Just A Little Bit Married

“Someone’s hungry,” Ellie said, quickly kissing the rosy-cheeked little girl before handing her to her father. “I don’t want her to fill up on snacks. Honey, if you could put her in the high chair and feed her that would help. It would be better if she eats before we do.”

“Gotcha, little bit,” he said, tickling his daughter to make her giggle.

“While you do that, I’ll show Linc and Rose to the guest wing so they can freshen up.”

The three of them grabbed the bags and took them upstairs, following Ellie to the end of the long hall.

“So, it’s a guest wing,” Linc said. “Aren’t you the grand one?”

“No. Just awesome.” Ellie grinned at him, then pointed out the two large bedrooms connected by a bathroom. “Rose, I’m putting you in the one with the window seat that faces the backyard and mountains. Dallas is flat and I thought you might enjoy a different view. Linc, you take the other one.” A piercing wail came from downstairs. “I’d better go help Alex. Hungry and tired is not an attractive combination on my daughter. See you two in a few.”

Alone in the hall Rose met Linc’s gaze. “So, your sister doesn’t know we were married.”

“No.”

“You kept me a secret—”

“No.” He took her arm and tugged her into his bedroom, then shut the door. “Not a secret.”

“When you withhold significant life details from your favorite sister it kind of falls under the heading of secret.”

“That was a complicated time.” He didn’t look happy.

Tough, she thought. “You were ashamed of me.”

“No.” His voice was sharp. “Not you. It was all me. My bad. Then I took a long break from everyone and everything. After that there was no point in saying anything.”

“So now we’re in Blackwater Lake and staying with your sister. Arrangements that you made and didn’t see fit to share with me.”

“Look, I know you’re miffed—”

“That’s way too nice a word for what I’m feeling,” she snapped. “But there’s a silver lining.”

“What’s that?” There was a wary look in his eyes.

“You didn’t think it through about how to explain me.”

He nodded grimly. “I thought you were enjoying that a little too much.”

“Actions have consequences—even after ten years. Especially if you keep secrets.”

“Look, Rose, I was a jerk.”

“Was?” She folded her arms over her chest.

“I apologized for it and I’m handling the divorce,” he continued, ignoring the dig. “I groveled.”

“Yes, you did.” She would give him that.

“Ellie and I are close. She’s the one who convinced me to come back after I left—”

“And you don’t want your favorite sister to know how big a jackass you are,” she mused.

“I’m not comfortable with the jackass part,” he said, “but essentially you’re right. I’d consider it a big favor if you would keep the details of our relationship just between us.”

Rose was loving this. Confident and unflappable Lincoln Hart was insecure and uneasy. “You know, this is a very unfortunate time for you to find out that what they say about reaping what you sow is true.”

“Could you be a little more specific?” Tension tightened his jaw.

“I don’t trust you,” she reminded him.

“So you’re going to rat me out to my sister?”

Rose shrugged, then walked through the connecting bathroom and closed the door behind her. This was too sweet. She was charging him an arm and a leg for this decorating job, which was pretty great all by itself. But now she had leverage and that was priceless.

Chapter Four

The morning after their arrival at his sister’s, Linc waited a decent length of time for a sign that Rose was finished in the bathroom they shared. He’d been a gentleman; ladies first. But the longer it went on the more certain he was that this was revenge.

He knocked lightly on the door. “Are you going to be finished in there sometime in the next millennium?”

“Come in,” she answered sweetly.

He did and there she was, putting on makeup and wearing nothing but a satiny pink robe that tied at her small waist and outlined her breasts. For several moments staring was his only option because he was pretty sure he’d swallowed his tongue. Her legs were smooth and tanned. He knew that because a lot of leg was showing due to the fact that the robe stopped way above her knees. Her feet were bare and the pink-polished toes did things to his insides that had never been done before.

Without looking away from the mirror Rose said, “One would think you’d never seen me put on makeup before and we both know you have.”

It was true. He had seen her do this ordinary thing that women do, but now this was so much more intense and he wasn’t sure why. Rather than directly address her comment he said, “I didn’t know you were such a bathroom hog.”

“You didn’t stick around long enough to find out anything about me. Lucky you. Maybe you dodged a bullet.”

He settled a shoulder against the doorjamb. “Putting a finer point on the situation, I didn’t dodge you. We’re still married.”

“Only on paper.”

Meaning there was no hanky-panky of the physical kind going on. But looking at her now, leaning forward to brush mascara on her long, thick lashes and watching the way her breasts strained against that pink satin material made him want to scoop her up, carry her to the bed and engage in hanky-panky for a week.

If he didn’t know how soft her skin was, how it smelled and tasted, the temptation might have been easy to ignore. But he did know. He’d never forgotten and more than once since leaving her he’d nearly caved, every time barely stopping himself from begging her to take him back.

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