Return To Falcon Ridge. Rita Herron
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Return To Falcon Ridge - Rita Herron страница 13
Название: Return To Falcon Ridge
Автор: Rita Herron
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежные детективы
isbn: 9781408947661
isbn:
“Deke.”
She sighed, a tired sound that yanked at his heart more. “Deke. Please, I need to be alone.”
“What do you want me to tell your mother?” he asked.
The question appeared to shake her barely controlled equilibrium. “Tell her that you can’t find her little girl, that she’s still lost.”
“I won’t do that,” he said in a rigid tone. “Her little girl is right here, and she needs her mother as much as her mother needs her.”
Fire flashed in her eyes. “What are you, Deke, some kind of therapist?”
He barked a laugh at her display of anger. “No, just someone who knows what it’s like to lose a parent as a child. All those years my father was falsely imprisoned…” His voice cracked slightly. “I…needed him. Even as a man, I still do. I’m not ashamed to admit that.”
Emotions glittered in her eyes like raindrops, ready to fall in the prelude of a violent storm.
“Please,” she said quietly. “Let me be alone now.”
He stared at her for a long moment, but finally gave a clipped nod. An injured bird needed time to rest. Time to heal. To learn to trust. So did Elsie. “My cell phone number is on the card I gave you. Call me if you need anything.” He hesitated. “Especially if someone tries to hurt you again.”
She traced her finger over the edge of the card. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Goodbye, Deke.”
Elsie had no idea who she was dealing with. Deke Falcon couldn’t be run off so easily. “I’m not leaving town, Elsie,” he said in a low voice. “Not until you’re ready to go with me.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he strode to the door, a smile creasing his mouth at the surprise on her face. Elsie Timmons might be stubborn, but she needed protection and help. And he was a man of his word.
Wherever she went, he would be right behind her.
AS SOON AS Deke Falcon left, Elsie locked the door behind him. The well of emotion she’d tried to bottle overflowed, tears running down her cheeks like a river.
She let herself cry it out. All the loneliness she’d lived with for so long had been needless. Being spirited from town to town, changing names, never making friends, being shut up with her father while he drank himself into a stupor. All for nothing.
How many nights had she lain in bed, unable to sleep, wondering why her mother didn’t want her? Why her father didn’t love her.
Then he had deserted her, too.
Rage unlike anything she’d ever known exploded inside her. How could he have been so cruel?
She doubled over, pain rocking through her. Her father had hurt her mother, destroyed all their lives because he’d been a selfish bastard. And all this time she had blamed her mother when her mother was suffering. She might have even thought that Elsie’s father had hurt her.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.