ANGELS AMONG US
by JEANETTE WARD
He mounted the stairs that hugged the outside of the garage and knocked quietly on the door. He heard rustling inside, then Braelynn’s voice calling softly, “Who’s there?”
“It just me. I brought you a fan. I thought you might be hot.”
Damn. That hadn’t sounded good, now had it? He told himself to try again.
“I thought it might, um, be hot in there.”
Harding, you’re a hopeless idiot. You better hope she’s half-asleep and didn’t really hear what you said.
The door inched open and not surprisingly he could see the bed shoved
beneath the single window to catch any hint of a breeze. Soft light from a small lamp illuminated the room.
“See?” he said and held the fan up so Braelynn could assure herself he was telling the truth as she peeked around the door. He could tell she still didn’t trust him. He added smart to the list of her attributes, right under sassy and sexy.
“You really brought me a fan?”
“I’m not a total monster, despite what you think.”
“I’m not dressed for—company.”
“I’ll just be a minute. And I’ll promise to keep my eyes on the fan,
okay?”
The look on her face told him she wasn’t convinced, but her eyes
lingered longingly on the piece of equipment. From her hesitation he
guessed she debated the wisdom of letting him in, but the need for
comfort won out. She’d suffered from the heat long enough. Hesitantly
she opened the door and stepped back.
He stepped into the small, sweltering room and was nearly crippled by
the surge of pure sexual arousal coursing through his long dormant
senses at the sight that greeted him.
“You promised!” she squeaked.
She had her arms draped across her breasts and one ankle wrapped behind the other, but with nothing more on than a scrap of peach-colored diaphanous material that skimmed the tops of her smooth, tanned, thighs he had a perfect view of every gorgeous inch of her.
She’d gathered her golden curls loosely on the top of her head and a few errant strands caressed the soft curve of her neck. The material of her gown did nothing to hide the lines of her body and he’d been treated to the sight of luscious hips and a trim waist outlined against the lamp’s soft glow.
He ducked his head and heard her gown whisper softly as she ran for the bed and slid down onto the naked mattress. Self-consciously, she drew her arms about her and blew a small puff of air at a stray curl teasing her winged eyebrow.
“Don’t think I’m trying to be rude, but are you about done?”
He’d been done two minutes after he started, but he couldn’t tell her
that. He thought he could stand safely and make his escape though and he clearly needed to get far away from that beautiful body and his less-than-honorable thoughts.
“I’ll slip back downstairs and get you some sheets. I wish you’d told me you didn’t have any.”
“I don’t like to bother people and I feel like I’m doing that right and left staying here.”
“Braelynn,” he said quietly and leaned closer, still kneeling. “You’re no bother. I didn’t mean to make you think you were.”
She reacted by scrambling backward until her back bumped the wall, her eyes wide and cautious. “I…I believe you. Now, if you’re finished…?”
He felt like a total heel. For about ten seconds, then forced himself to shove the feelings aside. He couldn’t afford them. And dammit, he’d almost made the ultimate mistake for a man determined to avoid women. Protecting the weaker sex. Playing white knight. Foolhardy notions like that would do a good man in every time.
If he wanted to convince himself she wasn’t the one Anne had told him to wait for, maybe this was his chance? What was it Rafe had said? Set a trap and see if she fell into it? A fellow couldn’t lay a proper trap if he felt sorry for the prey though. Lord knew she’d shown him no mercy letting him walk in the apartment wearing an outfit like that!
The women he’d come in contact with lately all had one thing on their
minds. If Braelynn was anything like them, convincing evidence she wasn't legitimate mother-material, he knew exactly how to prove it. Ignoring his warring emotions, he squared his shoulders and felt a smile stretch across his face. By morning, he could tell his nosy brother everything had been one big coincidence and things could get back to normal.
He plastered on his most predatory grin, anticipating the moment his
instincts would prove him right and he could eliminate Braelynn Burke
from his thoughts. He wasn’t even sure how she had managed to work
herself into them in the first place.
“Maybe you’d rather sleep in the house where it’s cooler?”
He watched panic flare openly in her eyes at his suggestion and flinched inwardly. All right. So she wasn’t the kind of woman who played fast and loose. Fate hadn’t tossed her his direction to get him back on the sex wagon. Round one to her. It still didn’t mean she was “the one”. If Rafe lived up to his promise, she’d soon face another test, but not tonight. Tonight his own resolve had been sorely tested and he needed something to put out the fire raging in his blood. He had serious doubts an ice cold shower would even scratch the surface. Hopefully, he’d have her on her way tomorrow and she’d be just a memory.
Yeah. The kind that wakes you up in a hot sweat on cold winter nights. Mentally he ground out the rogue thought like a smoker squashed their cigarette butt against the sidewalk.
“I’m fine right where I am,” she hurried to assure him in answer to his question. “Really. It would be nice to have some sheets though.”
“Sheets. Yeah, okay,” he parroted in a hollow voice and turned to leave, anxious to put plenty of distance between himself and the sultry siren who had taken control of his desires. She had him so confused, he couldn’t even think straight. She wasn’t like other women at all. All his preconceptions about her were suddenly on shaky ground and he didn’t care for the feeling left festering in his belly.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her.
“You don’t need to bring them up for me. I’ll get them myself, if you’ll tell me where they are.”
Instantly everything inside him clenched. He couldn’t let her outside
dressed like that even if it was after midnight! And he sure as hell
didn’t want her following him into the house where Rachel might wake up and see her. He pivoted back, prepared to explain he didn’t mind getting the blasted sheets for her, but the sight she presented stopped him dead in his tracks. He swallowed hard, his eyes riveted to the gorgeous female in front of him.
She’d stood up, obviously unaware the lamp behind her illuminated every luscious line of her body . . .
© 2007 by Jeanette Ward
Buy Angels beginning
April 19, 2007
