Sarah suddenly smiled at the realization that Alex had gotten the same treatment this morning. Good. She hoped he had come awake with a pounding headache that throbbed as much as hers still did.
Sarah finally forced herself to move. She pulled off the wet sheets, dug around in her closet for the fan she had thought she wouldn’t need until next spring, and set it on the nightstand to blow on the wet mattress. Then she walked into her bathroom, stripped off her clothes, turned on the shower, and stepped under the heavy spray. She had time for a quick warm-up, and then she had to get that turkey stuffed and into the oven. As it was, they weren’t going to eat until five, where before she’d planned on having dinner at three.
Sarah stood under the steaming water, groaning at the feel of her bones thawing. It had taken every bit of willpower she possessed not to start crying when Grady had opened her truck door. He had helped her out and taken her into his large, gentle embrace, all while whispering that he was sorry for not being there for her earlier. Sarah had given him her best smile and assured him she was perfectly fine and that he had nothing to apologize for. Then she had walked into the house and stood staring out her window when Alex silently dropped off her bags before softly closing her door.
She’d had plenty of time to think during her long walk this morning—when she hadn’t been jumping at every little sound, that is—and had come to the conclusion that she simply couldn’t stay here. Heck, she wasn’t even sure she could stand living in the old sporting lodge three miles away. Not now. Not after what had happened between her and Alex.
If they hadn’t slept together, if they hadn’t done it, she very easily could have gotten an annulment and gone back to being just the housekeeper for the rest of the winter. But she couldn’t possibly live under the same roof with Alex while trying to pretend she didn’t know what it felt like to be held in his arms, to have his mouth on her breasts, to feel him so very intimately inside her.
For as shocking as it had been to wake up and find her dream was real, Sarah couldn’t help but remember how nice it had been. Well, almost nice. For all the trouble she’d gotten herself into, she could have at least experienced the big O. Sarah threw back her head and let the water carry her hair down her back. She was glad she was no longer a virgin. She finally knew what it felt like to have a man make love to her…albeit briefly and without the man really knowing he was doing it.
Sarah heard Paul’s shout right through the outside wall and smiled at the realization that the youngest Knight brother had just arrived home to the biggest surprise of his life. She quickly rinsed her hair. She had a great celebration to orchestrate! On a scale of one to ten, her future was a four compared to what the Knights were experiencing. Alex was alive, Delaney and Tucker had their dad back, Grady had his son, and Ethan and Paul had their brother again.
Sarah dried off, grabbed some clothes out of her suitcase, and rushed out to the empty kitchen. She pulled the turkey from the fridge and set it in the sink, then got out her ingredients for the stuffing.
“Mom! Mom!” Tucker shouted, banging through the swinging door, making it bounce back so that it nearly smacked Delaney, who was running in behind him. “Did you see him? Daddy’s home! He’s alive!”
“I’ve seen him,” Sarah said quietly, wiping her hands on her apron before she pulled Tucker into her arms. “And I knew he was your daddy the moment I saw him. He looks just like his picture.” She reached out and hugged Delaney with her free arm. “I am so happy for you two,” she said, giving them both a quick squeeze before letting them go.
“So now we got both a mom and a dad,” Tucker said, his large blue eyes shining up at Sarah.
“Not really, Tuck,” Delaney said before Sarah could respond. “They’re just meeting for the first time. They don’t even know each other.”
“But they’re married,” Tucker shot back. “Gramps married them to each other last week. That makes us a family, ’cause Judge Rory said Sarah signed the papers that made her our mom. He said we’re supposed to tell everyone she’s our mom now.”
Tucker looked at his father, who was standing in the doorway, utterly still and pale. “We got dressed in our best clothes,” Tucker continued, his chin rising defensively. “I wore my suit and was your best man. Gramps said I was. And Delaney stood next to Sarah. We all got married.” He took a step toward Alex, who paled even more. “Tell her, Dad. Tell Laney that Sarah’s our mom.”
