The Lancaster Men by Janet Dailey

Author:Janet Dailey [Dailey, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781451639766
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2011-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Alone in her bedroom, Shari felt isolated and adrift. Memories of long-ago nights crowded into her mind—the innocent, midnight chats in Whit’s room. She longed for that comfortable relationship when she had been able to talk over her problems, big or small, with Whit.

Those had been special times, precious moments to look back on with fondness. There was a desire to reach back into the past and make it part of the present.

Throwing aside her covers, she climbed out of bed and pulled on a robe over her shortie pajamas. There wasn’t any need for a light as Shari made her way to the door and unlocked it. She knew her way around the house blindfolded.

Her bare feet made hardly any sound in the carpeted hallway. Not wanting to waken the other members of the household, Shari went directly to Whit’s door. A sliver of light shone beneath it, letting her know he wasn’t yet alseep. She knocked softly. Obeying old habits, she opened the door a crack without waiting for permission to enter.

“It’s me,” Shari whispered when she saw him sitting up in bed, smoking a cigarette. “Can I come in?”

“It’s late,” he reminded her without actually telling her she couldn’t.

“I know.” She slipped inside his room and quietly closed the door.

The only light in his room came from the lamp on his bedside table. Its pool of light illuminated the man in bed, propped into a sitting position by a pair of pillows. A blanket and sheet covered the lower half of his body, but his naked chest was exposed to her view, a dark circling of hairs in its center. It wasn’t an uncommon sight. Shari remembered from past occasions that Whit had a habit of sleeping in his undershorts.

It had never bothered her before to see the sinewed expanse of his naked shoulders and the muscled flatness of his stomach. She tried to ignore the vague disturbance that wandered through her system this time.

“Maybe I should follow your lead and start locking my door,” Whit suggested when she approached his bed.

“I wasn’t in the mood to talk,” she offered in the way of an indirect apology for locking him out of her room earlier that night. “You shouldn’t smoke in bed,” Shari criticized to change the subject.

“I believe you’ve warned me about that before.” He crushed the cigarette butt in the glass ashtray on the nightstand. Several others already occupied the ashtray along with a collection of ashes.

“Obviously you don’t pay attention,” she observed. “I guess you take after your grandfather. He does what he wants regardless of what other people say.”

“When are you going to grow up and realize he’s an old man.” Whit didn’t show any sympathy for her position. “Do you have any idea what it cost him to turn over the management of Gold Leaf to me because he wasn’t capable of running it anymore?”

“I’m sure it was difficult for him,” Shari conceded grudgingly.

“Difficult? It nearly killed him.” His reply was flat.

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