Borrowed Wife by Patrícia Wilson

Logan turned away, taking Abigail
with him.
    ‘I want
nothing from you,’ he reminded her father icily. Nothing you can give. What I
will finally have from you I’ll take! Abigail is nobody’s property. She’s
outside all this. We simply came to tell you that we’re getting married.’
    They were
at the door and her father hadn’t even moved a step. Abigail looked at him
miserably, regret in her eyes. She had never had any say in anything at all.
Mostly her father ignored her unless it was about work and now she was just an
object to be fought over.
    Obviously her father mistook her glance because a spasm of triumph crossed his
face.
    ‘Stay
here, Abigail,’ he said more calmly. ‘You don’t know Steele. He’s ruthless,
cruel!’ He didn’t say he loved her. He didn’t even bother to remind her that he
was her lather.
    ‘I have
to go with Logan,’ she murmured sadly. ‘I want to go with him. I love him. Why
does it have to be like this?’
    ‘She’ll
not marry you!’ Kent Madden raised his voice again, ignoring her, and Logan glanced at him with contempt.
    ‘She’s
mine already and she’ll stay mine. This is permanent. My secretary will send
you the wedding arrangements. Come or stay away as you please, but if you let
her down,’ he added, his voice lowered in menace. ‘If you’re not there to give
her away like any other father with his daughter it will be just one more count
against you. I’ll not forget it.’
    There was
something in his voice that Abigail never heard before. For a moment, Logan was another person but she didn’t have the chance to think about. She was outside
the house and in Logan’s car, her past left behind. Her father didn’t attempt
to follow, didn’t even come to the door. And in Logan’s arms there was a
comfort she had never had in her life.
    Ha father had come to the
wedding after all. He had given her away and he’d made a great effort to be
normal, though he hadn’t spoken to Logan or any of the guest on Logan’s side of the church. She had told herself that it was because he loved her too much
to let her down but now she knew differently. Even then, even before Logan had really started his deadly vendetta, Kent Madden had feared him.
    Abigail
sighed and turned on her side, desperately seeking sleep. It was the only way
she had of escaping, and even then she often woke up in the middle of the
night, reaching out for Logan and then remembering that he was not there and
never would he there again
    It had
not been a good idea to see him today. No good would come of it, no help for
them. All that had happened had been a stirring-up of the bitterness and she
had shown herself to be as vulnerable as ever. Her fainting spell must have
angered Logan and it had left her feeling very foolish. It would have been a good
idea to lie low and not remind him of her existence while he went on his deadly
way as he had done all this time.
     
    Next
morning, the expected summons to the bank did not come and the day was spent in
waiting. For once, nobody was pestering her. Her phone hardly rang at all and
by the time she was ready to leave for home Abigail was more worried than ever.
No news might be good news but this was unnerving. Martha met her gaze with
puzzled eyes as she left the office.
    ‘What’s
happening?’ She looked at Abigail a little anxiously.
    ‘Something dreadful, I
expect.’ Abigail stood by Martha’s desk and sighed loudly. ‘They’re all
probably somewhere making a great plan to sink us swiftly.’
    ‘Never
say die,’ Martha urged, but Abigail shrugged wearily.
    ‘What
else is there to say? Today nothing happened, but we all know that it will
happen. Maybe tomorrow ‘
    Certainly
tomorrow, she thought as she left the building. Perhaps by next week there
would be no need to come here every day. By next week this whole place might very
well belong to Logan.
    It
couldn’t come soon enough. She was tired, worn out. When it was over she would
not have to