Seth forced a laugh to his lips. “What are you talking about?” he asked, trying to brazen it out.
Rose snorted. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. But I just can’t figure it out.” She took another bite of her sandwich and eyed him slyly. “I couldn’t help but notice you’re staying in the spare room.”
“Couldn’t help but notice?” Seth teased, knowing the only way she’d know that is if she looked into all the bedrooms.
Rose had the grace to blush. “Okay, so I’m a nosy old busybody and I peeked to see.” She shrugged, then sighed mournfully. “I thought I smelled a romance going on, but apparently I was wrong.” She dabbed her mouth with a paper napkin and sighed. “And I so want Meghan to be happy and in love.”
Seth laughed and covered the old woman’s hand with his. “Don’t worry, Rose. I’m sure if you remain living next door to Meghan, eventually you’ll get your wish to see her happy and in love with somebody.” His words left a bad taste in his mouth as he thought of Meghan and David or some other man, living here together, loving each other and raising Kirk.
At that moment, Kirk began to fuss again. He rubbed his eyes with little fists and kicked at his chair in discontent.
“I think somebody is sleepy,” Rose said. She stood. “I’ll just get out of here so you can get him down for a nap. Thanks so much for lunch, Steve.”
Seth picked Kirk up and followed Rose to the living room where she pulled on her coat, then on to the front door. “Thanks Rose, for giving him a bath. Whatever you did seems to have helped a bit.”
“It’s the oatmeal bath. I left it in a bag in the bathroom.” Rose smiled, a mischievous grin that made her look years younger. “I’m not giving up, you know. Something isn’t what it seems around here, and I won’t be happy until I get to the bottom of it.”
Seth laughed once again as a burst of affection for the old busybody flowed through him. “I’m afraid you’ll be sadly disappointed. There’s no mystery here.”
“We’ll see,” Rose replied, then wiggled her fingers and left.
Seth closed the door after her. “She’ll never figure it out,” he said to Kirk, who once again rubbed his eyes. Seth remembered the little tyke had been up and down all night. No wonder he was more than ready for a nap.
But Kirk didn’t want to nap in his bed. When Seth took him into his room, he clung to Seth like a baby leech.
Seth sat in the rocking chair and tried to get him to fall asleep by rocking him, but with no success. Finally Seth returned to the living room and stretched out on the sofa, Kirk on his chest. Within minutes Kirk was sound asleep.
This was what Seth had hungered for from the moment he’d first laid eyes on Kirk…the opportunity to hold him close, smell the scent of him, feel his heartbeat against Seth’s own.
Seth closed his eyes, his hand caressing Kirk’s back. Was there a love any greater than that which flowed through him at this very moment? Had he ever felt this profound…protective love for any other human being in his life?
The answer came unbidden and filled him with a strange despair. Only once before…for Meghan.
Meghan got into her car and leaned her head wearily on the steering wheel. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so tired.
All day long she’d felt the weight of Mark’s suspicion. His gaze had lingered on her often, his brow wrinkled in deep thought. That, coupled with a near sleepless night had produced bone-weary exhaustion.
She’d battled with herself, trying to decide if she should come clean, tell him that Seth was hiding out in her house and that the work she’d tried to hide from Mark had been for him.
But she knew what would happen if she told Mark about Seth. Mark would contact Jonah, who in turn would send Seth back to the Condor Mountain Resort and Spa.
Meghan knew instinctively that if Seth was sent back there, the haunting shadows that had filled his eyes when he’d first arrived at her house would return. For the last couple of days those shadows had receded, but Meghan knew they weren’t gone…they were only hiding inside him.
Seth needed the chance to find Simon, needed the hunt, the promise of revenge to keep his guilt at bay. Ultimately, she had known that to tell Mark meant to betray Seth. She hadn’t been able to do that.
She raised her head and started the engine, wondering how Seth had fared with Kirk. She had a feeling he’d done just fine. Seth was nothing if not resourceful.
A half an hour later, she pulled up in front of the town house. For a moment she merely sat in the car and stared at the place she called home.
She’d bought the town house five years ago…long before she’d met Seth. She’d been twenty-six years old, had been making a good salary from the agency, and had decided it was time to build a nest for herself.
Although the town house with its four bedrooms had been far bigger than she’d needed, the price had been scandalously low due to the imminent divorce of the couple who owned it.
Besides, she’d bought it with dreams of the rooms being filled with children, hopes of a family’s laughter and love permeating the entire place. Hopes and dreams that had been shattered by Seth’s ultimate selfishness.
She got out of the car, tired of her thoughts, tired of the emotions that had been raging inside her for the past four days…ever since Seth had reentered her world.
The first thing that struck her when she entered the front door was the silence. “Hello?” she said softly. She took off her coat and hung it in the closet, then stepped into the living room and froze.
The room looked as if a natural disaster had occurred within the walls. A natural disaster named Kirk. Toys were everywhere. But the mess wasn’t what captured her gaze.
