Beneath Bone Lake by Colleen Thompson

Author:Colleen Thompson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Published: 2009-11-22T06:02:43.890000+00:00

C HAPTER S EVENTEEN

“When you have a child, the world has a hostage.”

—Ernest Hemingway

With Ruby in the next room slipping on a clean, dry shirt he had offered, Sam set up the computer at the table and cursed himself for a fool. After realizing he was no better at relationships than any other McCoy, he’d learned to content himself with good-time girls, all of them too short-term to give a damn about his background. All of them too shallow or too selfish to break his heart when they left.

Though it was hard to think about her now, he knew Elysse had been his first real slipup. She was neither self-centered nor superficial, a woman whose biggest flaw had been a tendency toward self-delusion. She’d longed for a life partner and a family, but she’d been too quick to settle for a man who wanted nothing of the kind.

As bad a mistake as it had been to get involved with her, it didn’t hold a candle to the sin of playing with the emotions of his foster brother’s widow. Turning his head, he listened for Ruby but heard nothing except the diminished rattle of the rain.

“You finding everything okay?” he called, the thought running through his mind that he should tell her what Paulie had said regarding the rumor about Misty’s pregnancy. That he had no right to keep such information, no matter how dubious, from Ruby.

When she didn’t answer, he went to the open doorway and peered into the living room. He smiled, surprised to see her curled up on a red slip-covered sofa, her head tilted against her outstretched arm, her features slack with sleep. Exhausted, he thought, to conk out like that so quickly, but it was probably the best thing for her.

Before she’d succumbed, Ruby had pulled off her jeans and T-shirt and dressed in a long-sleeved guide shirt that was miles too large for her. Sam rummaged in a dented metal chest and shook out an old but reasonably clean throw he discovered. He hesitated for a moment, admiring her bare legs before guilt cracked its tiny whip.

As stupid as this attraction was, it wasn’t about Aaron, Sam realized as he covered her and grabbed a fresh shirt for himself. It didn’t have a damned thing to do with jealousy or with paying him back for what had happened with the Monroes when they were both just kids.

But it wasn’t about Ruby either, couldn’t be, in such a short time. So it had to be the situation, the vortex of the shit storm forcing the two of them to work together. After changing shirts, he went to the kitchen and rebooted the computer—yet another forbidden desire—to activate the newly installed air card.

He had to keep his mind on his task and off the woman. Anything less would be unfair to Ruby, even cruel, considering her situation. Only a first-class asshole would move in to take advantage, would go back into the other room, slip his hands beneath the blanket, and caress that creamy skin.

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