Free My Guardian Knight by Lynette Marie Page B

well, and I refuse to believe that you would do anything that would cause you to hang.  Now, whether you like it or not, you will tell me what happened.  Everything.  And, mark my words, I will help you !”
    She stared up at him, wondering if she were physically capable of uttering the words that would turn him against her.  She had never told another soul what had happened, and had never planned to.  She jumped when he barked “Now!” in a tone that would brook no argument.
    Her hands shook as she began to speak.  “I grew up in an orphanage.  It wasn’t so bad there, the ladies were nice to me, but I had no feeling of belonging.  I was the town outcast and laughingstock because, unlike the other girls in the orphanage, everyone knew who my parents were.  The ladies tried to shield me from the worst of the gossip, but even children hear what’s being said on the street, so by the time I was five I knew that my mother was the town’s prettiest, and youngest, prostitute and my father was the town drunk.  My mother had been but fifteen when I was born and couldn’t take care of me.  She could barely take care of herself.  Even so, I used to watch her when she walked down the street, hoping against hope that she would change her mind and take me away with her.  Of course that never happened, and eventually I stopped wishing it would.  
    “So I grew up in the orphanage and all I wanted in life was a good husband, many children around me, and a pretty little house.”  She laughed.  “My three wishes.  So when Avery passed through town and gave me some attention, I followed him like a lost puppy.  They tried to tell me he was no good, but I wouldn’t listen.  I wanted someone I could belong to.  I was fifteen when we were married and moved to a small one-room shack a long way from my hometown.  Almost immediately he began treating me badly.  I wasn’t a wife to him, I was a slave.  I was there to cook, clean, and, well, please him in any way he wanted.  And, believe me, there were many different ways he liked to be ‘pleased’.”  She shuddered.    “Matthew was born less than a year after we’d been married and that’s when he started beating me.  Right after Matthew had his first birthday he was playing on the floor while I cooked dinner.  Quite accidentally he knocked Avery’s glass over and brandy spilled all over the place.  I turned to pick up the baby but I was too far away.  Almost in slow motion I saw Avery lift his fist toward my child.”  She looked up at him then.  “I didn’t think, Sebastian, I just did whatever I could to save my child.  He was so small, I knew he wouldn’t survive one of Avery’s beatings.  So I picked up the fireplace poker, the end of which had been laying too close to the fireplace, and hit him over the head.  It must have been very hot, because as it slid off his head, it burned a whole through the shirt on his shoulder.  I’ll never forget the smell of charred skin.
    “I grabbed Matthew and the bag I knew Avery kept some money in and ran.  After I boarded that first train and looked to see how much money I had I found our marriage certificate, which was quite fraudulent.  That’s when I found out I was never even married to him.  All I knew was that I had to hide until I could find a safe place for my son.  I never dreamed it would take this long.  So, I’m wanted for attempted murder.
    “I’m sorry to drag you into all this, and I tried not to speak to you when we met, but you were so kind to us, and we’ve had so little kindness.”
    When he didn’t speak, she looked up to see his reaction.  He was glaring down at her.  “Your name is not
    really Amanda Darcy, is it?”
    “No,” she whispered.  “My name is Amanda Higgins.  Well, it would have been had I actually been married to him.”
                  Sebastian began pacing.  “Avery Higgins,” he
    growled.  “I should have