DefeatedbyLove Read Free Page B

then.”
    A diminutive, curvy brunette entered the library a few
minutes later. Her plain blue gown was attractive and fashionably acceptable,
though not in the height of fashion. She walked with grace despite her obvious
pregnancy, her posture erect and her expression neutral. He stood when she
entered and he noticed she was perusing him as avidly as he was watching her.
His best guess was that she was here to appeal for his assistance in some way.
Perhaps she was a relation of a friend or acquaintance? It was possible she
might even be a Cyprian in sheep’s clothing. He fervently hoped she wasn’t here
to try to seduce him into some foolishly gallant endeavor. Those episodes with
women were always awkward.
    “Mr. Daniel Steinberg?” she inquired in a very appealing
tone, pleasant and articulate. Intriguing.
    “Yes,” he said. “And you are?”
    She hesitated a moment, her steps faltering just slightly.
“I was given your direction by a mutual…acquaintance. He suggested that if I
ever found myself in need of help, I should contact you.”
    Ah, so he had been correct. “I see. Won’t you please sit
down?” He indicated another chair opposite the one he’d been sitting in.
“Please excuse my attire. I wasn’t expecting company. I don’t believe I caught
your name.”
    She sat down, smoothing her skirts out and Daniel could tell
it was a delaying tactic. She was not as young as he’d first thought. She
looked to be in her mid- to late-twenties; he wouldn’t put her at thirty yet.
This got more curious by the second. Who was she and why didn’t she want to
tell him? Offhand he couldn’t think of anyone he wouldn’t help based on his or
her connections. After all, if she knew someone well enough who knew him well
enough to give his direction, then it shouldn’t be an issue.
    “I didn’t throw it,” she said at last with a nervous sort of
smile. “You see…well, you haven’t seen this particular acquaintance in quite
some time. Not since the war, actually.”
    A sense of foreboding descended over Daniel. “Oh?” was all
he said in response, keeping his face and voice neutral.
    She sighed and licked her lips and Daniel waited impatiently
for her to get up the nerve to tell him who the hell she was.
    “My name is Mrs. Christine Ashbury. I am Harry Ashbury’s
wife.” She held out her hand and Daniel shook it perfunctorily, as if his heart
hadn’t stopped beating for one excruciatingly painful moment. “How do you do?”
she said, her polite response almost absurd under the circumstances.
    “How do you do?” he murmured dully. Did she know exactly how
Daniel knew Harry? Unbidden his eyes zeroed in on her pregnant stomach and his
own lurched.
    “Perhaps I had better start at the beginning,” she said, her
voice filled with resignation.
    “Yes, quite,” Daniel agreed, leaning back in his chair and
trying to appear interested rather than devastated.
    “This is going to be excruciatingly embarrassing for me, so
please, if you’d let me finish before you ask any questions?” Her cheeks were
bright red with embarrassment.
    “Of course.” He was relieved he wouldn’t have to actually
think clearly enough to put a coherent sentence together for at least several
minutes. The idea that she was going to reveal embarrassing personal
information hardly made a difference at this point.
    “I’m not sure if you were aware that Harry and I had
married,” she said nervously.
    After a few seconds of silence he realized she expected an
answer. So much for blessed silence on his part. “Yes. Yes I knew he’d
married.”
    She nodded. “Yes. Well—and I don’t want you to think badly
of him for this—but he left…left me, actually, just a few days after we were
married. For America. He went to America.”
    She paused again, apparently determined to make this as
painful for him as it was for her. “I’m sorry. Is he back?” He cursed inwardly
as the question escaped his tightly reined emotional