The Child She Always Wanted by Jennifer Mikels

Author:Jennifer Mikels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2001-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

December 25

Alan was right. The saxophone was what Sean wanted most for Christmas. Since early this morning he’s been playing it.

Rachel closed the book. Playing it weren’t the words she would have used to describe the off-key blaring notes.

“You’re smiling.”

She raised her head. Caught up in her own thoughts, she hadn’t even heard the sound of Kane’s truck. “I was remembering when my brother got his saxophone.” She took in the sight of him. His jaw dark with stubble, his hair windblown, he looked tired after a day at sea. He also looked wonderful. His tanned face appeared a shade redder from hours in the sun. “I used to wear my fuzzy blue earmuffs around the house to drown out the noise of him playing and the neighbors’s dog howling.

“Blue earmuffs?”

“Fuzzy ones,” she said on a laugh.

“What’s going on there?” He pointed in the direction of the typewriter and books spread out on the dining room table.

“I need to do something. I’ll go crazy sitting around here. So I thought I’d type these old recipes. Maybe get a cookbook published.” She supposed that sounded kind of unrealistic, but she’d been carefully turning pages in the recipe book. It was no longer bound, and its pages had turned yellow, but its contents had held her interest for hours.

She recalled seeing it not only in her mother’s kitchen, but also her grandmother’s. “I noticed that the name of the contributor had been scrawled at the bottom of each recipe. Most of them belonged to my family and were passed down from my great-great-great-great-grandmother. I think that many greats, maybe more.” She’d swear she heard him chuckle.

Though not even touching her, he turned a rarely seen smile on her. With a look, she felt as if she was being caressed. Sensations swarmed in on her. So did the truth. She was yearning to feel the heat of his mouth, the stirring from his kiss, that breathless, dizzy sensation again. She wanted him. She wanted to make love with him, take that chance. What would he say if she pressed herself against him, if she slid her hands beneath his shirt? Can he read my mind, know I’m lusting for him? More than anything, she didn’t want him to take her in his arms out of some kind of pity for poor, needy Rachel.

Kane watched her move with a nervous energy away from him and to the stove. He’d told himself that he didn’t mind being alone, but ever since she’d shown up at his door, he was having a hard time remembering that. Constantly she aroused a need inside him that he’d thought he’d buried—a need to get close to someone.

“I hope you like pot roast.”

As she turned with a platter in her hands, he spotted the rows of mason jars on the counter. Nearby, tiny sprouts in six-inch plastic pots occupied space on the window sill. “What are those?”

“Herbs.” A frown etched a faint line between her brows. “I hope you don’t mind that I put those there.

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