She giggled.
“You stay put and I’ll be back for you,” Lyle ordered.
“I can walk.”
“Maybe so, but I’d like to carry you.”
She would enjoy that. Seconds later water began running into the bath. The sounds of Lyle opening and closing cabinet doors soon followed. In a few minutes he returned to her.
“I know you’ve been sitting here thinking how you could walk in there by yourself but it’s not going to happen.” His accent became more pronounced when he was trying to make a point.
“You don’t know me well enough to know what I’m thinking.”
He put his palms on the bed and leaned in close enough that his nose almost touched hers. “Then deny it.”
She met his gaze with a smirk. “I do. I was actually thinking how much I’d enjoy being in your arms.”
Lyle’s look turned to one of bewilderment as he continued to stare at her. It quickly changed to one of pleasure that included a smile spreading across his face. “Then we have a plan.”
Cass pushed the covers back. Lyle placed an arm around her waist and under her legs then lifted her against his chest. The overlarge T-shirt she wore slipped up, exposing her thigh. Lyle’s hand was warm and sure on her skin. She looped her arm around his shoulders and enjoyed the ride.
He sat her on the side of the tub. “Let me check the water temp before you get in.”
Cass waited, watching him trail his fingers through the water. She like the tender attention from Lyle. It made her feel cherished. When had another man come close to giving her that feeling before? Never.
Jim had come the nearest, but he hadn’t understood her, her job—and especially not her relationship with her dog. His idea of caring had been to tell her she should quit doing something so dangerous. He’d never appreciated what drove her. If it had been him there tonight instead of Lyle, Jim would have never trusted her enough to care for the patient while he was gone. Jim hadn’t seen her as a partner, a strong person. Lyle did.
She respected him for that. Felt Lyle returned that respect. He had searched for a missing child without questioning her judgement of using a half-blind dog, then had lowered her into the hole on her directive, and cared for the girl when she’d been pulled out. Now he was looking after her. Was there anything he couldn’t do?
“How’s the girl doing?”
“She’ll recover with a good story to tell. I understand her family went hiking up there last week. She’d lost her doll and was convinced that it was in the ruins. She went looking for it.”
“I didn’t see a doll.” Surely she would have noticed one.
“I didn’t either, so I had a new one sent to her.” He said it as if it was no big deal.
“Lyle Sinclair, you’re a really nice guy.” She meant every word. Too nice for her to screw up his life.
“This is ready, if you are.” He reached for the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head.
Cass watched him but he didn’t let his gaze drop below her face. He was being such a gentleman. Scooping up her feet, he placed them in the water. Cass slipped into the bath with a sigh of contentment. It rose to just below her breasts. She glanced at Lyle. His focus had fallen lower now.
“Hey.” She took his hand. His gaze met hers. A flame of awareness burned in his eyes. “It feels really wonderful in here.” She closed her eyes and lay back, giving him the full view.
Lyle groaned. “I’m going down for the tea. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Cass smiled, then said in her best seductive voice, “I’d much rather have you warm me up.”
“I’m the administrator of this clinic. I can’t be climbing into the bath with a patient.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“Lock the door, put out the Do Not Disturb sign. Live a little. Take a walk on the wild side. You know you want to.” She tugged on his hand. “Mmm...it sure is nice.” Cass opened her eyelids to slits. She could see the small upward curl of Lyle’s lips. He was weakening. “At least kiss me.”
Lyle leaned over her, his lips finding hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gently pulled him into the tub. Water sloshed everywhere but she didn’t care and apparently neither did Lyle. She continued to kiss him as he settled around her and brought her against him, taking the kiss deeper. When they broke apart Cass pulled at his long-sleeved shirt until her hands could wander freely over his back.
“Cass, you’ll be my undoing. And the end of my job if I’m not careful.” He kissed the sweet spot behind her ear.
She started working on the opening of his pants.
“How am I supposed to get out of your room without being seen in soaking wet clothes?” He sounded more perplexed than angry.
She wanted him that way. Her hand brushed across his hard manhood. “You have other things to worry about right now. I’ll show you a secret passage out.”
“Secret, uh?”
“First things first.” She gave him an open-mouthed kiss while pushing his pants over his hips.
* * *
A few days later, Lyle sat on the couch in his cottage with his arm around Cass and her cuddled under his arm and her head on his shoulder. All the lights were off except for those on the tree. It was the prettiest Christmas tree he’d ever seen. Or maybe it was because he was sharing it with Cass. Yet he sensed something was bothering her.
She had walked home with him after work but had been more quiet than usual. Normally she told him about her day or something a dog had done during her therapy. Today had been different. They had prepared dinner of soup and sandwiches, working together like a long-married couple who knew the next move of the other. Still she’d said nothing.
Was it worry over her leaving? He’d certainly spent more time thinking about it than he found comfortable. Flora had said nothing specific about planning to discharge Cass, but he and Cass both knew the time was near. He would find out before they went to bed what was going on in that busy mind of hers.
