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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.”
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