Cathie Linz - Cinderella's Sweet-Talking Marine

Ben wasn’t sure how to respond to the little girl’s confession. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Me, too.” She moved closer. “Tell me more.”

“Well, like I said, Sir Guy was good and people liked him. He did good stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Uh…good deeds. He officiated at jousts, spoke at…baptisms and generally speaking, he ate more chicken than he probably should have, but people liked Sir Guy. A lot better than they liked Sir Badlord. Which made Sir Badlord mad. So he came to Nice castle and took Lady Blush.”

“Was she a princess?”

“Close enough. Anyway, this Sir Guy was beside himself. He knew he had to call on the only one who could get her back—one of the few, the proud. Sir Goodknight.” Ben was really getting into it now. “Goodknight led his squad of knights, squires and pages—known as the Knights of the Black Stone—on many quests in the past. Like the Marines, he valued honor, courage and commitment. So Goodknight agreed to help Sir Guy to rescue Lady Blush. He and the rest of his team gathered to plan the mission and do some recon.”

Ben didn’t realize that he’d gone into a bit too much detail about reconnaissance and intelligence reports until he felt Ellie’s hand on his arm. “She’s fallen asleep.”

“Some storyteller I am.” Ben’s voice was rueful. “It put the kid to sleep.”

“It was quite creative for a Marine.”

“Marines can be creative when the situation warrants.”

“So Sir Guy ate more chicken than he should have, huh?”

Ben shrugged and stood aside while Ellie clicked off the light and checked the night-light before exiting the room, leaving Amy’s door slightly ajar.

“Where did you come up with names like that?” she asked him.

He smiled ruefully. “My brothers accuse me of being too much of a punster.”

“And do they accuse you of eating more chicken than you should?”

“Not if they’re smart.”

The transformation of his smile into a full-blown grin, complete with the hint of a dimple that would have done Dennis Quaid proud, drew her attention to his lips. She’d never momentarily lost her train of thought just by gazing at a guy’s mouth before. “I…uh…I wanted to thank you for this evening.” She had to look away to regain her equilibrium. “The dinner was delicious.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“And thanks for making up the story for Amy tonight. That was nice of you.”

“I like to think that I can be a nice guy when needed.”

“A regular knight in shining armor, huh? Like Sir Goodknight?”

One chestnut eyebrow lifted in a masculine challenge of her comment. “Anything wrong with that?”

“Nothing. As long as you realize that I’m no Lady Blush. I’m not a damsel in distress.”

“You’re saying you don’t need a knight in shining armor to rescue you?”

“I could use the armor. Not the knight.”

“You don’t see yourself remarrying?”

“No.”

“Why not? You’re young and beautiful. Why can’t you see a happy ending for yourself?”

“Marriage isn’t a happy ending for me. Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“Well, trust me, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.”

“Amy said that she didn’t think her dad was a good dad. Why is that?” Ben’s expression darkened. “Did he hit her?”

“No, nothing like that.”

The line of his jaw tightened. “Did he hit you?”

“No.” Perry had never resorted to physical abuse. He hadn’t had to when a sarcastic comment could do plenty of damage. To this day she wasn’t sure if his intention had been to hurt her on any of those occasions, or if he’d simply been so self-involved that he hadn’t cared how she felt. She suspected it was the latter.

“Then what happened?”

“Why do you care?” Ellie countered.

“Because I cared about John and you’re his sister.”

“I already told you that I don’t need anyone looking after me.”

“Humor me, okay? What can it hurt, telling me about your marriage? Unless you’re still so in love with the guy that you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, but not because I’m still in love with Perry. Oh, I loved him in the beginning. Blindly so. I met him in my freshman English class in college. He asked to borrow my notes and never gave them back. That should have been a clue that Perry was only out for Perry. But he was a sweet-talking charmer. Incredibly good-looking. He swept me off my feet, promised me the world. We got married a few months later and I quit school to support him. Dumb I know, but Perry made it seem like the most responsible plan. He could focus on getting his business degree and then he’d get a great job and I could stay home with the family we wanted. At least I thought we both wanted a family. Perry said he did. He said all the right things. And we were happy in the beginning. Then I got pregnant. That wasn’t part of Perry’s plan. Not until he graduated from college. Even so, he pretended to make the best of things. And I worked until a week before Amy was born.”

“What happened then?”

“Perry acted like he was so proud of his baby daughter. He showed off pictures of her to everyone he met. But there were signs that things weren’t going well. We were always short of money. Perry would come up with one get-rich scheme after another. This time, babe, he’d tell me. This time it’s the real thing. But it never was. He graduated from college when Amy was two. A few weeks later we discovered that Amy has asthma.”

Ellie sighed and sat on the couch, kicking off her sandals to curl her feet beneath her. Talking about her marriage made her feel sad and stupid. “Perry didn’t take the news well. He likes perfection and suddenly Amy wasn’t his perfect little girl any longer. He took off a few months later and we haven’t heard much from him since.”

Ben sat on the couch beside her. “He doesn’t stay in contact with his daughter?”

“No. Not really. I keep telling her that her daddy loves her, and he probably does in his own shallow way. But Perry isn’t really capable of loving anyone other than himself.”

“Is he at least paying child support?”

He could feel Ellie retreating from him even though she didn’t move. “Look, I shouldn’t have gone on about things the way I did. I never meant to. When I’m tired, my mouth gets away from me sometimes.” She leaned forward. “Can I get you something to drink? A can of soda maybe?”

“Relax.” His hand on her arm prevented her from leaping up and retreating to the kitchen the way she clearly wanted. “I’m fine.”

Ben suspected that her refusal to answer his question about child support meant that slimebag Perry wasn’t paying. No surprise there. The guy didn’t sound like the responsible kind. He wouldn’t make a good Marine.

John had never gone into any detail about his sister’s ex-husband, other than referring to him as a dirtbag and much worse. Ben hadn’t pushed him for more information, that wasn’t his way. He wasn’t sure now that John had known the exact specifics. Ben suspected Ellie had shielded her brother from the worst of what had really occurred in her marriage.

Ben’s anger at her jerk of an ex-husband made him lose his focus on diplomacy. “You need money. I’ve got money.” He reached for his wallet. “More than I need or could possibly use. Here.” He held out a bunch of hundred dollar bills. “Take it.”

“I’m not for sale. Not in this lifetime,” Ellie growled, before leaping to her feet and pointing to the door. “Get out!”

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