She turned and walked away. “Nothing happened here. Of course the girls are fine…”
Seth watched Hannah as she disappeared into the kitchen. Obviously Aunt Martha hadn’t heard about Maddie’s escapade in the tree, or that Hannah had a male houseguest. And obviously Hannah didn’t want her aunt to know.
He wondered why, then told himself it was none of his business. Hannah didn’t owe him any explanations about her life any more than he owed her any about his.
She was one tempting woman. He could still taste her, still feel the burn of her skin against his own. He wanted her, there was no question about that. But he was thinking clearly now, and after what had just happened between them, he knew it was best to leave things as they were. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.
He waited several moments for his pulse to return to normal and the ache in his loins to pass. He could hear her in the kitchen talking with her aunt. He couldn’t hear the words, but the conciliatory tone disturbed him.
None of your business, he reminded himself.
With a sigh, he picked up the book he’d attempted to read earlier and forced Ms. Hannah Michaels from his mind.
Five
It took several hours for Hannah to feel back in control again. She’d been relieved to discover that Seth had gone back to his room by the time she’d finished talking to her aunt—correction, listening to her aunt—while the woman lectured on manners and common courtesies, and how would Melissa and Madeline ever know how to behave if their own mother couldn’t set the proper example for them?
And on and on and on…
Hannah had barely listened to her aunt rant and rave, but she’d known instinctively where to insert the proper, “Yes, Aunt Martha,” or “Of course, Aunt Martha,” or her aunt’s favorite, “You’re absolutely right, Aunt Martha.”
Hannah hadn’t said anything about what had happened with the girls, or that Seth had rescued Maddie from the tree. Her aunt would probably have had an aneurism. Heaven only knew what the woman would do if she found out that Hannah had invited Seth to stay in the house. There was no question she would highly disapprove. Her aunt was rich, demanding, and definitely a prude.
But other than Maddie and Missy, Martha was the only family that Hannah had left, and in spite of the woman’s difficult ways and stern tongue, Hannah loved her, knew that in her own way, Martha loved her, too, and only wanted what was best for her and the girls. The problem being that Martha’s idea of what was best and Hannah’s were completely different.
Hannah could only imagine what her aunt would say if she’d had any idea what she’d interrupted with her phone call: a steamy, bone-melting, tempestuous kiss between her niece and a man who was practically a stranger.
Hannah had been torn between relief and disappointment that her aunt had called. Even now, as she carried a load of dirty clothes to the downstairs laundry room, she wasn’t sure how she felt about her…encounter with Seth Granger. Her lips still tingled and her stomach still did cartwheels every time she remembered that kiss—which was only every thirty seconds or so.
Maybe she was overreacting, she thought as she stuffed a load of towels into the washer and turned the water on. She and Seth had been joking around. He’d kissed her, and she’d kissed him back. It was perfectly normal for men and women to feel an attraction to each other and test it out a little.
It had just been so long since a man had touched her like that, longer since she’d really wanted one to touch her like that.
She poured liquid soap into the washer and closed the lid. She wouldn’t have let it go much farther than it had, Hannah told herself. She would have stopped him if he’d tried to take it to the next step.
Liar.
She went still at the accusation that popped unwillingly into her brain.
“I would have,” she said indignantly.
Hannah Louise Michaels, you’re a big fat liar, her subconscious argued. You know you wanted him to touch you.
Hannah pressed her lips firmly together and opened the dryer. The clothes inside were still warm and fluffy. She pulled out the black T-shirt Seth had been wearing yesterday and frowned at the rip in the shoulder.
Okay, so maybe she had wanted him to touch her. So maybe her breasts had ached and her nipples had hardened. And maybe she’d even felt an ache lower, between her legs. Maybe she’d wanted him to touch her there, too. But wanting something to happen was quite different from actually acting on it.
There was nothing wrong with a little fantasy, she told herself as she folded the T-shirt and laid it on the dryer top. Absolutely nothing wrong with it at all.
