Back to Eden by Melinda Curtis

Author:Melinda Curtis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

“FOOD’S ALMOST READY.” Cole returned to Rachel’s doorway a while later, after having cooked breakfast. Although, after the heartrending discovery that Missy had killed herself, Cole wasn’t hungry.

But Rachel’s bed was empty.

Cole rushed into the room, checking the far side of the bed to see if she’d fallen off again. That’s when he heard the water running in the shower.

“How in the hell—” He pushed open the bathroom door and stepped into the steamy room “—did you get in here?” Through the thin shower curtain, Cole could see Rachel sitting in the tub.

“I crawled in,” she admitted. “After discovering…you know…about Missy, I needed to.”

“You’re going to give me a coronary. I came in and I thought…” He didn’t want to verbalize what he’d thought—that he’d lost her. Cole sank onto the toilet. “You are bound and determined to kill yourself.”

“Did you think I’d gone out flying? No plane, remember?” There was something in her voice that Cole didn’t want to hear.

“You’re proud of this.” Cole inhaled a careful breath. “You could have fallen like you did the first night we were home.” Cole should have followed his first inclination upon leaving the house for his run last night and kept going. He wasn’t nursemaid material.

“But I didn’t.”

The frustration over Missy’s senseless death returned, blazing through his blood like a runaway fire. “Damn it, Rachel, those kids need you. I can’t be responsible for you if you’re going to act like this.”

“I never asked you to be my keeper. You appointed yourself.” Stubborn, as usual.

“What would make you act like an adult with common sense? Would you like to be permanently strapped to a wheelchair? Because that could easily happen.” Cole was breathing as heavily as he did at the end of a run.

It took Rachel a moment to answer. “You never used to talk to me like this.”

“If you mean I’ve grown up, hell, yes. I’m not the angry, hurt kid you knew. I’m no longer tempting fate on a daily basis.” Stop, he told himself. Take a breath. This was about Rachel, not him. “Every step you take endangers your life right now. Do not follow in Missy’s footsteps.”

“My getting out of bed is not about Missy. You’re a Hot Shot and you take a few risks of your own,” she countered.

“Calculated risks.” Rachel had to be the most maddening person he knew.

“It’s hard to calculate the risks with fire or with life. You take the hand you’re dealt and play it as best you can.” Rachel ran a hand up her face and over her hair, but with the shower curtain separating them he couldn’t tell if she was crying or just wiping the water out of her eyes.

“That’s what you’ve done. You’ve decided you’ve recuperated enough, so you’re playing your hand.” Too soon. If anything, she was bluffing about her strength.

“If you’ll give me some privacy, I’ll get out of the shower,” Rachel bargained, as if she were capable of climbing out of a slippery tub on her own.

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