Linc bent at the waist and scooped up the rest of his clothes, then walked toward the back door of the house until he disappeared from Kerry’s sight. She didn’t move, but maintained her place on the floor beside the window until she heard him come upstairs and go into Trent’s bedroom and gently close the door behind him.
Because her thighs had gone the consistency of warm butter, and she felt weak and feverish all over, she virtually crawled to the bed. She kicked off all the covers. She couldn’t stand anything abrading her skin. Or rather, being touched anywhere, everywhere, was such a delicious sensation that she thought it best to deny it to herself.
What was this malady? A tropical fever just now manifesting itself? Or was it simply desire for the man she loved?
Linc accidently stumbled onto the intimate scene. He muttered his sincere apologies and immediately withdrew, but Cage and Jenny called him back.
They were sitting at the kitchen table. Cage’s hand was splayed wide over his wife’s abdomen. Both wore radiant smiles. “Come in, it’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He felt uncharacteristically gauche and callow.
“You’re not interrupting,” Cage said.
“Cage loves to feel the baby move.”
“What would you say this is, a ballerina or a place kicker?”
Linc grinned self-consciously. “You could stuff what I know about babies into a thimble and there’d st
ill be room.”
Cage removed his hand from Jenny’s tummy and poured their guest a cup of coffee. “I’m the breakfast chef. What’ll you have?”
“Whatever.”
“Ham and eggs?”
“Sounds great.”
“Orange or grapefruit juice, Linc?” Jenny asked him.
“Orange, please.”
She picked the appropriate pitcher off the table and poured him a glass. “You’ve never been around children?” she asked him nonchalantly.
“Not until this week.”
“None of your own?”
Cage cleared his throat loudly, but Jenny didn’t acknowledge the subtle reprimand. Linc appeared to be unaware of it. In fact, he was acting rather distracted, as though he were listening for something. “Uh, no, I’ve never been married.”
“Hmm.” Wearing a complacent smile that had nothing to do with the innate serenity of pregnancy, Jenny sat back in her chair and sipped her tea. She ignored Cage’s reproachful glance when he returned to the table and slid a plate of food in front of Linc. “Dig in.”
“This is great. Where’s yours?”
“We ate earlier,” Jenny told him.
“I’m sorry I slept so late. Is everyone else already up?”
“I sneaked in early and got Trent out of bed. I didn’t want him to wake you,” Cage said. “The Flemings and my folks have taken all the kids to the hospital to see Joe.”
“Including Trent?”
“He pulled a temper tantrum. Roxie, as usual, gave in. Sarah wouldn’t hear of him being left behind either,” Jenny told Linc. “Between his grandmother and my best friend, I’m afraid Trent is being spoiled rotten.”
Kerry hadn’t been mentioned. Linc hesitated to bring up her name, but now, while she wasn’t around, was a good time to ask the questions that had been eating at him.
“How did Kerry get involved with your relief organization?”