Taming the Lone Wolff(83)

                “Then he what?”

                “I had been crying. About my parents. So he kissed me. At first I thought he was just being nice. Trying to make me feel better. But he put his hand on my breast.”

                “Goddamn it to hell.” Even forewarned, Larkin wasn’t able to mask his reaction.

                Winnie’s whole body tensed beneath his hand. His instinctive outburst had upset her. He clenched his jaw, his breathing shallow.

                “I’m sorry, love.” He touched her cheek. “Go on.” If he had to bite off his own tongue, he would listen impassively.

                “I didn’t know what to do. It made me uneasy. He was younger than my father, but still old enough to be my parent. It was weird.”

                “Did you ask him to stop?”

                “I was confused and upset. Maybe I was overreacting. I knew absolutely zero about boys and even less about men. He—”

                She stopped short, and Larkin saw that she was blushing, this time not from any kind of sexual pleasure…but from shame. He sat in silence, his heart in shreds, refusing to react so she could finish. But if he’d had his way, the man would be neutered by now.

                He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Winnie. You don’t have to go through all the details.”

                She nodded against his leg. “Well, anyway, that went on for a long time—the touching, I mean—and then he undressed me. I know it makes me sound like the worst kind of ignorant fool, but I didn’t realize what was going to happen. He had taken care of my every need for weeks. It was hard to believe that he would hurt me.”

                “But he did.”

                Another nod. “He took my virginity against my will. By the time I put up a serious protest, I couldn’t make him stop. It wasn’t particularly violent, just painful and terrifying.”

                Larkin shuddered, tears of fury in his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand. “I am so sorry.” He could barely get out the words. The unimaginable horror of what she wasn’t saying tormented him. And his brain filled in the rest.

                When he thought he could speak calmly, he touched her eyelids, her nose, her soft, perfect lips. “Then what happened?”

                “He went home. Said he would be back in the morning to talk. I found out later that he had a wife and kids waiting for him. I went upstairs and cried myself to sleep. I thought about calling the police, but I knew instinctively that he would deny anything had happened, or that he would spin the story and make me the supplicant. So I rested. And I waited.”

                “And in the morning?”

                “He came back with legal papers. Told me that it would be in my best interests to let him control my money. That it was clear I was too young to make informed decisions. And that since we were now lovers, he would look out for me.”

                “What did you say?”

                Winnie sat up, shoving her hair from her face with two hands. A tiny poignant smile brought back a fleeting hint of sunshine to her face. “I said no. He couldn’t believe it. I accused him of raping me. Even in the state I was in, I had enough sense not to let him rationalize what had happened. I was in shock, I know. Too muddled to realize that I should have called the authorities even knowing it would be my word against his. But I told him to leave and never come back. I don’t know where I found the courage, but I think I surprised him.”