A Dundee Christmas by Brenda Novak

Author:Brenda Novak [Novak, Brenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488091544
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

THAT NIGHT, CIERRA LAY in bed awake, staring up at the ceiling and breathing in the scent of pine, which pervaded the whole cabin since Ken had brought the Christmas tree inside. After they were done decorating, he’d lit a fire while she grilled the steaks he’d taken out of the freezer and they’d eaten together.

Being with him was completely different without Brent. It was far more intimate and, because of that, more unsettling. Every once in a while, she’d glance up to find him watching her. She knew what he wanted. She was pretty sure she wanted the same thing. She’d never made love to a man of her own choosing, a man as virile as the lawman she’d always fantasized Charlie to be.

Ken had reminded her of that lawman from the beginning. Perhaps she’d never have another chance to be with someone she found even more handsome than Gary Cooper. She’d soon leave this place and, she hoped, get work until she could secure another husband via the website. Who knew how old the next guy would be?

But everyone she met in America was temporary—white faces that would soon pass out of her life. Someday, she’d be able to go home. And she didn’t plan on taking an illegitimate baby back with her.

The floor in the hall creaked. She could tell that Ken was as restless as she was. At first she thought he might come to her room like Charlie used to. Although she’d allowed him into her bed, she’d insisted on having her own room until the wedding. But then she remembered the moment she’d been standing on the ladder with Ken, when he’d made the decision not to touch her, and how determined and resolute he’d acted since. He’d laughed and teased her, shown her a romantic movie and given her a T-shirt to wear to bed, but he’d kept his hands to himself.

“How did I end up here?” she whispered into the silence. She could never have imagined a place like Dundee, or a man like Ken, while living in Todos Santos. Maybe she should be grateful to have shelter, but it was torture being in the same house with him. She craved the pleasure Charlie’s fumbling hands had on rare occasions hinted was possible, knew Ken could deliver what Charlie had been unable to. But she doubted they’d be having this problem if Brent had stayed at the cabin. Without him, they had too much privacy to explore what they were feeling.

Earlier, Ken had offered to let her use the Jacuzzi. He’d said it would help her sleep. She hadn’t taken him up on it because she didn’t have a swimsuit. But she was interested now.

She waited until she was almost certain he’d gone back to bed, then found her way to the gym mostly by touch. The Jacuzzi was located to one side of it, enclosed in glass. Except for patches of moonlight that filtered through the pine trees outside, the room remained cloaked in darkness that felt as thick as the steam rising from the water.

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