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I spent most of the next day watching for any signs that she had any lingering effects from it like Duke sometimes did. We went to the barn, and she helped groom Zeus with me. She watched us as I gave him a workout and then assisted me when I had to give him a bath.
Duke joined us in the paddocks, bringing a picnic lunch and her sketchbook so she could draw while we lay under the tree where I’d first met her. When she shyly turned her book around, I noticed she’d drawn Duke against the tree and me lying in the grass. She hadn’t said she loved us yet, but in each stroke of her pencil, I could see her love shining through. We just needed to give her more time.
Abbey cooked the Bolognese dinner she’d been planning. She let me be her sous chef, and I let her boss me around the kitchen. I didn’t even try to hide my raging hard-on. It was hot having her take charge.
After dinner, we retired to the living room and turned on a movie. Halfway through, Abbey got up and took our empty whiskey glasses with her to the cabinet where we stashed the liquor.
“What are you doing, darlin’?” Duke’s voice rumbled.
Abbey flinched and froze in place. “Refilling your glasses.” Her voice sounded nothing like her confident self.
“Dulcinée, you don’t have to do that. We should be taking care of you. Would you like another glass of wine?” I motioned for her to come back to us.
Abbey shook her head. “No, thank you. I shouldn’t have had the first one. I’ll pour you both another and be right there.” She took a step toward the liquor cabinet.
“Darlin’, we don’t need another. What we need is you.” The crease in Duke’s brows grew deeper. We both could sense there was something else happening.
Abbey stood still, not looking at either of us. Her hands trembled, making the glasses shake. I glanced at Duke, and he met my gaze. Something was off, and it was time to find out what.
“Abbey, sit down.” Duke patted the space between us. “We need to have a heart to heart.”
When she didn’t come over right away, I stood, relieved her of the glasses, and led her to the couch. Her bewildered gaze met mine, as though she didn’t know how she’d gotten back here. “We need to know everything. I noticed the bruises marring your skin when you first got here, and you seem jumpy. You had a nightmare after what was supposed to be a fun girl’s night. What’s going on?”
“We don’t have any secrets around here, darlin’. Tell us what’s wrong. We can’t help if we don’t know.”
“I don’t know how to tell you.” Her eyes were glued to her hands in her lap. “I don’t want you to think less of me.”
“Oh darlin’, we could never think less of you.”
“Start with something simple,” I suggested.
She stayed silent, her eyes rapidly blinking away tears.
My heart wrenched, and I couldn’t speak seeing her so distraught.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Duke said in a soothing tone. “When I found you on the side of the road, the girls didn’t know you were coming. What made you leave so suddenly you didn’t have time to tell them?”
Her body trembled. I wanted to reach out to her, but Duke shook his head. We needed to give her space.
She bit her lip. Her voice was so low I had to strain to hear her. “I left my ex. I’d been trying to leave him for a while, but I couldn’t get away. He never let me out of his sight. But for once, he agreed I could visit my mother. I can’t remember the last time he let me go anywhere alone.”
The defeat in her voice just about killed me. I had to clench and unclench my hands by my side. I wanted to reach out and hit something.
Abbey took a deep breath. “When I came home early from my trip, I found him in our bed with another woman. It was the wake up call I needed. He didn’t care about me. I don’t think he ever did.”
“Son of a bitch.” I couldn’t help it. How could anyone cheat on my beautifuldulcinée? This guy was a fucking asshole.
Her face snapped to mine.
I hated the surprise that skittered across her face. The fact that he created any doubt in her mind that she was less than perfect had anger firing through me.
“I left him and ran here. Grace and Blake had been trying to get me to leave him for years, but I couldn’t. I’d grown blind to the way he’d treated me. I’d come to expect it—to think everything was my fault. That I didn’t deserve anyone better than him.” Her voice sounded so small. If I ever found that bastard, I was going to kill him.
“What happened after that?” Duke asked.
“What do you mean? That was it. I came here.” She looked from Duke to me, not understanding where he was going with his question.
“How did he take the breakup?” I clarified. I wanted to know just as much as Duke did.