“What’s all the hen squawking in here?” Ethan asked, walking past Alex and up to Tucker. He swept the seven-year-old off his feet with a laugh and folded him over his shoulder. “You put a young man in a suit, and he suddenly thinks he’s got the whole world figured out,” Ethan said as he carried Tucker back into the great room, past his silent brother. “If I were you, Tuck, I’d be more worried about explaining that Unsatisfactory you got in math to your daddy instead of…”
Ethan’s voice trailed off, leaving Alex staring at Sarah, who was acutely aware of Delaney standing between them.
“He’ll figure out it wasn’t a real wedding,” Delaney said. She looked at Sarah. “That it was just to keep Grammy and Grampy Mayhew from trying to make us go live with them.”
“Y-you knew?” Sarah asked.
Delaney broke into a wide grin as she tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder. “I’ll be eleven in five months,” she reminded Sarah. “Of course I knew.” She shrugged one delicate shoulder. “The heat register in my bedroom runs up from the kitchen. I heard everyone talking about what Gramps wanted to do.”
“You knew your father was dead six days before we told you?” Sarah asked in horror. “Delaney, how come you didn’t say anything? How could you act as if you didn’t know?”
Alex suddenly strode up and sweept Delaney off her feet to hug her tightly against his chest. “Ah, baby,” he whispered.
“I didn’t believe it, Daddy,” Delaney said into his neck, fiercely hugging him. “I knew you weren’t dead. I knew it!” She leaned back in his arms and took his face in her hands, staring directly into his eyes. “I knew you’d come home.”
“Ah, baby,” he repeated, burying his face in Delaney’s hair and rocking her back and forth. “That’s exactly why I came back—because you and Tucker were waiting for me.” He brushed her hair off her face. “And I promise you, no more hiring out to engineering jobs. I’m not leaving these woods again unless you and Tuck are right beside me,” he finished thickly, stroking her hair as he held her against his chest. “You were my guardian angel for eleven days, baby. I heard your prayers.”
“I prayed every night, Daddy,” she whispered. “Sometimes all night.”
Sarah had to turn away to dab her eyes with her apron. Lord, oh, lordy, she had known she was going to turn into a bawling geyser today.
“Come on, baby,” she heard Alex say. “Let’s you and me and Tuck take a walk to our secret place.”
“Okay, but we can’t stay long,” Delaney warned. “I have to help Sarah set the table. I sewed all the place mats myself, and I sewed one for you, too, because I knew you’d come home.”
“You sewed the place mats?” Alex asked, incredulous. “When did you learn to sew?”
“This fall. Sarah’s been teaching me.”
Sarah started running water in the sink to wash the stuffing bowl, knowing Alex was looking at her.
“Come on, Daddy. Let’s go now,” Delaney said. “Sarah and I have a ton of stuff to do today.”
Sarah broke into a smile after the door swooshed open and shut. Delaney had sewn the place mats, as well as the table runner for their Thanksgiving dinner, and Sarah had never seen prettier or more crooked mats in her life.
Their Thanksgiving feast went by in a blur. After dinner, on her way through the great room to make the beds upstairs, Sarah stopped to stare, openmouthed, at Alex sitting on the couch. Tucker was on his lap facing him, Delaney was cuddled beside him but twisted around to see better, and Grady and Paul and Ethan were all standing in front of the couch, l
eaning over so they could also see.
Alex had his shirt unbuttoned and was rubbing his fingers over his chest. Sarah couldn’t figure out why everyone was so interested in it, until he said, “It must have been over twenty feet long and as thick as my waist.” He looked directly into Tucker’s wide-eyed stare. “Anacondas aren’t venomous, so they kill their prey by squeezing the breath right out of them,” he said in a dramatic whisper, squeezing Tucker in a giant hug until the boy squealed.
Alex sat back and pointed at several small cuts on his chest again. “But they do bite. So I pulled my knife out of my belt and started hacking at its head,” he continued, raising one hand to make slashing motions in the air. “I ate him for supper that night, but I had to eat him raw because I couldn’t build a fire.”
“Eewww,” Delaney said, leaning away. “Daddy, you didn’t eat a raw snake!”
