Hearts in Bloom by Mae Nunn

Author:Mae Nunn [Nunn, Mae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781460311592
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Flipping off the light and closing the door, Jessica groped in the darkness for the closet and quietly eased inside. Shivering nervously, she kept the door open just a crack to listen.

Drew’s voice grew louder as he neared the upstairs landing. Then feet drummed on the carpet as he marched Amelia back down the stairs. “Stop that! Sit down and behave. Just give me a minute.”

The closet door opened and closed softly. The overhead light blazed to life. Mortified, Jessica hid like a thief behind a long winter coat.

“What are you doing in here?” he whispered.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to save us both some embarrassment.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea this would happen.”

“That makes two of us.” She pulled the coat closer.

“She shouldn’t be here.”

“She has a right to be here and I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. I invited you.”

“And now the party’s over. Get her out of here so I can go home!” she insisted.

“No. Come out of there and let’s go downstairs.”

“Are you crazy? She hates me and she’ll do everything in her power to get even with me if she finds out we’ve been alone, together, in your home.”

“You have a point,” he conceded.

Her head bobbed. “A sharp one. And I’ve had enough excitement for one day. I need to get some sleep so I can get started first thing tomorrow.”

“Listen, I’m going to be gone for the next few days,” he apologized. “But I’ll talk to you as soon as I can.”

“Oh, Captain Keeeeegan?” Amelia was pounding on his bathroom door.

He took a hesitant step toward Jessica. She waved him away, pulled the door closed and clicked off the light.

Jessica stood alone in the dark long after their voices had faded. Tears of frustration filled her eyes.

“Lord, whatever I did as a child to provoke You, isn’t losing everything I’ve worked for and gaining all this weight enough payback?” she demanded, her face tilted toward the ceiling. “How about helping me out here? For a change, can’t a guy be there for me? I really need to know there’s one man in this world I can depend on.”

She grabbed the hem of a sweater and swiped at her wet cheeks. Pressing it to her face, she caught the distinctly clean scent of Drew. A sigh, desperate with longing, escaped.

Hearing the low rumble of his car, she crept from the closet and down to the shadowy kitchen. She reached to retrieve her shoulder bag where it sat on a bar stool, her cane hooked over the wicker back. She realized that it was right out in the open.

There was no way it could have been overlooked by the unexpected visitor.

“Amelia, I have to be honest with you,” Drew insisted as they crossed the threshold into her apartment. “There’s no future in this relationship.”

It was as if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said on the twenty-minute drive through late-night Atlanta traffic.

“Let me change and then we’ll talk. Make yourself at home.” She tossed the words over a bony shoulder and disappeared down the hall.

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