last, he thought. At last there would be truth between them.
And then what? he wondered to himself. What the hell would he do when the truth was out? There would be no turning back, then. What if it started them both down a path that destroyed any hope of the future he’d been envisioning just a short time before?
“Know what?” he asked, because he had to, because it was the only thing to do. The kidnapping charge was too serious to be ignored, no matter how ridiculous he might believe it to be.
“About me.” She drew in a deep breath, then blurted, “That I’m married.”
He sighed. He’d hoped, prayed, that he’d been wrong about that, that she was divorced at least, but the report on Tate’s desk hadn’t lied. Will Longhorn was still her husband. What was the rest of the truth, though? Were they in the process of getting a divorce? Was there a battle for custody? Had she kidnapped their son to avoid losing him to her husband? Justin didn’t believe that, even though it would explain the skittishness, the use of her maiden name, rather than her husband’s. He would lay odds that she had every right to have that boy with her.
“Maybe I’m the wrong person for you to talk to about this,” he said finally.
She regarded him incredulously. “You forced this into the open and now you don’t want to talk about it?”
He touched a silencing finger to her lips. “It’s not that I don’t want to hear everything. I just think maybe it would be best if you talked to Janet.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s an attorney and a damned fine one. If you’re in trouble, she can help. She’ll want to, you know that. You won’t go wrong listening to her.”
“Who says I need an attorney?”
“I do,” he said, a gentle hand on her cheek. “Listen to me. Talk to Janet.”
“Justin, how much do you know?”
“Not everything,” he admitted. “I know that your husband is looking for you.”
She sighed. “I thought he might be. What else?”
“He’s accusing you of kidnapping your baby.”
She stared at him in shock. “Kidnapping? That’s absurd. Billy is mine as much as he is Will’s. There’s been no divorce, no custody battle. There’s no way he could accuse me of kidnapping my own son.” She regarded him with a panicky expression. “Could he?”
He rushed to reassure her. “He can make all the accusations he wants, but it remains to be seen if any of them will stand up in court. That’s why I think you should talk to Janet.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “What if she says I have to go back? What if she tells me he can take Billy away from me, that I have to give up my son?”
He studied her intently, recognizing the genuine fear in her eyes. “Has Will Longhorn ever hurt you?”
His heart was in his throat as he waited what seemed to be a lifetime for her to slowly shake her head.
“Not physically, no. He’s come close. His temper gets out of control. He’s threatened me, my parents. It was terrifyingly real.”
And then she burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. All Justin could do was wait out the storm, his arms around her, his shirt growing damp with her tears. Eventually, when the sobs subsided, he handed her a handkerchief. She blotted her eyes and scrubbed away the dampness on her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he insisted.
Patsy sighed heavily. “I knew I should have dealt with this straight on, but I was so afraid, Justin. I was afraid he’d take my baby. That’s what he threatened to do.”
Once the words were out, it was as if a dam had burst. She told him everything, about meeting the attractive, ambitious young attorney, about working for him and falling in love, about marrying him and joining him in his political rise, only to have their home life disintegrate.
“I was his trophy wife, the all-American girl. I know it wasn’t true, but sometimes I wondered if he hadn’t married me because his political advisers told him to. He resented me that much.”
Justin heard pain and confusion in her voice, but not the bitterness he’d expected. That was a surprise. He touched a hand to her cheek. “Are you still in love with him?”
She stared at him in shock. “In love with Will? No. He killed whatever love there was between us a long time ago.”