Alex grinned and patted her leg. “It tasted almost as good as the turkey we just had, baby. Only chewier.”
Sarah couldn’t decide which horrified her more—that Alex had fought off a giant anaconda or that he was giving his children a blow-by-blow account of the battle.
Realizing that Alex was watching her staring at his chest, she spun away and ran up the stairs. She grabbed the vacuum cleaner from the hall closet, thinking about the shows she’d seen about anacondas on the Discovery Channel.
Alex had actually tangled with one of the massive beasts? And not only had survived but had eaten it—raw! And it had tasted almost as good as her turkey. Sarah couldn’t decide if that had been a compliment or an insult. She plugged in the vacuum and started sucking up the lavender buds off Grady’s bed.
The vacuum suddenly went off, and Sarah spun around to find Alex dangling the plug in his hand. “We’ll vacuum up this stuff,” he said. “You’ve put in a long day, Sarah.” He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to protest. “I think we can figure out how to make our own beds, including Delaney and Tuck. And we’ll take care of the dishes.”
“That’s very nice of you to offer, but I’ll do the dishes.” She didn’t want anyone messing with her kitchen; she’d have to spend the whole next morning putting everything back in its place. “And I’m supposed to have my talk with Grady tonight.”
Alex leaned against the door frame and continued to dangle the vacuum plug from his hand. “About that. I’m asking again if you would please postpone telling Grady you’re leaving. His mind is still reeling from the shock of having me home, and so is everyone else’s. Could you give us at least until after the first of the year before you head off to begin your new life?”
“But—”
“Meanwhile, you could make good use of your time here by exploring where you might like to go.”
Sarah eyed him suspiciously. “Why are you being so adamant that I stay?”
He dropped the plug to shove his hands into his pockets, then dropped his gaze to the floor. He finally looked at her after a long silence, his eyes beseeching, if not a bit sad. “I don’t want what happened between us to stand on its own,” he softly told her. He leaned back to look down the hall, then stepped fully into the room and closed the door. “Sarah, if you leave here remembering me for only what I did to you, you’ll be condemning me to a lifetime of guilt. I need you to know that I’m not that person who came to your room last night and took advantage of you.”
“You didn’t take advantage me,” she said, darting a glance at the closed door before stepping closer to him. “I started it. I was the one who was dreaming and started touching you.” She reached out but stopped just short of touching his arm, appalled to think he was taking the blame for her foolishness. “Alex, I don’t blame you for anything. And I don’t blame myself, either. It just…” She shrugged. “It just happened.”
“I never should have gone to your bedroom in the condition I was in, and I certainly had no business getting into your bed. I knew better.”
“So did I.”
He turned away and walked over to stare out the darkened window. “Please stay until after the first of the year,” he repeated. “If not for me, then for the others.”
Well, spit. One month? Five or six weeks, tops? She’d spent twelve years saddled with a duty she hadn’t asked for and hadn’t wanted; surely she could handle six weeks.
“Do you like working here?” Alex asked into the silence, still staring out the window. “Or did you like it before I showed up?” He turned to face her. “You must have, if you agreed to Grady’s plan to marry me and adopt the children. So other than my being alive, has anything changed?”
“Well…no,” Sarah said with a frown. “I like living out here, and I love the children. But everything’s changed now.”
“Just me. I’m the only thing that’s changed. And if I hadn’t almost died, I’d have come home in the spring, and you wouldn’t have thought anything of it. I would have been just one more Knight to keep house for.” He took a step closer. “Give me a chance to prove I’m not the man you met last night.” He grinned crookedly. “I’m not asking you to give this marriage a try, I’m only asking that we pretend it’s real so that Grady can save face. After a reasonable amount of time has passed, we’ll get a divorce, and you can go start your new life.”
“So we’ll pretend you knew about the marriage all along?” she asked. “When we go to town, we’ll have to act married?”
He nodded. “Yeah, otherwise everyone will know that Grady was just working another one of his schemes and that Rogers was in on it with him. Just until January. Just until we can make it look like our marriage simply didn’t work out. We can tell people you got homesick and missed the ocean or something.”