Smoothing her fingers over the warm, soft fabric, she let her mind wander once again to that first touch of his lips on hers, the first slide of his tongue into her mouth. The feel of his hands circling her wrists, and the hard press of his body against her own.
The washing machine began its wash cycle: swish-chug, swish-chug, swish-chug. The scent of fabric softener and soap hung in the air. It seemed as if all her senses had been heightened since that moment he’d kissed her. Outside, she heard the sounds of Maddie and Missy jumping rope in the backyard and Beau’s shrill bark from next door as the animal watched the girls play. Even on her drive to pick the girls up from school this afternoon, Hannah had been more aware of things she saw every day but never really noticed: Bonnie Thurston’s mailbox had ivy growing up its post; Lubao Avenue had been repaved; Henry Wilcox, the crossing guard at the school, had grown a mustache.
Hannah pulled Seth’s jeans out of the dryer and stared at them. The denim was well worn, faded at the knees and the behind. It had been a long time since she’d washed a man’s clothes. It felt strangely intimate to her. She folded them in half, then studied the jagged tear that ran up the left leg.
“You don’t have to wash my clothes.”
She jumped at the sound of his voice from the doorway, felt her heart leap into her throat. Good grief, but the man had a way of sneaking up on a person! At least she hadn’t been dancing or singing to herself this time.
“I do laundry almost every day,” she said with a shrug that she hoped appeared relaxed. “It’s no big deal. I’m sorry about the hole in your T-shirt and the rip in your jeans. I’ll mend them for you tonight.”
He frowned. “It’s not—”
“Necessary,” she finished for him, then smiled. “I know. But I want to do it.”
“Hannah, you don’t need to. You’ve done plenty enough for me already.”
Her breath caught at his words. She was certain he wasn’t referring to the kiss they’d shared earlier, but nonetheless, the kiss was what came to her mind.
“I’m sorry.” She quickly turned away from him, laid his jeans on top of the dryer, then reached inside for a pair of Missy’s black stretch pants. “I don’t mean to be pushy.”
Of all the words that might describe Hannah, Seth thought, pushy was most certainly not one of them. Based on the blush suddenly sweeping across her face, Seth knew she was thinking about what had happened between them this afternoon. It amazed, as well as intrigued him, that a woman with two children could embarrass as easily as Hannah did.
Even the way she’d kissed him this afternoon had seemed to have an air of innocence about it. Not exactly chaste, but not exactly experienced, either. Those soft lips of hers had tasted warm and sweet and unbelievably arousing.
He watched her busily fold the tiny black pants in her hand. When she reached back into the dryer and pulled out a bath towel, he stepped closer and took hold of her hand. She jerked away from his touch, as if he’d burned her.
“Hannah,” he said quietly. “We need to talk about this afternoon.”
She held the towel tightly to her. “Okay.”
Dammit, couldn’t she say something more than okay? He dragged a hand through his hair. “Look, it just sort of happened, then before we knew it, it probably got a little out of hand. I didn’t mean to scare you, or freak you out.”
; “You didn’t…freak me out.”
Well, she certainly looked freaked out, he thought irritably. Her eyes were wide, her voice strained, and she was clutching that damn blue towel as if it were a shield.
“If it’s awkward for me to be here now, just say so and I’ll get a room at the motel in town.”
She shook her head. “I just…it’s only…what I mean is—” She closed her eyes. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“What?” He furrowed his brow. “You’ve never kissed a man before?”
“Of course I’ve kissed a man before,” she said with exasperation. “I do have children, for heaven’s sake. I mean I’ve never kissed a strange man like that before.”
“How do you usually kiss strange men?”
His teasing seemed to relax her, and the smile she gave him was sweet and beguiling and made his chest hitch.
“I mean I’ve never kissed a man I didn’t know well.” She glanced at the towel in her hands. “I’m a little embarrassed at what you must think of me.”
