Authors: Loree Lough
“I need to know everything I can about him, and if you can shed some light…” She extended her hands, palms up, beseechingly.
Her voice was trembling, and that made no sense at all. Especially when Adam reminded himself that Kasey thought Buddy was her own personal God-sent “miracle.”
“I’d really appreciate it, Adam.”
“But why?”
She lifted her chin a notch, squared her shoulders and straightened her back. “Because,” she said in that matter-of-fact way of hers, “Buddy has asked me to marry him.”
K
asey pretended to be so engrossed in pulling up her too-big socks that she hadn’t seen Adam, bobbing his head right to left, working out the tension in his neck. She’d struck a nerve of some sort, mentioning Buddy’s name, struck another by admitting he’d proposed to her. She began searching her mind for an appropriate question, one that would explain
why.
“I’m whipped,” he said, getting to his feet. He stretched, gave an exaggerated yawn, then headed for his room. “Back in a flash,” he added over his shoulder.
Adam was carrying a pillow and a blanket when he reappeared a moment later. “I’ll bet you’re even more anxious to start countin’ sheep than I am. Good thing I put fresh sheets on the bed this morning, eh?”
Her head was still swimming from the abrupt change of subject. “Adam, I’m not taking your bed.”
“You’re not taking it, I’m giving it to you.”
“But you’ve done so much already. I can’t let you—”
“Trust me, schweetheart,” he said in a barely recognizable Bogie imitation, “nobody
lets
me do anything.” He
dropped the bedding on the coffee table, as if to underscore his statement.
Kasey put her hands on her hips, to underscore her determination.
Eyes locked to hers, he said, “Okay, but I think it’s gonna be pretty uncomfortable out here, both of us trying to share this lumpy ole couch.”
She glanced at the huge, overstuffed sectional. If need be, two adults and maybe a couple of toddlers could spend a comfortable night here…provided, Kasey thought, looking at Adam, one of them wasn’t built like a Baltimore Ravens linebacker.
“I’ve sawed logs out here plenty of times,” he said. “Believe me, I’ll be fine.”
But why would he put himself through a long, torturous night, when he had every right to the big brass bed, visible from the living room?
She already knew
why.
Smiling, Kasey recalled that several times since her arrival—as he rushed around to find her something to wear, as he grilled her a cheese sandwich—she’d thought what a nice man Adam was. It had taken only a few minutes of his hospitality to blot out her fears that he might be a murdering maniac. She’d prayed for a warm, dry place filled with warmhearted inhabitants. True to form, God had provided…not “people,” but certainly someone big enough—and big-hearted enough—to be two people! Silently, she thanked Him.
Adam’s quiet baritone broke into her thoughts.
“Would you be more comfortable if I tried to scare up something more, uh, more jammie-like for you to sleep in?”
His fumbling, awkward suggestion added yet another item to her quickly growing Reasons to Like Adam list.
Kasey patted her thigh. “You’re sweet to offer, but the sweatsuit is terrific.”
She stood and faced him. “I’d like to sleep right here.” Being able to read people’s faces could sometimes make or break a sale. It appeared she hadn’t yet managed to convince Adam she was serious. “Look at it this way—how many chances does a city girl get to fall asleep in front of a roaring fire?”
He lifted his chin, telling her he still planned to spend the night on the couch. Well, she had “stubborn” down pat herself. “I hate to be a pushy guest, but I insist.”
Adam regarded her for a moment before saying, “Okay, but I think it’s only fair to warn you, I set a trap a couple of hours before you showed up.”
A trap?
Kasey rolled her eyes and sighed. “Do I seem like the kind of girl who’d leap onto a chair at the sight of a teensie-weensie mouse?”
Her stomach did a little flip in reaction to the quick once-over from his brown, brown eyes, flipped again when she saw a flirty grin lift one corner of his mouth. Then one dark brow rose on his forehead.
“I’ll admit, you don’t look like the ‘eek’ type.”
Kasey recalled the way she’d behaved when Adam first opened the cabin door. “Do I detect a ‘but’ in that statement?”
His grin grew. “Never said the trap was for a mouse.”
Why was her mouth suddenly dry? “Chipmunk, then?” He stood, feet shoulder-width apart and arms crossed over his chest. If he shaved his head and got a big gold earring, he’d look even more like that cartoon sailor in the cleaning commercial.
