Читать книгу A Marriage Worth Waiting For - Susan Fox, Susan Fox P. - Страница 9

THE long drive to Conroe Ranch went well, mostly because Selena slept most of the way. It was almost midnight by the time they drove up to the big ranch house.

Because she’d insisted that Morgan not tell the Peat sisters they’d be coming tonight, there was no big welcome when he walked her into the house.

But the price of waiting until morning to inform the sisters, who lived in the east wing of the big house, was that Morgan insisted on carrying her upstairs to her room. Once he’d deposited her on the edge of the bed, he went back down to bring up her suitcases, then hovered to help her hang up the clothes that might wrinkle.

It was strange and a little touching to watch Morgan tipping a clothes hanger this way and that as he tried to get one of her blouses properly hung. If the blouse had been made of a heavier, less delicate fabric, he probably wouldn’t have taken that kind of awkward care.

He was intent on performing the minor task and so slow that she managed to get the few other things on hangers by the time he finished and held up the blouse for her approval.

“It looks good,” she said. “Thank you.”

Morgan reached for the ones she’d done, and carried them into the big, walk-in closet to hook on one of the rods. The rest could wait till morning, though he’d opened one of her suitcases on the low chest at the foot of her bed and the other on a luggage rack that must have been brought in when the sisters had made up the room.

“I’ve got a set of walkie-talkies downstairs,” he told her. “I’ll bring ’em up while you get ready for bed. Shall I get Em or Minna?”

Selena had sat down on the edge of the mattress to wait for him to leave because her strength was waning again and she was eager to get some sleep. “No, I’m all right.”

“Still dizzy?” His blue gaze flickered over her then searched her face.

“A little. It’s not unexpected.”

An odd kind of silence surged between them as they stared at each other, separated by little more than a yard of carpet. Selena caught an inkling of…something…in his somber gaze, something gentle and yet not quite gentle, something that gave her a warm quiver of pleasure deep down.

Morgan was the first to look away and that took her a little by surprise.

“I’ll get those radios,” he said, then strode out of the room into the hall, taking that breathless moment with him and leaving her with the idea that she’d imagined it as she listened to him walk down the hall and go down the stairs.

Selena stood and turned to pull down the bedspread and top sheet, then walked over to rummage through one of her suitcases to get out her things for bed.

The big house had never felt so full, and yet so…private. It was midnight and the Peat sisters must have been asleep for hours now. Without their chatter and beehive activity, the invisible tether between him and Selena had drawn tight. Suddenly he felt her everywhere, and that’s what gave the big house an almost tangible sense of fullness.

Morgan was a little shocked by that. He was even more shocked by what had come over him just now in Selly’s room.

One moment he’d been looking at her, seeing the weariness about her, then the next he’d noticed how long and thick her dark, glossy hair was. She wore it parted in the middle and kept it as straight as a board, but she wore it longer now, and it went halfway down her back.

Her eyes weren’t just blue anymore, they were the exact color of a warm spring sky, and recognizing that likeness made him feel as good as he’d ever felt at the welcome sight of spring skies. Her skin was pale these days. Partly because she’d been hurt and was feeling puny, but mostly because she wasn’t outdoors from dawn to dusk anymore.

Her boyish shape had filled out into what he considered womanhood in its prime. Had she been a filly with that much spectacular confirmation, he’d start her on a breeding program to pass on those spectacular qualities. He’d already be considering the right stud to match her to.

The crude analogy sent a fresh stroke of lust straight south. But he wasn’t some stud driven by biology and animal instinct, so he clamped down hard on the smoldering sensation.

By the time he got the radios upstairs, he was so in control of himself that he might as well have been carved of ice. Selena must have been in the bathroom, since the door was closed.

He didn’t bother to call out a good-night. No sense giving himself another opportunity to hear the soft sound of her voice, or chance she’d come out and he’d see her in her nightclothes or robe. He didn’t want to know what she wore to bed, didn’t want that picture in his brain. It was late, and the soft light in her bedroom seemed to encourage enough notions that neither of them needed to fool with.

He could listen from the hall, and when he heard her moving around, he’d take it as a sign she was all right. The long moments that passed until he heard her come out into the bedroom made him restless. Maybe he ought to sleep someplace away from the house after all.

But when he considered how powerfully he’d reacted to Selena a few minutes ago, Morgan realized that distancing himself from her after this might mean that he’d have to sleep in Houston.

It was after 11:00 a.m. before Selena awoke that next morning. Except for a low grade headache, she felt much less stiff and achy than she had the day before, particularly after she moved around and got dressed.

When she walked down the back stairs, Em and Minna heard her coming, and were waiting when she reached the bottom of the enclosed staircase.

“Well, lookit our Selena,” Em said, then wrapped Selena in a warm hug before she drew back to look Selena over. “She’s pale in the face, but that’s as much a city look as anything.”

Minna was next. “She looks mighty good for a gal who coulda died,” she said before she too enveloped Selena in a big hug.

“She sure does,” Em chimed in, “and I bet she’s starved.” Then to Selena, “We’ve got anything you want to eat, you just say what.”

“Whatever you planned for lunch is fine with me,” Selena said.

“Then pick where you want to eat,” Em said.

“We can set you up on the sofa in the family room,” Minna offered. “You might be more comfortable in there anyway.”

“What do you want Minna to bring you to drink?”

Selena smiled at the double barrage. “Iced tea, but I can take it in myself,” Selena told her, and Em drew back as if offended.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Em declared. “The boss said we need to baby you a few days, feed you good and see you get plenty of rest.”