His Brother's Wife (28 page)

It took only seconds to
realize he listed her among those he loved. The realization shocked
him. Lord knows he'd tried not to feel anything where she was
concerned. But as he held her in his arms, her sweet breath warming
the skin of his neck, he couldn't deny the truth. He did love
Grace. It was why he'd tried so hard to push her away.

Why it took so long to
admit he wanted her for his own.

Laying there in the
silence with her in his arms, he knew he'd never be able to give
her up. He couldn't let her leave to marry someone else. She was
his. She had been from the moment he set eyes on her.

Marriage or not, he'd
never let her go.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

When the snow accumulated
enough to bury half the fence in front of marshal Avery's place,
Jesse knew going home was out of the question. He sighed, stared
out the window, and tried to block out the noise in the
house.

The snow storm had taken
everyone by surprise. Mrs. Avery had continued to teach through
most of it, noticing too late to dismiss everyone and get them
home, which is why the marshal's house was so loud. Every kid
attending the school was there, bundled in front of the fire
drinking hot tea and talking over each other.

Jesse had protested when
Mrs. Avery insisted he come to Marshal Avery's with them. He'd
wanted to grab his horse from the livery stable and head home but
the adults refused to let him go. That irritated him more than
knowing Grace was home alone with Rafe.

Visions filled his head,
visions of Rafe making sure there was enough wood to keep the fire
burning, of Grace cooking and making the house warm and inviting,
and then of the two of them settling in for the night. Of them
looking at each other as he'd seen them do so many times
before.

They liked each other,
that much was obvious. They might even love each other and the
thought burned like acid in his gut. Not because he loved Grace,
because if he were honest, he'd admit that he didn't. It was the
fact that Rafe didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve anything. Not
the farm, not Grace, not a moment's peace, not after the way he'd
treated his family.

He'd abandoned them, run
off because some girl didn't want him. He scoffed at the idea and
turned his head when someone squealed. He saw Alexandra Avery when
he looked into the study. She was fighting mad, as usual, her arms
crossed over her chest as she glared at her step-mother.

She was wearing another
dress today, a soft pink affair that made her skin glow and caused
her hair to shine. Not that he cared how she looked.

As if she knew he was
staring at her, she turned her head and glanced in his direction.
Then made a face at him. "What are you looking at, Jesse
Samuels?"

He grinned. "The ugliest
boy I ever saw."

Her face turned red, her
arms swung down to lay at her sides and she turned on her heel,
marched out of the study while her step-mothers voice chased after
her to come back.

Alex advanced on him,
murder in her eyes. "Take it back, you toad-face,
mop-head."

Jesse laughed and stood
up. "Can't do it," he said. "My pa taught me to always tell the
truth."

She let out a screech that
send chills up his spine and ran at him. He didn't move fast enough
and was tackled to the ground, the full weight of her landing on
top of him. "I ain't no ugly boy! Say it or I'll pull your ears
clean off your head."

Jesse barely felt the pain
when she grabbed his ears in a vise-like grip, he was laughing so
hard. The adults were yelling in the background, the other kids,
noticing the spectacle, laughing along with him, as Alex's face
turned redder, her hold on him tightening as that murderous look in
her eyes darkened.

It was while he was
looking up at her that he noticed the tears. They pooled in her
eyes, threatening to spill over her lashes and for a brief second,
he felt bad for teasing her all the time. She wasn't ugly. If truth
be known, she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Well, aside
from Grace, that is.

Alex's slight weight
vanished when Marshal Avery suddenly appeared and lifted her,
screeching and hissing like a wounded cat, her arms and legs
flailing about as the marshal carried her, screaming to the other
room. The laughter continued until Abigail Avery hushed the other
kids and made them all go back into the parlor.

When the commotion died
down, Jesse crawled from the floor, grabbed both his burning ears
to see if they were still in place, and glanced into the study
where Alex now sat fuming. She turned her head to him, gave him a
look that should have killed him where he stood, and kept her gaze
on him through the entire lecture her step-mother gave
her.

He heard bits and pieces
of it, Alex's new mother telling her she'd never catch a husband
acting the way she did, and Jesse felt sorry for the poor fool who
ended up married to Alexandra Avery. That was one hellcat he
wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

He grinned at her, then
chuckled when she stuck her tongue out at him, before he turned
back to the window. He wasn't sure how long he'd be stuck in town
and with so many people in the house, it would be torture. He hoped
some of the parents of these kids came for them soon but that
wouldn't be happening. If the snow was falling too hard for him to
leave, it would be too dangerous for anyone to come to town. Like
it or not, he was stuck.

The prospect didn't settle
well, not when he remembered the wife he'd ordered was trapped at
home with his brother. A man he was sure would take advantage of
the situation. Was probably doing so at that very
moment.

