It was long after Katherine heard the jeep roar to life and speed down the street that she felt capable of leaving the support of the door.
* * *
All night she tossed and turned, pounding her pillow and alternately folding her covers neatly over her and then kicking them to the foot of the bed. Katherine was furious with Jace for reducing her to this hot and bothered creature who was behaving like a teenager in the throes of her first big infatuation.
In actuality, that wasn’t far from the truth. Since her father’s death when she was a child, Katherine’s life had been totally devoid of a masculine influence. No uncles, grandfathers, brothers, or male cousins were available to her, or her mother, or Mary.
Her natural apprehension toward men had increased during her adolescence and early adulthood. Contemporary mores relating to sexuality allowed men to demand more than she was willing to give. She was unprepared to handle such situations, and had subconsciously built a self-protective wall around herself. It had never crumbled.
Until today.
Why, when she was wary toward any man, had one so supremely masculine been able to arouse her like Jace Manning had? After being with him today she was resentful of this protection she forced on herself.
Just the thought of his long, lean body made her flush hotly. She tossed her head to the other side of the pillow as she recalled his cerulean eyes raking slowly over her body. Her skin still burned where his brown fingers had stroked it lingeringly.
She was more than a little afraid of him and what his unexpected intrusion could mean to her life and Allison’s. Her physical and emotional reaction to him made the threat even more ominous. He was too big, too virile, too arrogant. Was he always so coolly confident?
And she despised his name. Manning. Manning. Peter Manning’s brother. Peter, who had killed Mary with cruelty and thereby orphaned Allison. Peter, who used money and charm as facades to hide the decay in his soul.
She searched for traces of deception in Jace’s face. His image was clear on the back of her burning, gritty lids. All she saw were two captivating blue eyes, deep dimples, and a sensuous, smiling mouth. With that picture fixed in her mind, she eventually dropped off into a restless slumber.
* * *
“Good afternoon, ladies!” Jace called as he hopped out of the jeep.
Katherine was sitting with Happy under the pecan trees in the backyard sipping
cold homemade lemonade. They were interrupted by the squeal of brakes and the crunching of gravel under tires as Jace wheeled the mud-splattered jeep into Happy’s driveway.
“Hello,” cried Happy cheerfully and jumped out of her lawn chair to pour Jace a glass of lemonade from the pitcher on the glass-topped table nearby. “We’re so glad you came by. We went to church this morning, but couldn’t wait to get out of our girdles—well, of course, Katherine never wears such a thing—and come out here and enjoy the breeze.”
Happy handed Jace the frosted glass. He thanked her profusely, but his eyes were glittering with mirth over the top of the glass as he raised it to his lips. He was appraising Katherine’s figure, assessing whether she needed to be corseted or not. She blushed in embarrassment and looked down at Allison who was lying in her lap.
“Doesn’t this child ever wake up?” Jace squatted down beside Katherine’s chair and gently nudged Allison in the stomach. Katherine could feel his breath on her bare legs and was uncomfortably aware of his chest pressing against her calf.
“There you are!” exclaimed Happy as Allison lazily opened her eyes and inspected her uncle for the first time. As with all babies, Allison seemed attracted to a deep, soothing, masculine voice and studied Jace carefully as he talked softly to her.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” he asked rhetorically, obviously impressed with the baby.
“Certainly she is,” confirmed Happy. “Just look at her mother.”
Confused for a moment before remembering Katherine’s deception, Jace then turned to her and smiled in a disturbingly private way. “I see what you mean, Happy,” he said. Then he bounced up, startling Allison who whimpered. “I’m sorry there, darlin’, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He laughed. “I’ll learn to be more careful around you.”
Katherine cringed. He was still planning to be with Allison all the time. “Maybe you shouldn’t come so close to her,” she said nastily.
“But I want to be close to her,” he replied matter-of-factly. He and Katherine stared at each other for a long moment.
Happy, who was inspecting her flower bed and missing the undercurrents between them, asked with innate curiosity, “Are you going swimming?” It was impossible not to notice that Jace was wearing only swimming trunks and an open-weave T-shirt.
Jace drew his eyes away from Katherine’s and said cheerfully, “Yes, I came to see if Katherine and Allison would accompany me to the lake. The weather’s mild enough for the baby, and the outing would be good for both of them I think.”
How like him, Katherine thought. He wouldn’t just call and ask her. He suggested it in front of Happy, who jumped at the idea enthusiastically. She hurriedly went into her kitchen to prepare them a snack to take along.
As soon as Happy was out of earshot, Katherine said, “I can’t take a four-month-old baby into that lake and you know it.”
“Okay,” he said amiably, “I’ll go swimming and you and Allison can relax in the shade.”
“I’ll have to get her ready.” Katherine stood up and headed for her apartment.