“Nope.”
She licked her lips. “Squirrel.”
He shook his head.
Her heart began beating a tad faster. “What, then?” She prayed he’d say “fox” or “bobcat,”
anything
but “snake.”
He looked at her out of the corner of one eye. “Maybe I need to revise my statement.”
“Excuse me?”
“Maybe you
are
the type who’s scared of things that go
bump
in the night.”
To her knowledge, snakes didn’t “bump.” But then, her encounters with reptiles had been few and far between…deliberately. Still, it was far too early in their relationship to show him what a scaredy-cat she could be. Kasey grabbed the poker from the hearth and struck a fencer’s pose. “Anything that goes
bump
in
my
night will leave here
wearin’
a bump!”
Wait—had she thought the
R
word? She’d only met the man a few hours ago! Just because he’d been
nice
—and she’d appreciated it—didn’t mean they’d started a…a
relationship.
Did it?
Adam laughed, and she realized he was just teasing her.
“All right,” he said, “you win. But if you’re going to sleep out here, at least let me get you some clean sheets, another pillow, a comforter, maybe.”
Kasey was still reacting to the delicious sound of his laughter when she said, “You must be kidding. There’s so much wood on that grate, I’ll probably roast during the night.”
“Then, maybe I oughta come back in a couple of hours,” he mumbled around a yawn, “to turn you over and baste you.”
She headed back to the fireplace, to put the poker back into its stand. Looking over her shoulder, she began, “And maybe you oughta—”
Kasey’s right foot came down on the toe of the too-big left sock Adam had loaned her, throwing her off balance. The poker clattered onto the brick hearth as she held out both hands to soften the landing.
Adam, lightning-quick, grabbed her wrist. One well-timed tug kept her from falling face-first into the blazing fire—and put her directly into the protective circle of his arms.
Pressed tightly against his barrel chest was just about the last place Kasey should be, she knew. And yet, it was precisely where she wanted to be, where she’d pictured herself—a time or two, anyway—during the past few hours.
She looked up slowly, past the wide shoulders and the broad chin. She hadn’t noticed before—perhaps because they’d stayed a careful distance apart, perhaps because of the semidarkness—but a shadowy stubble peppered his face. It made him look even more rugged, even more handsome, if that was possible. When had he last shaved, Kasey wondered. Yesterday? The day before? And what might it feel like if that slightly fuzzy upper lip should graze her mouth with a soft, searching kiss…?
She saw a similar question simmering in his dark brown orbs. Her heart thudded, because she sensed that Adam was going to kiss her, and soon. Sensed, too, that she’d like it, that she’d want another, and maybe another after that.
Dear Lord,
she prayed,
if You’re trying to tell me Adam is ‘the one,’ I’m getting the message loud and clear!
Adam held her close, torn between pushing her away and pulling her nearer still. Relief—that he’d managed to keep her from falling into the fire—mingled with the exhilaration of having her so near.
Looking deep into her eyes, Adam understood for the first time what the poets meant, for he felt as though he were drowning in a sea of bright green.
Long ago, he’d taught himself to mask his emotions, had made it a regular part of every doctor–patient relationship. Obviously, something in his carefully practiced routine had short-circuited. How else could Kasey have known how very much he wanted to kiss her? And he could see that she
did
know; she had closed her eyes, tilted her head, lifted her chin.
The logical side of his brain ranted,
Stop it! You’re getting in over your head!
But the emotional side prodded,
She’d be good for you! Why not make hay while the sun shines for a change?
He all but laughed at the irony: sunshine, when it was nearly midnight, and during a raging thunderstorm, yet!
Kasey opened her eyes—her magnificent, glittering green eyes—at the exact moment that a rib-racking clap of thunder shook the cabin. Startled, she instinctively squeezed closer; involuntarily, he tightened his protective embrace.
And that’s all it took to melt the last of his resolve.
Adam leaned down as Kasey stood on tiptoe.
You’re gonna be sorry,
pealed a warning in his head. But it came too late….
The instant their lips touched, a soft sigh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside her and swept over him like a tepid ocean wave. One moment, he’d been an empty, castaway bottle, bobbing in the sudsy surf. The next, her warmth spilled into him, soaking into his soul and filling his hollow heart. How long before he’d sink completely?