Sarah stared at him, not ready to agree but even more reluctant to say no. Grady was just like a father to her, and she certainly didn’t want to get him in trouble. And her sporting camps—she really, really wanted to open those camps.
“Why don’t you sleep on it and give me your answer in the morning?” Alex opened the door, stepped to the side, and waved her out past him. “Go on, go to bed. I’ll muster the troops, and we’ll have this stuff vacuumed up and the beds made in no time.” His smile widened. “And Ethan and Paul can do the dishes.”
“But I—”
“Oh, but I insist,” he said. “And you can sleep late tomorrow morning.” He pulled her to a stop at the head of the stairs by taking hold of her shoulders. “I wasn’t acting when I told Delaney I was impressed with the place mats. Thank you for teaching her to sew. I’ve taught her to drive a skidder and a snowmobile, but it never crossed my mind that a young girl should also learn to sew.”
“She loves it,” Sarah said, trying very hard not to notice how warm his hands felt on her shoulders or how they caused her stomach to clench. “With practice, she’ll be able to make some of her own clothes.”
“Thank you, Sarah,” he said softly, his breath stirring the hairs on top of her head. “Now go to bed, and don’t so much as pick up a pot or a pan on your way through the kitchen.”
Sarah wondered if he was trying to send her to bed because he wanted to be alone with his family. She should turn in for the evening, so he could spend private time with his kids and tuck them into bed himself.
“Good night.” She set her foot on the top step, effectively stepping out of his hands. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Several hours later, Alex lay in his bed, which happened to be directly over Sarah’s, and thought about the unexpected twists and turns his life had made in the last couple of weeks. He’d cheated death, only to come home to find himself married to an unusual woman his father seemed convinced was exactly what they all needed. Alex couldn’t decide what he thought about Sarah, though he was sure of one undisputable fact: the woman was every man’s fantasy. One look at her enticing body brought a man’s mind to long nights and rumpled sheets. He could still remember the look and feel and taste of her, and he felt himself grow heavy with desire for her even now. No man in his right mind, drunk or sober, wo
uld have walked away from her last night.
But Sarah also had not deserved being initiated into lovemaking by a drunken stranger. Despite her claim to the contrary, Alex knew he was just as much at fault for what had happened, and he needed to make things right with her.
It would take patience to get back into her good graces, and Alex only hoped he could ignore her beauty long enough to gain her trust. Yet just thinking of her full breasts, as he’d felt them last night, brought a sheen of sweat to his forehead and a doubt to his resolve. Even though their marriage would end in divorce, Alex didn’t want Sarah to leave with the memory of last night’s ill-fated lovemaking standing between them.
He wondered about her first husband. She had told him Roland Banks hadn’t particularly cared for women, and her virginity certainly had been proof of that. Why had she married the man to begin with, and why so young? Sarah had to have been in her teens when she married Banks. What father in his right mind would let his daughter marry so young? Come to think of it, what about her father and mother? How come there had been no mention of them? Could she have been a teenage orphan Roland Banks had preyed upon?
So many questions. So many pieces to a puzzling woman whose cooking was divinely inspired, as Alex had discovered yet again at dinner. A perfect little housewife packaged in a fantasy body.
But what about the real woman inside that body? What made Sarah tick? Surely she had dreams, wants, needs of her own? She was somewhere around thirty years old; surely she wanted more out of life than caring for someone else’s family.
He’d have to sit her down and talk with her—if he could corner her long enough. She had done a good job of avoiding him all day, hiding in her kitchen and behind her housework. Except when he’d caught her staring at his chest, when he’d been telling Tucker about his battle with the anaconda.
Alex smiled into the darkness. He had started to make up for last night’s debacle by offering to do Sarah’s chores and telling her to sleep in. He would have to be sneaky in gaining her trust, so she wouldn’t realize what he was doing. Alex knew he could be charming when he wanted to be, and he would use every last trick in his book so he’d have a clear conscience when she left.
The Seduction of His Wife Page 7