Seth was on the sofa, Kirk on his chest, and both were sound asleep. Meghan’s heart constricted at the sight of the two males…father and son. One who had held her heart, but had thrown it away, the other who would have her heart until the end of time.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, watching Seth…watching Kirk. Their likeness in sleep awed her, and the obvious ease they found in each other’s arms frightened her.
They belonged together. Every son needed his father in his life. Rose’s words from the night before haunted her, and she resolutely shoved them away. Not all fathers were good for their children.
She blinked in surprise as she realized Seth’s eyes were open and he was staring at her. “Hi,” she said and sat down in the chair opposite the sofa.
“Hi. I didn’t hear you come in,” he said softly.
She swept her gaze around the room, then looked back at him once again. “Rough day?”
He grinned, a lazy gesture that lifted one corner of his mouth and created a ball of heat in the pit of Meghan’s stomach. “A little rough, but we sur vived.” His hand rubbed across Kirk’s back. “Don’t worry about the mess. I’ll clean it up.”
She shrugged, too tired to care. “You want me to take him and put him in bed?”
“Nah…he hasn’t been asleep that long. He’s been up and down since noon.” He used one hand and shifted the pillow beneath his neck. “You look like hell.”
“Gee, thanks.” She laughed without humor. “You always were good at the sweet talk, Seth.” She sighed and took off her glasses and set them on the table next to the chair.
“Rose came by earlier today. She brought some kind of oatmeal to bathe Kirk in. It seemed to help his itching.”
“That was sweet of her.” Meghan kicked off her high heels.
“Yeah, it was a mission of mercy, and a mission of snooping,” Seth replied dryly.
Meghan eyed him curiously. “Snooping?”
He rubbed Kirk’s back as the little boy stirred, then grew silent again. “She didn’t buy the cousin story and she’s certain there’s some sort of mystery here.”
“Oh, terrific.” Meghan rubbed her forehead wearily. “I’m too tired to think about it at the moment.”
“Why don’t you go in an
d take a nap.”
A nap sounded wonderful. “I should do something about dinner,” she replied without conviction.
“We can order a pizza or something later,” he replied. “Go on, Meg…a nap will do you wonders.”
His use of the diminutive of her name nearly undid her. The last time he’d called her Meg they had been making love. The last time he had called her Meg, she’d thought eternity was theirs.
“Maybe I will stretch out for just a little while.” She stood, aware that her tiredness had her emotions far too close to the surface.
“I’ll wake you when the pizza gets here,” Seth said.
She nodded and headed for her room. Once there, she stripped off her dress and hose and climbed beneath the blankets clad in her slip and underclothes.
“Every boy needs his father in his life.” Rose’s voice filled her head. Meghan closed her eyes, wondering what she was going to do about Seth and Kirk.
She’d believed in her heart she’d made the right choice when she’d called Seth to tell her she was pregnant and that she wanted him to stay out of their lives.
She rolled over on her stomach, her mind racing back in time…back to her own childhood. She could still remember the feel of her mother’s hands gripping hers in desperation.
“What will we do, Meghan? What will we do if something happens to your daddy?” Her mother’s grip had become painfully tight, but not as painful as the fear that had clutched Meghan’s heart. “I’ll die…if anything happens to him, I’ll just die.”
And if her father died…and her mother died…what would happen to Meghan?
She shoved the memories aside, not wanting to remember the horror of those days…those nights with her mother. Her childhood had been one of fear and she absolutely refused to allow that same kind of fear to rule Kirk’s life. Unless Seth quit his job with the agency, she would not allow him to be a part of his son’s life.
She drew a deep breath as sleep reached out to her, filling her head with fuzzy, dreamlike images. And in those images Seth was calling her Meg, and kissing her lips and caressing her skin and loving her. And she knew she was dreaming, because she didn’t want him to stop…but wanted him to go on loving her forever.
Kirk awoke soon after Meghan disappeared into her bedroom. To Seth’s relief, he seemed more like himself and entertained himself with the wooden set of blocks while Seth picked up the rest of the toys and put them away in the nursery.
When he had the living room back in order, he carried Kirk into the kitchen and opened up several jars of toddler food he found in the cabinet. As they warmed in the microwave, Kirk banged on his tray impatiently.
“Just a minute, kiddo. Daddy is working as fast as he can,” Seth said.
He transferred the food onto Kirk’s plastic plate, then placed the food before him and sat down at the table next to him. “Okay buddy, dig in.”
Kirk grinned, then reached out and grabbed Seth’s nose. “Daddy,” he said.
For a long moment, Seth remained utterly still, rich emotion sweeping through him. For the first time he recognized the joy of having a child…this child calling him Daddy.
“Yeah, I’m your daddy,” he replied.
Kirk nodded and released his nose, then focused on the meal before him.
Seth watched him eat, loving him…laughing as Kirk missed his mouth with his spoon, smearing applesauce and macaroni across his plump cheeks.
