Free The Perfect Husband by Chris Taylor Page B

idiot?”
he screamed, spittle flying out of his mouth. He yanked her hair
again and she bit down hard on the pain.
    “Do you think I’m stupid? You were
fucking him, weren’t you? Probably in the back seat of his car,
like the filthy, little slut that you are. That’s why you’re late,
isn’t it?” He shook her again. “ Isn’t it?”
    Fear turned her limbs leaden. Tears streamed
down her cheeks. She tried to shake her head, but his grip on her
hair made it impossible. “No! No! It was nothing like that,” she
sobbed.
    He brought his face so close to hers she
could feel his hot breath against her skin. The smell of alcohol
turned her stomach. She swallowed hard to hold back the bile.
    “Then what?” he growled, his voice now low
and deadly. “There must be some reason you’re more than half an
hour late.”
    Her thoughts turned frantic. She had no idea
what to tell him. Certainly not the truth. With as much courage as
she could muster, she settled on a lie.
    “There was a traffic accident on the
freeway. I had to wait.”
    He stared at her with narrowed eyes and she
could tell that he wasn’t sure whether to believe her. After what
seemed like a lifetime, he loosened his grip and released her.
    “You’d better not be lying to me.”
    “I’m not, I promise.” She moved across the
room, well out of his reach. As much as she wanted to turn and walk
right back out, she couldn’t. Her children were asleep down the
hall. There was no way in hell she’d leave without them. No, her
only hope was to pacify him, ease his anger; calm him down.
    “It’s late, Nigel. We’re both tired. How
about we go to bed?” While everything inside her screamed out
against what that meant, she held out her hand to him.
    He stared at her, his eyes full of
suspicion, but a moment later, he stepped closer and put a heavy
arm across her shoulders. He held her close against his side as
they walked together down the hall. Isobel counted her footsteps to
keep herself from turning and running in the opposite
direction.
    “I just want to check on the children,
Nigel. I’ll be there in a minute.”
    He looked down at her for a moment, studying
her, and then shrugged. His arm fell away and he continued on in
the direction of their bedroom.
    Isobel quickly opened the door to the
bedroom shared by her kids. Slipping inside, she closed the door
behind her and collapsed against it. Her breath came fast and her
heart pumped wildly. She tried hard to get both under control.
Knowing Nigel would get impatient if she took too long, she hurried
over to the twin beds where Ben and Sophie lay.
    The soft moonlight streamed in through the
window and found its way through the half-opened blinds. She stared
at her babies, both sound asleep and blissfully unaware. A fierce
surge of maternal protection flooded through her. She’d do anything
to keep them safe. Nigel had never turned his anger on them, or
suggested he might until the other night, but what if she wasn’t
around to take the brunt of his rage when something else set him
off?
    What if he gave her sleeping pills? What if
he made her disappear? What then? Would her babies become his next
targets? She couldn’t take the chance. They needed her. She had to
get them all out of there as soon as Nigel left in the morning.
    Her thoughts drifted to Mason almost against
her will and she recalled the escape plan they’d discussed. She
wanted to call him, to seek reassurance, but she couldn’t. Not only
was it very late, but she couldn’t risk Nigel hearing her on the
phone.
    Mason . What a fool she was, having
romantic thoughts about him as her knight in shining armor… She
shouldn’t even be thinking about him.
    He looked much as he had in high school.
Tall and athletic, with an easy smile that reached all the way to
his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled freely
at anyone like that for fear Nigel would misinterpret it.
    Mason was the ultimate boy next door, the
boy