“I don’t think anything of you,” he said, then added when she looked up at him, “For God’s sake, that didn’t come out the way I meant it. Hannah, I kissed you. You kissed me back. It was terrific. But we both know it’s not going anywhere.”
“It’s not?”
His heart slammed against his ribs at her comment. He watched the blush on her cheeks deepen.
“I mean, it’s not,” she said quickly. “Of course it’s not.”
“I’m only going to be here a few days,” he said carefully, “but I promise I won’t touch you again.”
She looked down at the towel in her hand. “Okay.”
“Unless—” He saw Hannah draw in a breath as he reached across her and picked up his clothes.
She lifted her eyes and stared at him. “Unless what?”
“Unless you ask me to.”
“Oh.”
When he straightened and stepped back, she released the breath she’d been holding.
He was at the doorway when she called to him.
“Seth?”
He glanced over his shoulder.
“You were obviously on your way somewhere, before all this happened. I should have asked you if I can do anything for you. Call someone, maybe, or—”
“I’m fine.” It was much too complicated to explain, and it wasn’t something he cared to talk about, anyway. “I have an appointment in Wolf River, but it can keep.”
“I could drive you,” she offered. “Lori would watch the girls for me and I could—”
“I’ve already called. You don’t have to do a thing.”
“But if it’s important,” she persisted, “if you need to meet someone, then I’ll take you.”
If you need to meet someone.
His pulse jumped as an image popped into his mind: little Lizzie with her big blue eyes and dark, silky hair; Rand, taller, bigger, his black hair and dark eyes so like Seth’s that everyone knew instinctively they were brothers.
“Hannah, stop.” He thought of the twenty-three years he’d been separated from his sister and brother. Twenty-three years he’d thought them dead. “Look, I won’t lie and tell you it wasn’t important. But I’ve got it handled and a few days won’t make a big difference.”
“Oh, Seth.” She closed her eyes on a sigh. “I’m so sorry.”
“It happened, Hannah.” He shrugged, then smiled at her. “Besides, I just caught the whiff of something incredible coming from your kitchen. I hope I’m invited.”
She smiled back. “I hope meat loaf is all right. I could make you something else if—”
“I love meat loaf.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a sit-down, home-cooked meal, and the smells were making his mouth water already. “I’ll go wash up.”
Clean clothes in his arm, he went back to his room and took a shower. As he stood under the spray, the words he’d said kept playing over and over in his head: a few days won’t matter one way or the other.
He thought of the way she’d felt underneath him today, the perfect fit of her mouth to his, the instantaneous combustion in his blood when she’d so eagerly kissed him back.
He turned the water to cold and began to wonder if living in this house with Hannah, even for a few days, might indeed make a difference, after all.
“Derek Matthews can burp the alphabet all the way up to G,” Maddie announced first thing at the dinner table that evening.
“Is that so?” Hannah scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes onto Maddie’s plate first, then Missy’s.
“He says he’s gonna practice a whole bunch and by next week he’ll make it all the way to Z,” Missy added. “Practice makes perfect, Derek says.”
“Did he now?” Hannah glanced up at Seth and saw the amusement in his eyes as he glanced from Maddie to Missy. She’d served him his food first and told him to start eating, but he was waiting politely until everyone at the table had their food.
Hannah reached for the bowl of broccoli on the dining-room table and gave each of her girls a small serving. “Isn’t Derek the one who had to go to the nurse two weeks ago because he stuck a bead up his nose?”
Maddie’s blond curls danced with excitement as she nodded. “He said he could blow it five feet up in the air right out of his nostril.”
“It was a big yellow one,” Missy said, her eyes wide with admiration.
Hannah wasn’t certain that Derek’s amazing talents were the proper dinner conversation in front of a guest, but she was thankful that her daughters were in their usual chatterbox mode. It seemed to Hannah that every time she opened her mouth around Seth, the wrong thing came out.
