Because a Husband Is Forever by Marie Ferrarella Page A

going?”
    â€œOut jogging.” She started to turn on her heel. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
    â€œHold it.” Picking up the bags again, he shoved both into the refrigerator and turned around. The look on his face told her he wasn’t fooling around. “It’ll take me three minutes to get ready.”
    Anxious to get going, to work off some of this tension that having him here created, she shifted from foot to foot. “Ready for what?”
    He said what she didn’t want to hear. “I’m going with you.”
    Dakota frowned. This was carrying pretense a bitfar. After all, it wasn’t as if she actually needed a bodyguard. The people she ran into were all friendly.
    â€œYou don’t have to,” she told him. “I’ve been jogging every morning, rain or shine, since I was fifteen years old.”
    â€œWait,” he ordered sternly as he ducked back into the guest room.
    She had no idea why she was listening to him. After all, she had free will, didn’t she? Even so, she approached his door rather than the one that led to the outside.
    â€œI’ve got half a mind to leave.” She raised her voice in order to be heard through the closed door.
    â€œThat’s exactly what you have,” he agreed. “Half a mind.”
    Ian threw open the door. Along with jogging shoes, he wore sweatpants and an old sweatshirt that might have fit him once, but was now a size too small and strained against his muscles.
    She didn’t think it was humanly possible to change clothes so quickly. Too bad he couldn’t change his manners that fast.
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?” she asked as she followed him to the front door.
    Securing the door after she walked out, he then led the way to the elevator. “Where do you jog?” he asked.
    Since her penthouse was located only a block away from Central Park, she thought the answer was rather obvious. “Around the park.”
    Over the years, because of the efforts of the policeforce, Central Park had once more become a safe place for people to go. Up to a degree.
    â€œAlone?”
    She pretended to check her pockets for any small creatures. “Nope, no hitchhikers here.” She looked at him as she walked into the elevator car that had just arrived. “Yes, alone.” When he had first moved in with her, she’d tried to convince John to jog with her, but he hadn’t been into any kind of sport that required wearing sneakers.
    â€œDon’t you realize that you risk getting kidnapped?” he demanded. “There are places along the park where—”
    She didn’t like his tone. He had no right to think he was in charge of her even if she’d hired him to be her bodyguard, which she hadn’t. She raised her hand, stopping him before he could get any further.
    â€œYou don’t have to tell me, my ex-fiancé told me all about it.” The express elevator made it down to the first floor before she could finish her thought. The doors opened and she immediately was on her way. “I can’t live life like that, always afraid.”
    He caught up to her before they exited the building. “Not afraid,” he chided, “just sensible.” Longing to stretch his legs, he forced himself to keep abreast of her as he tried to make her see the light. “You keep Band Aids in your medicine cabinet, don’t you?”
    â€œYes.” She sent him a look that was more annoyed than she realized. Ever since she was a little girl, she’dhated having people tell her what to do. “What does that have to do with anything?”
    â€œJudging by the way you talk, you’re not always worried about getting cuts, are you?”
    As they approached the park, she began to pour it on. She noted Ian kept up without trying. “No.”
    â€œThen why the Band-Aids? To be prepared, right?” The light was with them, and