Chapter 253

She lay back down, snuggled into his back, and closed her eyes. She refused to acknowledge the stirring in her heart. She could admire him and care for him, but she would not allow herself to fall in love with him. That was the scar she carried and it may not be physical, but it was just as real as the silvery scars that crisscrossed his back. She wouldn’t risk her heart, not again. Francine threw the cane she was using across the room. Mason had managed to keep from crying out or reacting to her in any way and he thought he’d won, that she was giving up, that he might actually have found a way to get her to stop. And then he heard the rattle of her belt buckle. She wasn’t a big woman, her frail frame the result of years of alcoholism and her penchant for forgetting to eat, but then he wasn’t big either. Her forgetfulness also included him and his needs and his pale skin stretched over his ribs and hip bones. He usually waited until she was passed out before he would try and find food.