Wyoming True - Diana Palmer Page 0,33

personal question, how did your first husband die?”

“Suicide,” she said simply.

“It must have been a shock,” he said.

“He was a lovely man,” she recalled with a tender smile. “He was educated, talented, loved the arts. He taught me so much. I’d have done anything for him.” She drew in an angry breath. “When he died, his lover tried to sue the estate for pain and suffering. I turned my husband’s attorneys loose on him. He ended up paying court costs. He lost his shirt. He ended badly, in another relationship. I must tell you, I never shed a tear. My poor husband. He never deserved to be treated so badly, when he was such a kind and generous man.”

Cody was still assimilating all the information. It shocked him. Most women would have been furious when they found out about a husband who cheated on them. This one was outraged that her husband had been badly treated by his lover.

“As you might imagine,” she mused, “I came away from my marriage untouched. And then I met Bailey.” Her face hardened. “I was grieving for my late husband and Bailey was masculine and exciting and full of mischief. I thought he was the perfect man. I married him the second week we dated. And I learned the true meaning of physical abuse in ways I wish I could erase from my mind.” She stared at her hands in her lap. “I never dreamed a man would treat me like that.”

He was reading between the lines. He’d been in law enforcement for a long time. “After the fall from the parking lot, did you have him arrested?”

“He was at the hospital every day, bringing flowers, telling everyone how guilty he felt because he couldn’t get to me in time to save me. He was very convincing. By the time I was through the surgery and out from under the anesthesia, he’d convinced everyone on staff, including my surgeon, that he was the perfect husband. Who would believe that he picked me up and threw me over the wall?” She sighed. “I was lucky, at that, that it was only one story up and not more, and that I landed in grass and not on concrete.”

Cody cursed under his breath.

“So he made the mistake of attacking me again, in public. But this time there was a witness. He was arrested and prosecuted and sentenced. I divorced him while he was in prison, with a little help from my attorneys. And I also cut him out of my will. He may not be aware of that just yet. The injuries to my horses may be a veiled threat that I could meet with an accident that might be fatal. I wouldn’t put it past him. Hence the bodyguard.”

“I see your point. Your cowboys will know about the horses’ injuries?”

“They will. Laredo especially. He’s worked on ranches. He’s good with livestock, although I don’t think he’s really crazy about horses like I am,” she added. “He doesn’t seem to get attached to them, and he does the job, but he’s not, well, affectionate toward them.”

He chuckled. “A lot of men have trouble expressing affection.”

“My first husband didn’t,” she said softly. “He was always hugging me, bringing me things, spoiling me. I couldn’t figure out why he never kissed me or wanted to be a true husband to me. I was very naive and very sheltered. I thought I must smell bad or look repulsive to him or something,” she recalled with a sad smile. “I didn’t know the truth until he died. He left me the sweetest note.” She stopped, choking up. It took her a minute to recover, during which she averted wet eyes and a grieving expression. “He left everything to me, and there was a lot. Stocks, bonds, property, the business.” She sighed. “I’d rather have had him.”

He had a new image of her. She was charming him, without even trying. “How do you manage the business?”

“I don’t. My degree is in physics, not business, so I hired a manager for the business and my attorneys handle everything to do with the property and stocks and CDs.”

“Physics?” he burst out.

She flushed. “Well, yes.”

“Where did you study physics?”

The flush deepened. “MIT.”

“And you’re living on a little ranch in Wyoming?” he asked, aghast.

“I don’t like cities,” she said, “and I’m no teacher. I loved math. I was good at trig and calculus, and I absolutely adored Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku.”

“Theoretical physics,” he mused.

She nodded.