Bachelor Untamed - Brenda Jackson [55]
Deciding it was really none of her business, and that he deserved to have his conversation in private, she turned to go back up the stairs, when his next words stopped her in her tracks.
“For God’s sake, Mom, for once will you think of someone other than yourself? Don’t you know every time you hurt Dad, you’re hurting me, too?”
Ellie lifted a brow. He was talking to his mother? Mrs. Lassiter? She heard the pain in his voice and also the frustration. Immediately her heart went out to him.
“Look, Mom, this conversation isn’t going anywhere. You just refuse to understand what I’m saying. I’ll talk to you later. Goodbye.”
A part of Ellie wanted to go to Uriel, hold him and tell him everything would be all right, but he might not want that. That would be getting into his business, and until he invited her into it, she had to remain on the outside.
Ellie turned to head back up the stairs, and when she got to the top she eased down to sit on the step. She heard the back door open and close, indicating he had either left or gone outside to get some fresh air. Again she fought the urge to go to him, get him to talk about it.
She was about to get up and go back into her bedroom, when she heard the back door open and close again and then, moments later, Uriel rounded the corner from the kitchen and glanced up and saw her sitting on the top stair.
He didn’t say anything. He just stood there and stared up at her, and even then she felt his anger, but knew it wasn’t directed at her. Ellie’s natural instinct, the one that loved him, had always loved him, told her to go to him, risk having him tell her she was overstepping the bounds of what was permissible in their affair.
She decided to take the risk anyway, and slowly began walking down the stairs to him. When she reached the bottom step and stood directly in front of him, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned up on tiptoes and joined her mouth to his.
He reciprocated her kiss, reached out and placed his arms around her waist as he eased her closer to him. His hands stroked her back and her backside, while his mouth mated totally and thoroughly with hers.
She gasped when he swept her off her feet and into his arms and headed toward the sofa, sat down and cradled her in his arms. He said nothing for a long time, just sat there holding her, with his chin resting atop her head.
She decided to break his silence by looking up at him and asking, “Are you okay?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, just continued to look down at her, and then he pulled her back into his arms, rested his chin atop her head again and said, “I want to believe that my mother at some point did love my father, but at times, I’m really not sure.”
She gave his words a chance to float around them, and then she asked another question, one whose purpose was to make him think. “Why would you even believe that she didn’t?” she asked quietly.
He shifted her in his lap so he could meet her gaze, and then, in a quiet tone, said, “Because she is hurting him so much now. And I can’t imagine that a woman who professed to loving a man at one point, could deliberately hurt him the way she is doing. My father left the country this weekend because they were invited to the same party at the country club, and he knew she would be bringing her boy-toy. She parades him around like he’s the best thing to happen to her since gingerbread. My father still loves her. Nearly had a nervous breakdown when she asked for a divorce.”
Ellie didn’t know what to say. She had heard bits and pieces of the story from her aunt and her parents, but she hadn’t known how deeply the divorce had affected Mr. Lassiter. And she could clearly see the divorce had affected Uriel as well. She had a question to ask him, mainly because she needed to know.
“Is that the reason you won’t consider ever marrying, Uriel? Because of what’s happened to your parents’ marriage?”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and she wondered if he would reply. Finally he said, “Yes. I saw my father hurt. I felt his pain. I saw a strong and