Everything Gained Read Online Free Page B

man for some reason he couldn't quite discern, he was a damned fine man - not uppity or obnoxious. He didn't lord his money over anyone, and he had friends from every possible social strata.
    He was also a ladies' man, who was a tad shorter than Gain, but with a lot of the same physical bulk. He'd been known to squire the most eligible of ladies about town in limousines, taking them to the best restaurants, and/or flying them down to Boston, or even in once case, to Paris for dinner one night.
    When Gain came home unexpectedly, he found his wife trying to struggle out of Dunn's arms, valiantly leaning as far away from him as she could, saying very loudly and without a trace of hesitation, "No, Dunn, let me go!"
    Gain had never been so happy that he'd been feeling awful in his life, but the churning in his stomach didn't keep him from grabbing Dunn away from Nina, turning him so hard that he still had forward momentum when his jaw connected with Gain's balled up fist.
    Dunn's face snapped back at an awkward, thoroughly satisfying angle, but he didn't go down as Gain had intended. He stepped back, giving Gain a wide berth and rubbing his jaw.
    Gain took a step towards him, a murderous look in his eye, but Nina's sharp cry and her small hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Do you even know what you have in her? You'd better shape up and start taking care of her, or someone less scrupulous than me is going to take her right out from under you."
    Nina could see the muscle twitching in Gain's rock hard jaw, and wrapped both of her arms around his in what she already knew would be a futile attempt to stop him from going after Dunn.
    He shrugged her off, taking two big steps towards the other man, who was already out the door and well on his way to his car. Gain would have gone after him if Nina hadn't reclaimed his arm, begging, "Please, no, Gain, don't. He didn't hurt me. I'm fine."
    Gain watched Plourde as he walked to his car, twitching every once in a while as if he'd ignore his wife's pleading requests and launch himself at the man.
    Then, suddenly, as if he'd snapped out of his rage, he remembered where he was and who he was with, and turned to Nina, who had moved to stand several feet behind him with her back to him. Gain walked over to her slowly; he could see that her shoulders were shaking. He turned her around very gently, but firmly, not letting her get away with resisting him.
    "Are you all right?" he asked in a husky whisper. "Did that bastard hurt you in any way?"
    Nina looked up into her husband's eyes and saw the anguish there. He was still looking as if there was something he needed to punch, although his touch was nothing but tender. She shook her head quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "No. He just kissed me, and I was trying to put him off without hurting him - "
    That dark brow pulled together like storm clouds over his eyes. "Without hurt - Nina, the man is at least twice your size, and trying to paw you, and you should have fought him with everything you had!"
    Her frown and snort made that look of his even darker. "Dunn wouldn't hurt me. He just got the wrong idea about us, that's all. He was moving back when you came in."
    "Then why are you crying?"
    "Just because it's a stressful situation - I certainly wasn't expecting what he did, and then I wasn't expecting you to come home and witness it and punch him out, either."
    "Has he ever tried anything like that before?" Gain asked, his lips in a thin, angry line, not at all sure that he wasted to hear the answer.
    Nina was suitably indignant, and as determined to squirm away from her husband as she was to get away from Dunn earlier. "No, of course not," she declared, succeeding in freeing herself only to have Gain grab her shoulder and whirl her around to bump up against him.
    He looked deeply into her eyes, his face set angrily. "Are you sure?"
    Finally, her own anger came to the fore. "Of course I'm sure. Do you think that if he'd done something