She still couldn’t believe the words that had come out of her mouth after he’d told her that nothing was going to happen between them. It’s not? she’d said. Not as a statement, but as a question.
And if it wasn’t bad enough she’d said it, did she have to sound so disappointed, too?
She looked at him now, watched as his gaze bounced back and forth between Missy and Maddie as they explained to Seth, in explicit detail, Derek Matthews’s bead-in-the-nose incident. Both girls were trying to out-talk the other and it was obvious to Hannah that her daughters were vying for his attention. Except for Lori’s husband, John, there’d been no male presence in Maddie’s and Missy’s lives since their father had left three years ago. Brent had complained that he was too busy, made weak attempts at coming over, but they both knew the truth. He’d never wanted to be a father, and after the twins had been born, he hadn’t wanted to be a husband, either.
Seth was the first man that had ever stayed in their house, and the girls were excited that a real-life hero was staying with them.
And the truth be told, she was enjoying Seth’s company, as well.
She’d heard the water running while she’d made dinner, had tried not to think about him taking a shower, though her mind had definitely wandered. His damp, dark hair was slicked back from his freshly shaven face, and he’d changed into a white T-shirt and clean blue jeans. He’d removed the bandage over his eyebrow, and though there was a bruise, the cut didn’t seem as bad today. He’d said little since he’d sat down, but those eyes of his, those dark, watchful eyes, seemed to take everything in.
And she was taking in her own share, Hannah thought as she stared at Seth.
The T-shirt stretched across his broad chest; the sleeves fit snugly over the thick, corded muscles of his bronzed arms. His hands were large and callused and, though she tried not to think about what those hands would feel like on her bare skin, her mind seemed determined to have a will of its own.
She forced herself to stop fantasizing about the man sitting across from her and turned her attention back to Missy and Maddie, who were on the edges of an argument about something.
“Show-and-tell is Friday at nine,” Maddie said emphatically.
“No, it’s not,” Missy insisted. “It’s ten.”
“Is too.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“That’s enough, girls,” Hannah said with a warning tone. “Ask Miss Reynolds tomorrow. What are you taking this time?”
“We’re taking Mr. Granger.”
Seth made a strange, choking sound at the other end of the table. Hannah went very still and stared at her daughters.
“What did you say?” she asked.
“All the kids wanna see him,” Maddie said. “So Missy and I agreed it would be cool to take him.”
Hannah glanced at Seth, saw the fleeting glimpse of sheer terror in his eyes. It seemed that Seth Granger, a man who flew through the air and could leap tall buildings in a single bound, was afraid of children. He looked sharply at her, his gaze imploring her to help him out here.
She tried not to smile, but even as she gave her daughters her most serious look, Hannah felt the corner of her mouth quiver. “I’m afraid you can’t take Mr. Granger to show-and-tell, girls.”
“Why not?”
“Well…” Hannah had to think a moment. “Just because.”
Maddie looked at Seth. “Don’t you like kids?”
“Ah…sure,” he said hesitantly.
“So can you come?” Missy and Maddie asked at the same time.
“I really don’t think I’d be very interesting,” Seth said.
“Sure you would. Chelsea brought her uncle one time and he juggled for us.” Missy stuck a bite of broccoli in her mouth. “He only dropped the balls once.”
“Travis Jeffers brought his hamster last week,” Maddie added, then looked at Seth. “You’d be much better than a hamster.”
“Thanks,” Seth said, his expression flat.
“Don’t you wanna come?” Maddie asked Seth.
“Well, I—” He squirmed, then looked at Hannah again.
“Sorry, girls.” Hannah shook her head. “You’re going to have to think of something else.”
“Oookaay,” Maddie dragged the word out dramatically while she poked at the potatoes on her plate. “But all the kids at school are gonna be disappointed.”
“Maybe we could take the lightning globe Aunt Lori gave us,” Missy suggested. “That’s pretty cool.”
In Blackhawk's Bed Page 6
