Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(99)

“You’ve been coming here despite the restraining order? Do you really want to go back to prison, Paul?”

He shrugged. “It hardly matters. My life is pretty much over, thanks to you.”

“No,” she argued. “You won an early release. You have a second chance. Go someplace new and start over.”

“My life was in Charleston.”

“Oh, please, that’s hardly the only city in the world. Qualified physicians are needed in all of them. Come on, think about it, Paul. You’re too smart to throw everything away like this.”

“Charleston is where I had status and prestige,” he insisted stubbornly. “At least I did until you deliberately set out to destroy my reputation.”

“You’re the one who destroyed your reputation,” she corrected. Surprisingly, her voice didn’t quaver. In fact, she felt unexpectedly calm now, despite the very real danger he represented. No matter what, she was going to stand her ground as she’d never dared to before. Somehow over the past two years she’d discovered an inner strength she hadn’t possessed during their marriage.

And, she thought with the ferocity of a mother, there was Mandy to protect. She couldn’t allow any harm to come to Carter’s sister.

“Paul, if you leave right now, before anyone else discovers you’re here, you can still have that second chance. I won’t say a word if you go and promise never to come back. You can even have your say before you go, if that will make you feel better. You do need to hurry, though, because despite your impression, there are people watching out for me. If they see a strange car outside, they’ll come in to check. If they find you here, it’s over. You’ll have blown your chance at a new life.”

“You don’t honestly think I parked out front, do you? My car’s a couple of blocks away on the town square. I strolled over here like I belonged.” His apologetic look was insincere. “Sorry, but I’m not going anywhere. We have unfinished business.”

“Let’s go into the living room and talk about this,” she suggested, needing to get him out of the kitchen. She didn’t want him to catch a glimpse of Mandy through the window. If only she’d locked the door behind her on the way in. What if Mandy wondered what was taking her so long and decided to come inside looking for her? She had to get Paul into the other room.

“Here’s good,” he said.

“No,” she said flatly and shot past him, leaving him to follow.

In the living room, she stayed on her feet. Paul was right behind her, looking annoyed. “What are you trying to pull?”

He took an intimidating step toward her, barely banked fury in his eyes. Raylene sucked in a breath and stayed right where she was. If she backed up, it would be an admission of weakness, and she refused to be weak in the face of his anger ever again. Not that she wouldn’t have fled out the front door and into the street screaming her head off if she’d thought she could make it. Unfortunately she hadn’t had enough lead time to pull that off.

“Stay away from me,” she warned. “I mean it, Paul. I’ll fight you any way I have to.”

Amazingly, it was true. The fear she’d felt during their marriage had been as much about losing what he represented—status, security, love—as it had been about the physical abuse. Now she understood that all of that had been an illusion, anyway. As for the very real pain, she’d survived that, too.

Right now, she knew if she could keep him talking, she could figure out a plan. Though Carter had expressed the hope that the sheriff would find an available deputy to send by. Raylene knew she couldn’t count on anyone showing up to rescue her. Most important, it was up to her to protect Mandy at any cost.

Fortunately, thanks to too many years of practice, she knew his likely moves. When he reached for her with a gesture that might have been meant as a caress, but too often turned into a slap, she ducked agilely out of his path. She caught the faint hint of surprise in his eyes.

She thought about what was on the table behind her…a clay bowl that Tommy had made at a craft store for Sarah’s birthday, a lamp and a stack of magazines. She pictured their placement, tried to envision the bowl or lamp as a weapon. The bowl would be easiest to grab, and it was hefty enough to cause some damage.

Despite her earlier determination to stand her ground, she took a step back. This time the glint in Paul’s eyes was satisfaction. Obviously he thought he had her on the run, as he had so many times in the past.

“You need to leave,” she said again. “I’m not going to let you hurt me, Paul. I’ll fight you with every breath I have in me.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said, amused. “You certainly never did before. I have to admit that made it less satisfying for me.”

Even as he spoke the hateful words, her hand closed around the edge of the bowl. She imagined Tommy’s small handprint pressed into the clay, then painted bright blue, his favorite color.

Again, Paul tried to grab her, but her quick move to the side had him lurching forward and past her. She landed a solid blow to the side of his head with the clay bowl, and he went down, sinking like a rag doll with the stuffing knocked out. Not waiting to see if he was going to get back on his feet, she ran screaming from the house.

Just as she emerged, a sheriff’s cruiser skidded around the corner, siren blaring, and Mandy came tearing around the side of the house and threw herself into Raylene’s arms.