Naomi McElroy
Blackmailed Sister-in-law
Mike McBride was driven to adultery by his inability to satisfy his lustful appetite with his wife. Even though he loved her, he craved certain acts which she absolutely refused to participate in. But then, activating his desires on others only made him crave his wife more. It was she he wanted to do these things to. What Mike didn't know was that his wife had been involved in lascivious behavior before they met. Would he find out? Only if she didn't pay the blackmailer.
Chapter 1
When Sarah McBride saw the postman come up the walkway, she had no premonition that her safe, contented little world was about to collapse at her feet. Despite the bleak February skies, the dark-haired young woman's spirits were sunny that fateful morning. Humming a carefree tune, Sarah dried her hands on the kitchen towel and went to get the day's mail. The voluptuous brunette felt only mild curiosity when she saw the envelope addressed to Mrs. Sarah McBride. Probably just some ad, she thought, placing the rest of the mail on top of the television set.
It wasn't until she tore open the envelope, and its contents spilled out, that a horrified gasp escaped her throat. Sarah's hand flew to her mouth and her face flushed crimson. Her heart hammered like that of a captive bird as she clutched the letter with trembling hands.
DO YOU WANT YOUR HUSBAND TO SEE THESE? the scrawled message read. THINK ABOUT IT, SWEET SARAH. BECAUSE YOU'LL SOON BE HEARING FROM ME AGAIN!
A strangled sob tore from her throat as she bent to retrieve the photographs that had fallen to the floor. Pictures Sarah had hoped, desperately, that she would never see again, that she had tried to shove into some dark and distant corner of her mind. Still, there had always been that nagging fear that someday, they would turn up again to threaten her happiness. As Sarah lifted the lurid photos, her hands trembled, for she knew that that dreaded someday had arrived! The sordid past she had tried to escape had finally caught up with her, threatening to rob her of all that she held so dear. Her beloved husband Mike and their precious daughter Jill.
Mike loved Sarah, trusted her, held her on a pedestal. «My sweet Sarah,» he often whispered as he held her close. «I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have a wonderful wife like you!»
Every time Mike uttered those words, Sarah felt a wave of guilt ripple through her, for she was not as sweet and innocent as her husband imagined. And the tall, shapely brunette whispered a silent prayer that her past would remain buried. She feared that Mike would be hopelessly disillusioned if he ever learned the ugly truth, that the wife he held in such high esteem had posed for pornographic photos before they were married! Sarah had agonized countless times over the possibility of Mike's discovery of her sordid past, wondering what would happen if that fearful day should ever arrive. And she always came up with the same frightening answer.
«He'll divorce me,» she whispered to the empty room, her hand clutching her constricted throat. «And take my darling Jill away from me, declare me an unfit mother!» The mere thought of that occurring made Sarah's lips tremble and her green eyes fill with tears. She loved her husband and daughter with all her heart. They were Sarah's whole world now. They had completely filled the emptiness that had settled after her mother's death five years before. Sarah had not really begun to live until she met Mike. The four years of their marriage, despite its problems, had been the happiest Sarah had ever known. And little Jill was the precious living product of their love. The twenty-three-year- old felt her heart wrench with pain as she clutched the anonymous letter in her shaking hand, for she could not bear to lose either one of them.