As much as Jesse hated to
admit it, he knew there was something going on between Grace and
his brother. He didn't think they'd acted on those feelings he
suspected they had for each other, but with the storm, and him
being out of the house, it would probably be the very thing that
brought them closer together. He also knew, after all was said and
done, that Rafe would ask Grace to marry him. He just had to make
sure he was there in time to stop her from saying yes.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Grace woke surrounded by
heat. She flexed her fingers, feeling warm skin beneath them, and
blinked her eyes open. She wasn't alone.

Rafe laid beside her, his
eyes closed. The fact he was sleeping didn't surprise her as much
as the knowledge that they were in bed together. And if she hadn't
lost every ounce of her wits, she was almost positive they were
both very much naked.

A peek over Rafe's
shoulder told her they were in his room, in his bed. The curtained
window drew her attention and like earlier in the day, she could
see nothing past the glass panes.

She shifted, trying to
pull away from him a bit but stilled when his hold on her
tightened. He lowered his head, nuzzled his face against the top of
her head, while his hand slid down over her hip, coming to rest
against her bare bottom.

Again her brain only
latched on to the obvious. They were in bed together. Naked. And
why couldn't she remember how she got here?

Her heart started racing
while her mind tried to rationalize why.

It came back to her in
pieces. She remembered getting lost in the snow storm, of spending
long, fearful moments calling Rafe's name as his voice echoed in
the distance.

He must have found
her.

And stripped her naked,
then crawled into bed with her.

She smiled. She'd been
waiting weeks to end up here to no avail and now here she laid,
snuggled against him skin to skin while a blizzard blew past the
house.

Her elation screeched to a
stop when Jesse's image flashed in her mind's eye. Her heart
skipped a beat soon after. Where was he? Had he made it home or was
he still out there?

She lifted her head,
trying to see into the kitchen and woke Rafe in the process.
"Where's Jesse?"

He ignored her question
and raised his hand, smoothing her hair away from her face. "How do
you feel? Are you numb anywhere? Still cold?"

She blinked at him and
shook her head. How could he act so calm? "I'm fine," she said.
"Where's Jesse?"

Relief washed over his
face. "Still in town, I hope."

"What do you mean, you
hope? He wouldn't have tried to come home in this, would
he?"

"I don't think so but I
don't know that he wasn't already on his way home when it started
snowing."

"Oh, Lord."

"He'll be fine, Grace.
He's a smart kid. He knows how to survive."

Grace hoped he was right.
She sat up and glanced toward the window, worry over Jesse's well
being gnawing at her conscience. "Someone in town will take care of
him, right? Make sure he's fed and that he's warm?"

She turned her head to him
when he didn't answer. He was staring at her, a hungry look in his
eyes.

A glance down and Grace
gasped. The entire front half of her body was exposed and she
grabbed the blankets, jerking them back up to cover
herself.

Rafe's voice pitched low
when he said, "He'll be fine, Grace. Stop worrying."

She nodded her head after
realizing he was right. Jesse was a smart kid. Besides, the adults
in town wouldn't have let him endanger his life by trying to come
home.

Rafe was still staring at
her, the heat in his eyes increasing with every passing second.
Grace's skin prickled with goose bumps and the fact she was in
Rafe's bed, naked, didn't escape her.

She looked over at him.
The blankets lay dangerously low on his hips from where she'd
pulled them to cover her breasts. A light dusting of dark hair
covered his chest and belly and drew her gaze to the edge of the
blankets. Her face heated, knowing he was naked and she averted her
eyes, swallowing the lump forming in her throat, while trying to
remember to breathe. "We're naked," she said, stupidly.

A tiny smile lifted the
corner of his mouth. "I know."

The heat in his gaze
increased, the longing she saw there taking her breath away. When
he said, "Let me see you, Grace," something in the tone of his
voice sent butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy. Her heart
started racing and every nerve in her body danced to
life.

He sat up, propped his
weight on one hand and lifted the other, pulling the pins from her
hair. He dropped each one to the blankets, her blonde locks falling
around her shoulders while he threaded his fingers through the
strands.

Grace sat motionless as he
untangled her hair, listening to her blood rush past her ears.
She'd imagined this scenario countless times in her head but never
thought to actually live it. The reality was much more frightening
than the dream.

She'd never been with a
man. Twenty-eight year old spinster she was, she'd never found a
man worth giving her body to.

Until now.

With every ounce of
courage she had, Grace let the blankets drop to her lap.

Rafe did nothing for long
minutes but stare at her. He'd seen her breasts before, touched and
kissed them, but those intimate moments were nothing like now. It
was as if he were memorizing the way she looked, cataloging every
detail for a reason she couldn't fathom.