Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
Her eyes flickered. “Let’s talk about something else, shall we?” she said
and stepped away from him.
He caught her shoulders. “No. Let’s talk about what’s on your mind.”
“There’s nothing on my mind.” He waited, obviously unsatisfied, and she
drew in a ragged breath. “I knew better than to get close to them.” She
pushed his hands away and hugged her shawl about her.
“You think they love you less now that they’re living in their own place?”
She glared at him defensively. “Sometimes I wish you’d just leave me
alone, Michael. That you’d just send me back where I came from. It’d be so
much easier all the way around.”
“Because you’re feeling now?”
“I felt before, and I got over it!”
“You adore Miriam and that little girl.”
“So what?” She would get over it, too.
“What’re you going to do when Ruth comes over here with another fistful
of mustard flowers? Show her the door?” he asked harshly. “She’s got feelings,
too. So does Miriam.” He saw by her expression that she didn’t think
they would come at all. He took her in his arms, holding her there even
when he felt her resistance. “I’ve prayed unceasingly that you might learn to
love, and now you have. Only you fell in love with them instead of me.” He
laughed softly in self-mockery. “There were times when I wished I’d never
brought them here. I’m jealous.”
Her cheeks burned, and she couldn’t still her racing heart no matter how
hard she tried. If he knew the power he had over her, what would he do
with it? “I don’t want to fall in love with you,” she said, pushing away.
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll just end up using it against me.” She saw she had angered
him.
“How?”
“I don’t know. The truth is, maybe you wouldn’t even know you’re doing
it.”
“Whose truth are we talking here? Duke’s? Truth sets you free. Were you
ever free with him? Even for a single minute? He filled your head with lies.”
“And what about my father?”
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