A Treasure Worth Seeking by Sandra Brown

Author:Sandra Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Fiction / Romance - Contemporary
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2013-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Several hours later she was coming out of the bathroom rubbing her wet hair with a towel when someone knocked on the bedroom door. She was securely wrapped in a terrycloth robe, so she said, “Come in.”

Mike stuck his head around the opened door. “Miss O’Shea, you have a call from Bart something or other. Do you want to take it?”

Bart! In startled reaction she pressed her fingers against compressed lips. Mike looked at her curiously and she stammered, “Y—yes, I’ll take it. Ask him to wait a moment, please.”

“Just pick up the telephone in Mrs. Lyman’s room and you won’t have to come downstairs.”

“Thank you, Mike.”

He was almost out the door when he turned around and said, “By the way, I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Before she had time to respond, he had ducked his head shyly and scooted out the door. Compared to Mike’s usual terseness, the speech was elocutionary.

Erin returned the damp towel to the bathroom and mercilessly raked a comb through her wet curls. She was buying time. What could she say to Bart? She didn’t want to talk to him so soon after having made love to Lance.

She’d fallen asleep after he left her and hadn’t had time to properly cherish her reactions to their shared intimacy. The enormity of what had happened was still too new, too private, too sacred. She wanted to ponder this momentous occasion, restructure the scene, relive each sensation, listen as her mind played back each stirring word Lance had said.

But if she didn’t talk to Bart, no telling what he might do. He might jump to a wrong—or right—conclusion and do something impulsive.

She sighed as she left her room and went into Melanie’s. It would be better to talk to him now rather than later. Long distance was no way to break an engagement, so she would talk to him normally. As soon as she was able to return to Houston, she would have to tell him she couldn’t marry him.

Especially now.

“Hello,” Erin said into the receiver.

“Well it’s about time, sugar. What in the hell took so long? I’ve been hangin’ on this damn phone for five minutes. You okay, baby?”

Had Bart ever called her by name? she thought crossly. She was instantly sorry for her vexation and said as cheerfully as she could, “I’m fine, Bart. I’m sorry for the delay.” She offered no explanation for it.

“How’s your brother? Do you like him?” Bart’s voice grated on her. His heartiness and constant good humor seemed trite somehow. So unlike a man who felt things deeply, took things seriously, and when he did laugh, it was very special. “Sugar, are you asleep?” Bart boomed into the receiver.

“Oh, no. I… uh… I haven’t exactly met Ken yet,” she demurred.

“How come, baby? Nothing’s wrong, is it?”

“No, no,” she hastened to say. “It’s just that he’s out of town on business and his wife, Melanie, whom I adore, thought it would be best if we didn’t tell him anything until he… uh… finished this business deal he’s involved in.

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