Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters) - By Caitlyn Robertson Page 0,34

lucky her mother didn’t decide to go to the shops first on her way home. Anyway, suffice to say Koru knows what you’ve been through and understands what kind of woman you’re dealing with. And he likes you. You’ve been good for Honey. You’ve treated her well. Koru was deeply affected by what that man did to his sister.” Clearly Cam couldn’t bring himself to say Ian’s name. “He blames himself—as we all do—for not seeing it earlier. And he’s watched her blossom with you.”

Dex looked at his feet, embarrassed and ashamed. “I’m going to spend every day for the rest of my life making Honey happy.”

“I know.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t want for anything. She’s a beautiful girl and she deserves the world. I’ll make sure she gets it.”

“I know, son.” Cam nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Okay, I’d better get back to work.”

“I’ll see Koru later.”

“Yeah, well, don’t stress about it—he’s in Whangarei today. He’ll be cool. You’re seeing Honey tonight, eh?”

“Yes. I’ll come around after six. She should be home from the court by then.”

“All right. I might see you then.” Cam walked off.

Dex watched him go, then leaned against the side wall of the station and bent over, hands on his knees. He let out a long, slow breath. Shit, that was close. Cam had every right to knock his teeth down his throat and refuse to let him marry Honey. He couldn’t believe he’d got away with it.

But of course he hadn’t. Because even though Cam and now Koru knew what he’d done, Honey didn’t, and he’d have to hide it from her for the rest of his life. It would be the price he’d have to pay for having her.

He stood and studied the greying sky, his spirits low. It was kind of Cam and Koru to support him, but how could he go on like this? Lying to Honey, pretending everything was okay? Would there ever come a time when the first thing he thought about when he woke up in the morning wasn’t how he had betrayed her?

Chapter Fourteen

Honey stood by the front window, looking down the drive. It was six thirty, and Dex was late.

Her stomach churned. She’d spoken to him briefly after she returned from the courthouse, and once again he’d seemed reluctant to visit her, but he’d finally agreed when she put her foot down and told him she wanted to see him and they were going to have a conversation about what was going on.

The worry that had been gnawing away at her stomach started to work its way upward, filling her with a rising sense of doom. He was having second thoughts about the wedding, she was sure of it now. Why, she didn’t know. It didn’t really matter in the long run. What mattered was that they got it sorted. She had to ask him if he wanted to call it off. Because the last thing she needed was to be left at the altar.

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the window. What a hell of a day. That afternoon, the prosecuting lawyer had called his other witnesses. It was a mixed bag and a sorry story. By the end of it, Honey was pretty sure she knew what had happened.

No doubt there was some truth to James’s story, and Sarah had probably been overly possessive and jealous of his time, but she’d been driven to act like that because of the way he’d treated her, out all hours, drinking, obviously having affairs, ignoring her half the time. When he left, he had refused to give his key back and had probably told Sarah he would be coming for his stuff but had refused to tell her when. She had almost certainly known it was he when the door opened, and she had confronted him and told him he couldn’t just walk into her house whenever he felt like it. He had told her the flat was his and he’d do whatever he wanted. And she’d finally lost her temper and flown at him.

Almost certainly she had intended to do wound him.

And in Honey’s eyes, the bastard deserved it.

Still, she wasn’t looking forward to making the final decision the next morning. She knew in her heart that most of the jury believed James because he’d been very convincing in painting Sarah as high maintenance and himself as the innocent party who’d tried to do his best for her. It was not going to be an