Reilly's Return by Tami Hoag

Author:Tami Hoag [Hoag, Tami]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-553-90776-6
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1990-12-16T05:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

THE KNOCK THAT sounded on the bedroom door was soft, but it woke Jayne immediately. She disentangled herself from Reilly’s embrace, sitting up carefully, trying not to wake him. He was sound asleep, his face buried in a pillow, his breathing deep and even. His hair stuck up like a rooster’s tail. The sheet rode low across the small of his back. Jayne sighed dreamily and smiled a secret smile. He looked adorable and sexy. It was a huge temptation to lean down and kiss the dip between the muscles of his lower back.

“Jayne?” Candi’s voice called out hesitantly. “Are you asleep?”

Jayne jumped guiltily. “Just a second, honey,” she whispered loudly.

She eased from the bed and snatched her robe up from the floor, thrusting her arms into it as she crossed the room and belting it securely before she slipped out the door.

Candi stood with her arms wrapped around her chest, her belly protruding beneath. This girl didn’t bear much resemblance to the spike-haired punk she portrayed during the day. This girl was a wide-eyed teenager going through a difficult time in her life. In her long flannel nightgown with no makeup and her hair combed, she looked frightfully young and vulnerable.

“What’s the matter, honey?” Jayne asked softly, reaching out to comb a strand of orange-and-black hair from the girl’s eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

Candi shrugged, doing her best to make light of her trip across the house. Heaven forbid anyone should think she needed reassurance or a shoulder to cry on, Jayne thought.

“I couldn’t sleep. The baby’s moving around a lot and—” She broke off at the sound that rumbled on the other side of Jayne’s bedroom door. It sounded decidedly masculine and very much like a snore. Candi’s eyes rounded and her mouth dropped open in embarrassment. “Ohmygod. I’m sorry. I interrupted something.” She shooed her hands at Jayne as she started leaning back toward the den. “Go back to bed. I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t be silly. You didn’t interrupt anything,” Jayne said, trying to brazen it out. To her dismay, Reilly chose that moment to begin snoring in earnest. He sounded like a big truck with a bad muffler. Jayne’s cheeks turned a shade that matched the fuchsia flowers in her robe.

“It’s okay, Jayne,” Candi said gently, a smile tugging at her lips.

Jayne pressed her hands to her cheeks and groaned as she dragged them back through her hair. “It’s not okay. What kind of example am I setting for you?”

“A pretty terrific one, I think,” the girl said honestly. She led Jayne down the steps to the sofa where they settled in side by side. “Do you know what kind of example my folks set? My old man used to come home drunk every night and knock my mother around the house for fun. I don’t think either one of them ever knew what it was to love somebody.”

Jayne put her arm around the girl’s shoulders as Candi’s eyes filled with tears and her hand strayed absently to her belly.

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