Lyle smiled to himself. He had really come out of his respectable world with Cass’s stunt of pulling him into the bath. She had added excitement to his life.
Cass had helped wring out his clothes with a grin on her face. They’d laid them to dry near the fire and climbed into her bed. Just before dawn he’d pulled the damp clothing on so he could go home and put on some dry ones. He’d shrugged into his coat, grateful it wasn’t wet. Cass gave him a goodbye kiss that had been hot enough to make them both steam. He had slipped out of her room and down a back staircase, with the jubilant thought that he wouldn’t be seen. The second he had put his hand on the doorknob, Charles had pulled the door open. Lyle could only imagine the dumbfounded look on his face at that moment. Charles often came in early, but Lyle hadn’t realized he used the side door.
“Hey. Aren’t you going the wrong way?” Charles looked beyond him as if searching for something going on.
“I was sitting up with Cass.” And other things. Very nice things.
Charles’s forehead wrinkled with concern. “I checked her out last night. She seemed fine. Was something wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” Lyle made to step to past him. All he wanted was to get home and change his clothes.
A look of understanding came to Charles’s face along with a grin. He gave Lyle a pointed look. “And is she?’
“She is.”
Charles continued to block the opening. “Glad to hear it. Cass is a really special person. I heard what happened and how she jumped in to help.”
Lyle couldn’t agree more. Cass was very special. “She is special.”
“Freya did you wrong. Not every girl will.” Charles’s words were said softly but matter-of-factly. “Maybe it’s time to give someone else a chance.”
Lyle had been thinking the same thing. “You’re one to be talking.”
“Just because I’m a bachelor it doesn’t mean you should be one. Just think about it.” Charles slapped Lyle on the shoulder as he went by. “Are you wet?”
Apparently his fingers had touched Lyle’s shirt. “I fell in the bath.”
He heard the roll of Charles’s laughter as he hurried out the door.
Cass shifted beside him now. “What’re you thinking about?”
He gave her shoulders a squeeze. “I was just thinking about Charles catching me leaving the other morning.”
Cass smiled against him. “So he knows about us?”
“Yes. But he would anyway. The Laird knows everything that’s going on in his domain.”
“Do you mind?” She turned to look up at him.
“Mind? Why would I? You’re wonderful, smart, beautiful, fun to be around. Why should I mind? I’m honored.”
She shifted to face him and gave him a gentle kiss. “Thank you. That was a nice thing to say.”
“I meant every word.”
Lyle did. He wanted more moments like this with Cass. If the truth be known, he wanted her forever. Yet he wanted to do it right this time. Make no mistake. For him there could be no long-distance relationship. He didn’t want to feel pressured to ask her to stay, because they would soon be separated. But could he let her go without letting her know he cared?
* * *
Cass moved away from Lyle, then turned to face him. They had to talk. She’d put it off while they’d walked to his place, through dinner, and now she had to tell him. It shouldn’t be this hard—after all they had an agreement. She’d made it clear where she stood. So why was she having such a difficult time bringing up the subject?
“What’s wrong, Cass? Tell me.”
She clasped her hands in her lap. “I can’t hide anything from you. You always read me so well. Flora said this afternoon she plans to discharge me in three days. I can start making travel arrangements. I’ll be home for Christmas.”
Lyle studied her a moment before he said, “I knew the time was coming. We both did.”
“Yes, we did.”
He had sounded resigned, while she was a ball of growing sadness. It should be easier than this.
There was a pause as if Lyle was considering what he was going to say. “If I asked you to stay, would you?”
Cass slowly shook her head. “It’s a nice thought, but not realistic.”
“What about it isn’t realistic?”
Her chest tightened. “My life is a mess. I don’t even know what I want to do for a job now. My emotions are everywhere. I fear I’ve used you because you were nice to me and I had no one else to turn to. I can’t make a life-changing decision like staying here with you based on that. It might not end well and you deserve better.”
“We can figure it all out together.” His words were said softly, beseechingly.
“Lyle, I’ve enjoyed every minute. Well, almost every one of them.” She made an attempt at humor, but his serious look didn’t change. “But I have to figure out my life on my own, otherwise it would never work.”
“It seems to me it’s been working great up until now.” He sounded mystified that she might not think the same.
“I’m just so confused. My feelings are so jumbled up right now. I have a poor history of keeping relationships alive. I’d never want to do to you what Freya did. You’re a wonderful man who shouldn’t be treated that way. I can’t take the chance that you become like the other men in my life, and I disappoint you. I couldn’t stand to see that look on your face.”
Lyle watched her for a moment. There was grief in his eyes. “Do you really believe all that rubbish? After all we have shared?”
“We’re good together in bed, but that was never supposed to last forever. We talked about this when we started out.” She waved a hand between them. “We had an agreement. You can’t change the rules now.”
