Season of Change by Melinda Curtis

Author:Melinda Curtis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“WHY AM I taking my tie off?” It was after dinner. Slade’s hands were shaking. He didn’t want to take his tie off. He was her boss. He shouldn’t have to take his tie off.

Christine sat next to him on the small couch. She slowly wound a strand of hair between her fingers. “It’s after 7:00 p.m. You’re at home. This shouldn’t be a big deal. You still had your tie on the other night when I came by. Don’t you ever let your hair down?” She tilted her head and glanced at his crown. “Besides, you can show the girls they can break out of their mold by example. What’s wrong? Take the tie off. It’s not like I’ve never seen a man without a tie on before. I’m not going to stuff dollar bills down your collar.”

The twins were upstairs changing. It was just the two of them in the somber living room. A breeze ruffled the curtains. He should tell Christine no. He should tell her she’d overstepped the bounds of the employer-employee relationship, that it wasn’t appropriate to undress him.

Slade swallowed. “Uh...”

“It’s not that hard.” Christine, who knew nothing of personal, or apparently professional, boundaries, reached over and loosened his tie.

Slade couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop looking at her, noting the slight flush to her cheeks. He couldn’t help himself from feeling the warmth of her hands so near his secret. So near the reason Evangeline had given the court as to why their marriage wasn’t salvageable.

Christine glanced up at him, a hint of a smile on her face, probably about to give him grief about something else. The horror he was feeling must have been mirrored in his expression, because she froze. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be touching you like this.”

He captured her hands. “It’s not you.” Three rasped words. He was as hoarse as if he’d been shouting for days.

The twins bounded down the stairs.

Slade dropped her hands. Christine continued to stare at him. When Faith said, “Ahem,” she snapped out of it, taking in the girls’ latest outfits with an avalanche of appreciation. “Awesome, unique, fabulous, wonderful, sweet-sweet-sweet.”

“I like this one,” Faith said when Christine stopped babbling. She wore a black ballerina tutu over a red-and-black striped body suit. Her black biker boots clunked across the floor. Sunday’s outfit.

“And I like this better,” Grace said. She wore a pretty pink sundress with white sandals. Saturday’s outfit.

They spoke!

Christine continued to muster a smile and general enthusiasm for their ensembles. “I like it when you wear different things. I can see your two personalities.”

“Grace is the girlier of the two. Faith likes to make a bold statement,” Slade said, marveling at the change in his daughters when Christine was around.

The twins stared at him as if he was a lion escaped from the zoo. Then they blinked and ran back upstairs. Their voices drifted down, excited but unintelligible.

Slade slumped against the sofa. “Please don’t push them.” Or me, he wanted to add, but he couldn’t.

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