Free A New Year Marriage Proposal (Harlequin Romance) by Kate Hardy

she’d known that way wasn’t for her.
    ‘Right now,’ Quinn said softly, ‘I really want to beat your ex to a pulp. Except violence doesn’t solve anything, so I won’t do that.’ He paused. ‘And I also want to hold you close. Except I don’t want to scare you.’
    She looked at him then. ‘You don’t despise me?’
    ‘Of course not.’ He frowned. ‘Why would I despise you, Carissa?’
    Did he really want her to spell it out? ‘For being weak.’
    He shook his head. ‘You were used to being loved. Treasured. When Justin hurt you, you were probably so shocked that you couldn’t think straight. So, no, you weren’t weak. And, no, I don’t despise you.’
    She had to gulp in air to stop herself from weeping. Because she couldn’t believe that he didn’t despise her. Not when she despised herself so much.
    ‘Carissa,’ he said softly.
    And there was no judgement, no censure in his tone. Just gentleness and acceptance.
    She dragged in another shaky breath. ‘Then in that case I think, yes, please, I’d like you to hold me.’
    Immediately, Quinn took the coffee from her hands with gentle fingers and set the mug on the low table. Then he scooped her up, took her seat and settled her on his lap with his arms wrapped round her—not so loosely that she felt he was just humouring her, and not so tightly that she felt panicky and trapped. Just warm and strong and supportive. He didn’t say a single word, just held her.
    It would be so easy to let herself cry into his broad shoulder.
    But she’d promised herself she’d never cry again. Not over Justin. Not over the past.
    He stroked her hair, and the tenderness of the gesture nearly made her crack.
    ‘Please tell me you left him,’ Quinn said softly.
    ‘I didn’t go back,’ she said. ‘I left everything at his flat. The nurse... She knew something was wrong. I wouldn’t tell her what had happened, but she made me call my best friend from the hospital. Erica came and she made me tell her everything. And she said I was never, ever, ever going to have him anywhere near me again.’
    ‘You took out an injunction against him?’
    ‘I...’ She blew out a breath. ‘Erica wanted me to. You can get an
ex parte
injunction without the other party being given notice, pending a full hearing. We both knew that. But...’ she swallowed ‘...I was so ashamed. And I didn’t want my parents’ names dragged through the mud. I didn’t want the press getting hold of the injunction and spreading the story, talking about Pete Wylde’s daughter being battered. I didn’t want people associating that sort of thing with Mum and Dad.’
    ‘But can’t you make injunctions private, so the papers can’t report it?’
    ‘Not back then you couldn’t.’ She grimaced. ‘Justin could’ve denied it and pushed it through to trial. And I had no proof.’
    ‘You had a broken arm,’ Quinn pointed out.
    ‘Which I could have got from a fall. Justin’s articulate. And charming. He could’ve talked the magistrate round. Because, after all, I’m a pop star’s daughter. I’m spoiled, used to getting my own way. High maintenance. What’s to say that I didn’t threaten to throw myself down the stairs if he didn’t do what I wanted—and then, after he called my bluff and I did it and broke my own arm, I claimed he’d pushed me, just to get my own back?’
    ‘You’re
not
high maintenance,’ Quinn said.
    That sounded personal. Carissa looked at him, curious, but his expression was inscrutable—as if he realised that he’d just slipped up and didn’t want her to push it further.
    Before she could ask, he said, ‘If you’d taken him to court, it might have scared him into getting help and stopped him doing the same thing to someone else.’
    Erica had said the same thing. ‘I know.’ The guilt seeped through her even now. ‘And I’m ashamed of that, too,’ she whispered. ‘But I’m trying to make amends.’
    His face was full of questions, but she wasn’t