“The hell I can’t. Why can’t you call this what it is? A relationship. I care about you. I think you feel the same about me.”
“And let’s just say that I do, then what? I still live in America. I may return to a job that takes me all over the world. Anytime, day or night. Or what if I decide to do something else and it’s still the States? Do you think we have a chance at a long-distance romance? How did that work out for you last time?”
He flinched. “There will be no long-distance relationship between us.”
“So you plan to move to America to be with me?”
His face fell. “We can work something out.”
She hated what she was doing to him. That she was pushing him away. “What I’m hearing is that you want me to give up everything and come here to you.”
“Put that way, it sounds unfair. Still, I think we have something real here. Something that doesn’t come along often in a lifetime. Come on, Cass, stop hiding behind your fear. It’s easy to keep a wall up, it’s harder to let go, start again. Stop being dishonest with yourself.”
“Dishonest! Like you are with your father? Have you ever made it clear to him that you don’t want to return to the army? Even tried to make it clear he can accept that or not, but it won’t change things? That you want him to be happy, but not at the cost of your own happiness?”
Lyle looked at her as if she had slapped him. “It’s complicated.”
“And my issues aren’t? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. You and your father’s issues are none of my business. But what I do know is that if you return to active duty for someone other than yourself you will be miserable. Do you really think that’s what your father wants for you?”
Lyle stood. “You’re right, my issue with my father isn’t any of your business. It has nothing to do with us.”
“I’m not sure that’s true. Here you are, asking me to stay with you, yet you might be going off to who knows where with the army. What am I supposed to do? Sit here waiting for you? I thought that was the kind of relationship you didn’t want. It seems to me that we both need to make some major decisions in our lives before we involve someone else in them.”
The ferocity seemed to go out of him like air from an air-bag. “All I want to do is make his last days happy ones.”
“I know. But is re-enlisting the right way to do that? Or would the truth be better? You deserve to be happy as well. If you make him happy, you won’t be. I know for a fact you’re valuable to the clinic and this area. That you’re happy with the work you do now. You’re thinking of making a decision, a life-altering one, based on emotion. That’s not a good way to do things. I can’t do that. My decisions have to be based on more than hot sex with a handsome doc. I need to think. Need to regroup.” She hated to hurt him but one of them had to think rationally. “I think it’s best we leave this as a nice interlude.”
“Interlude,” he growled with eyes blazing—and not in the way she would have liked. “An interlude. I see.”
What did he see? Lyle made the word sound nasty, ugly. “That’s what we said it would be.”
“If that’s the way you feel then I wish you the best. Since this interlude appears to be over, I should escort you back to the clinic.” He walked into the hall and took her coat off the hook.
* * *
Cass didn’t see Lyle again until three days later when she was getting into the taxi that would take her to Fort William to start her trip home. She’d cried into her pillow each night since their breakup as loneliness consumed her, then worked hard not to show her sorrow during the day. Still, she felt she had done the right thing, for both of them.
She looked longingly at Lyle. Her heart thumped in her chest. If he asked her to stay again, would she? She needn’t have worried. He remained near the front door, watching her without a smile or raising a hand in farewell.
Cass closed the car door. As she rode away, she swiped at her cheek. Unable to resist one last look
, she turned to see the steps empty. Lyle had gone back inside.
If the last three days had been awful, leaving Lyle was truly horrible. What would the next week or month, or her life be like when she was thousands of miles away from him? She couldn’t count the number of times she’d told herself, “Stay strong.”
What she had planned not to do she had done. She’d let herself take the chance of caring again. She had fallen for Lyle.
CHAPTER TEN
LYLE HAD LET Cass’s words fester. He was hurt that she could so easily dismiss what he held as precious. He now understood the meaning of “It cuts like a knife.” Cass’s words that night had done just that. Over time he had examined them. She was right.
He had been unfair. She’d come to Heatherglen hurt and traumatized. Only a few weeks later he was making demands on her. Had he completely forgotten everything but his own needs? Cass should be upset with him. They both had issues to deal with before they could commit.
Lyle didn’t plan to give up. He’d give her until January then he’d go after her. Surely they could find a compromise between their lives? He loved her, and he believed she loved him. There was no way he’d misread all those touches, looks and how they felt when they came together. He couldn’t be that wrong.
The woman he wanted to share his life with would not only love him but support him. Cass had proved to know him better than he knew himself. She understood who he was. More than that, she complemented him. She had strength, confidence, and the largest heart of anyone he knew.
Cass was the one for him. Of that he had no doubt.
He needed to be worthy of her. Part of being that was breaking away from his father’s expectations. He had only considered his father’s wishes when he’d first joined the army. No matter how sick his father was now, it was time for Lyle to concentrate on his own desires. He’d lived under his father’s demands for too long. Through the clinic Lyle was providing quality and necessary care for people who needed it. He was proud of that service. It didn’t matter if his father felt the same way or not.
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