Liabilities Read Online Free Page A

tasked with the wellbeing of our sanctuary. My showing up without warning after I’d fled so long ago could only mean one thing to him. Trouble.
    My parents deserved to know why I was here. So I told them the whole sordid tale. I hadn’t shared my failures with them. So I started at the beginning. I confessed that I’d left Scott because I found out he’d been cheating on me. I told them about the auditing job in New York and stumbling across some inaccuracies that I knew were only the surface of what appeared to be a well-orchestrated embezzling scheme. I told them of my administrative leave which led me here.
    What I didn’t share with my father was Kalen. He would most certainly not approve of that relationship. It had been hard enough to have him approve of Scott. His warning that I shouldn’t get involved with that boy, as he called Scott, wouldn’t go a long way with my choices in men. Plus, Kalen wasn’t in my life anymore, and he wasn’t a threat to our way of life. So I didn’t think it necessary to share everything.
    My father blew out a breath as if he’d been holding it. “Well now, it’s late. I see you’ve taken to wearing some of your sister’s clothing. I think in the morning you’ll have a care and do their laundry so they don’t go without.”
    “Yes, Father,” I said without hesitation. It didn’t matter that my two younger sisters who still lived at home weren’t big enough to fit the dresses left by me and my other two sisters. Violet had finally moved out and lived on the far end of the community with her husband.
    My father pushed away from the table and stood. “And I think it is best you not stay here after tonight.”
    Stunned, I couldn’t help my mouth from standing agape.
    “Jacob,” my mother said, curling her hand around his forearm trying to stop his edict.
    “Cate,” my father said. His voice was softer yet still firm with her. “She can stay with Mary.”
    My mother sighed and nodded her head. She gave me a look of approval. Mary was my younger sister only by a year. “She has space. It’s just her, Thomas, and the baby.”
    Then my father made his way back to the bedroom he and Mother shared. She stayed behind and came around the table where I stood now, and wrapped me in a hug.
    “Bailey, how I’ve missed you.”
    I wanted to sink in her embrace. It had been so long. I missed her so. We were eye to eye but she was still my mother.
    “Me too,” I whispered. My voice cracked from emotion. After making my choice to leave, coming home and bringing tales of life on the outside wasn’t welcome, not like I would have done. Visits also weren’t encouraged.
    “Cate,” my father called. It was a demand and she wouldn’t deny him.
    With a whisper, my mother said, “Well talk some more soon.”
    She left. Being home again was like that saying about riding a bike. Some things you never forgot. So I blew out the candle on the table before heading to the girls room where my sisters, Emma and Lora, nine and twelve, slept. It had been a long while since I’d been in such a small bed.  I crawled in the empty one. My sisters slept in the other tiny bed, no doubt just used to doing so before Violet and Mary left home. I tried not to dream. That was impossible. Once my eyes were closed, Kalen invaded my mind like a Highland warrior.

Chapter Four
     
    Dreams of Kalen kept my brain active through the night. His touch may have been a memory but it was one reluctant to be forgotten.
    Lass , his voice called out to me. And I found myself in a hazy backdrop of my bedroom at Lizzy’s house. Kalen’s mouth kissed its way up the curve of my arm as I lay on my side. I watched him as he came ever closer to my mouth where I craved for his kiss more than I ever thought possible.
    Never will I let you go, he commanded . His lips changed directions just as he maneuvered me from my side to my back. With expert hands, he pushed my thighs apart and feasted on me as if I tasted of