The question caused reality to rear its ugly head, reminding him of the promise he’d made to himself, not an hour ago.
You have no business doing this,
he ranted inwardly,
no business at all!
He was about to disconnect himself from the exquisite sensations of peace and contentment the simple human contact had awakened, when her hands slid up his chest, came
to rest on his shoulders. If her reaction to their kiss was any indicator, Kasey, too, had waited a lifetime for…for whatever this wonderful feeling was called.
He’d known her for a long, long time, in a distant, detached way. He realized now that by staying in the shadows of her life, he’d deprived himself of the pleasure of watching Kasey make that graceful change from bony, freckle-faced girl to curvaceous, charming woman. It was probably better that way, because if he
had
witnessed the transformation, even from the sidelines, living his life on the fringes of hers would have been impossible.
The documentary he’d been watching on TV when Kasey showed up popped into his head; suddenly, Adam felt great empathy for the scraggly gray wolf who, driven from the pack, died of grief and loneliness. Difficult as it would be, now that he’d crossed the invisible line he’d drawn between them, he intended to step back into the shadows, for his sake as well as hers.
Gently, Adam curled his fingers around Kasey’s upper arms, took a careful step back.
One hand still resting on his shoulder, she blinked, and the disappointment in her eyes made his heart ache. As she touched the fingertips of the free hand to her lips, she sighed. “Thanks, Adam.”
His lips were still tingling from their kisses, his mind a muddle from having had to force himself to come up for air long enough to do the right thing. He had no idea why she was thanking him.
Kasey tidied the collar of his shirt. “Earlier, you said you might come out here during the night, to turn me over and baste me.” She looked him full in the face. “Well, if it hadn’t been for your quick thinking just now, I would’ve been
toast,
not a roast!”
The smile not only curved her mouth up at the corners,
but lit her eyes…and every dark place inside him, too. He’d seen TV movies where people fell head-over-heels in a heartbeat. Adam had always scoffed at the silly, romantic plots, because only buffoons and simpletons believed in love at first sight. Evidently, he was a buffoon. Or a simpleton. Or both. Because he believed in it now, with every beat of his Kasey-filled heart!
“So, thanks for saving my life,” she said again. And fluttering her long, thick lashes, she added in Scarlett O’Hara fashion, “You’re mah hee-roe!”
Hero?
The word echoed, thudded like a hammer in his head, because he was anything
but
a hero, and he knew it. Luke knew it, and so did Wade and Travis. And Buddy—the man who’d asked Kasey to marry him—
he
knew it best of all!
“Well,” Adam said, taking another step back, “guess I’ll let you get a little shut-eye. Quite a day you’ve had, what with getting mired in the mud, lost in the woods…” His voice trailed off…
meeting up with your father’s killer,
he finished silently. “If you need anything, anything at all, just make yourself at home, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay, and—”
Unable to listen to another word of gratitude, he held up a hand; what he’d done for her to date wasn’t
half
what he owed her. He turned quickly and headed for the bedroom, amazed at how difficult it was to walk away, to put even these few yards of hardwood floor between them.
“G’night. And thanks again, for everything.”
“You’re welcome,” he muttered, closing the door.
Adam rubbed his jaw. He should’ve stoked the fire. Should’ve double-checked the door and window locks. Should’ve made sure she had everything she needed.
Should’ve kept your hands to yourself!
The memory of Kasey—so tiny in his arms, so strong
and yet strangely vulnerable—sparked in his mind. Adam rubbed his eyes, but the vision seemed tattooed on the insides of his eyelids. “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” he whispered. The old adage made perfect sense, suddenly, because he’d given in to a weak moment, and more than likely, he’d be sorry in the morning.
In truth, he was sorry
now.
Moments ago, he’d held perfection in his arms.
And he’d never again be able to settle for less.
The quiet
pop
and
crackle
of logs burning in the grate and the steady thrum of rain on the roof lulled Kasey into a near-sleep state. Drowsily, she glanced around the cabin’s living room, where everything, from the deep green plaid valances above the dark wood-trimmed windows to Adam’s well-worn brown recliner, reflected the flames’ buttery glow. It was a tastefully designed space that made her feel safe and secure. Had he hired a professional to create the cozy atmosphere, or had he chosen the furnishings himself?