Karen Michelle Nutt Read Online Free

…”
“Is what exactly?” Keldon’s eyes narrowed.
“She’s different. I can’t put my finger on it, but… she’s gentler.”
“Gentler.” Keldon couldn’t believe his ears.
The doctor cleared his throat. “Listen to me babble. It’s late.” He stood. “My wife will be worried if I don’t head home soon.”
“Hmm. I’ll walk ye out.”
    ****
Keldon stayed up late going over in his mind what possible motive his wife would have to masquerade as someone who’d lost her memory. "What are ye up to?" he murmured under his breath as he poured another drink.
His marriage to Annabelle had been a farce from the beginning, but he’d been too love struck to see the truth of her nature.
An arranged marriage, he accepted the engagement with reluctance until he met her. She wore her shimmering pale blonde hair unbound and curled, looking like a fairy princess and when her gaze touched him, he’d been lost within the depths of her blue eyes, sinking beneath the surface and not caring. He would have done anything for her and he tried, but their marriage became a nightmare he couldn’t escape. He failed somehow. Annabelle loathed him in every way—his touch sickened her and when she’d become pregnant, she cursed him daily as if he’d committed an insidious act upon her.
Annabelle never wanted the baby. However, he did. He would have asked for nothing more if she’d given him a child, but she had miscarried in her third month. God help him, he suspected she induced her labor. She almost died. By the time he found her, she’d hemorrhaged, losing so much blood, her skin grayed and she felt cold to the touch. By some miracle, Doc Hathaway saved her life.
As soon as Annabelle was well enough, she moved her belongings out of their room and across the hall. She threatened if he ever touched her again, she'd kill him. He thought she needed time to adjust from the shock of losing their child, but she proved how foolish he was. She despised him, and slowly her bitterness crept into his soul, until any love he felt for her died.
He proposed they end the marriage but Annabelle refused. She pleaded with him to give her a second chance and like a fool, he agreed. It wasn’t long before he discovered her true reasons for wanting to save the marriage.
The day was burned into his memory…
“ Ye lied. Ye want my name only to receive yer inheritance.”
“ You surprise me Keldon. I didn’t think you were bright enough to figure it out.”
“ It’s over.”
Annabelle laughed. “It’ll never be over, dear husband. If you ruin my reputation with a divorce, you have my word I’ll drag you down with me.”
“ What can ye do?”
She walked over to him and ran her hand down his arm. “Don’t tempt me, Keldon. It won’t be pretty.”
He often wondered if Annabelle’s father knew of his daughter's cold, uncaring heart and placed the binding stipulations in his will. Did he also realize the husband would be miserable?
Keldon couldn’t live the lie anymore. He wanted a wife who truly cared about him, a wife he could trust. Let Annabelle do her worst to ruin his reputation. He didn’t care anymore. He had requested the divorce and waited for the papers to arrive to make it official.
Now with Annabelle's memory loss, he wasn’t sure how he’d present the divorce papers to her. Maybe this was her ploy. Maybe she knew of his request for the divorce and her revenge would be to make him look like a heel for abandoning his wife in her time of need. Keldon drained his glass and slammed it down. “Damn her.”
He headed upstairs, pausing in front of Annabelle's room. He couldn't resist poking his head in to see if she’d fallen asleep.
Still darkness greeted him with only the illumination from the full moon casting any light. Annabelle rested in the middle of the bed with her pale blonde hair haloed around her. She murmured in her sleep and rolled to her side.
Curious to know why she seemed restless, his steps took him closer. Her