from now on.
    Och, Ronan wouldna forget what those heathens had done to his woman. If they came here and tried to take her away, they’d meet a Highlander with bloodlust