He and Meghan needed to talk. Every day brought her closer to finding the information he needed, every day brought him closer to leaving, but he couldn’t leave without the issue of Kirk being settled between them.
What do you know about being a father? A tiny voice whispered in the back of his head. You didn’t even have a relationship with your own father.
Seth frowned, a whisper of fear dancing through him as he thought of his old man. Seth and his father had never bonded in any significant way. In the darkest reaches of his mind, Seth wondered if he’d tried a little harder, worked more diligently, would he have been able to save his father’s life?
He shoved these thoughts away. What was past…was past. His father was dead and nothing would bring him back. It had nothing to do with the present or Seth’s future. It had simply been a tragedy in time…a single memory that Seth refused to allow to bleed into any other area of his life.
After feeding Kirk, Seth took him into the bath room and gave him an oatmeal bath, then changed his diaper and clothes and played with him for a while. By that time Kirk was rubbing his eyes, indicating sleep would come soon.
By eight-thirty, Kirk was sound asleep in his crib and Seth paced the living room, wondering if he should go ahead and order pizza. Would Meghan want him to wake her?
He went down the hallway to her bedroom door. Surely she’d want to eat something. Surely she wouldn’t want to nap so long that she’d awaken at some ungodly hour of the morning unable to go back to sleep.
He turned the knob and quietly opened the door. The room was near dark with the falling of night outside, but the spill of the night-light in the outlet near the bed painted Meghan in golden hues.
She was on her stomach, her hair a wild tangle of red curls. He could tell she slept soundly by the deepness, the evenness of her breathing.
Her shoulders were exposed, displaying a wealth of freckles…like cream with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Seth felt a tightening in his groin as a wave of pure desire swept through him.
He fought against it, knowing desire had no place in his current situation with Meghan. They were separate…divorced, without hope for any future together. And yet, no matter how he tried to resist, his body refused to be cooled.
“Meghan,” he said softly.
She didn’t stir.
And suddenly he found himself right next to the bed, so close to her if he wanted he could reach out his hand and touch those charming freckles that seemed to taunt him. And he wanted.
He eased down next to her on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder, felt the heat that radiated from her skin…a heat that stoked the flames inside him.
She stirred, but didn’t turn around, didn’t open her eyes. Seth placed his other hand on her other shoulder and began to massage the sweet-scented, soft skin.
“Hmm,” she moaned with pleasure. The sexy sound of that moan roared in Seth’s head and he fought the impulse to press his lips against her skin.
The white straps of her slip and bra looked erotically sexy against her skin, but quickly became irritations as Seth yearned to run his hands unencumbered across her entire back.
He pulled the blankets down to her waist and massaged across the small of her back, the silky slip material warming beneath his touch. She moaned again and he wanted to rip the blankets off the bed, pull her slip over her head, remove her bra and panties, and lose himself in her.
“Seth.” Her voice sliced through the fog that threatened to overwhelm him. He drew his hands back, his breath catching painfully in his chest as he waited to see if she intended to send him away.
She turned over on her back. Her eyes were the deep green of summer…hot and radiant. “Seth… what are you doing?” Her voice was a husky whisper that shot rivulets of fire through him.
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “And I’m not sure I can stop.”
She drew a deep breath, her breasts rising and falling beneath the lacy slip. “Then heaven help us both…because I don’t want you to stop.”
Chapter 10
When he’d first touched her, Meghan had believed it to be part of her dream. She’d been dreaming of Seth and in her dream they’d been making love. However, as his touch had lingered, she’d realized it was real. No dream could be so sweet and vivid. No dream could evoke such heat inside her like she felt at the moment. The last of her sleep fell away as reality sank in.
Seth was on her bed, touching her with fingers of fire and she didn’t want the contact to stop.
“Kirk?” she asked, suddenly tensing as she thoug
ht of her son.
“Asleep.”
She relaxed at his single word reply.
As he pulled his shirt over his head, his eyes green pools of hunger, there was no more room for thought in her head. She had no intention of calling a halt to the lovemaking she knew was about to occur.
It had been inevitable. From the instant he’d shown up on her front porch, this moment had been as inevitable as the fall of night in the evenings…as the rise of the sun in the morning.
She didn’t stop to wonder why he wanted her now, when he hadn’t wanted her before. At the moment it didn’t matter. She only knew she wanted him as she never had before.
With his shirt off, he reached for her, and she sat up and went willingly into his arms. His mouth possessed hers with an urgency, a wildness that tore through her to her very core.
He tangled his hands in her hair, drawing her closer…closer still, until her slip-covered breasts were pulled tight against his bare chest. He slid one hand behind her head, as if to hold her steady while his mouth plundered hers.
She touched his shoulders first, running her hands across the taut muscles, then wrapped her arms around him, giving her hands free rein to play across his broad back.
Any lingering sleepiness that might have existed in her fell away as she slid into his kiss. The taste of him brought her triumphantly to life, filling her with a joy that surged through her blood, sang in her veins.
A moan released itself from her as his lips left hers and instead blazed a trail of fire down her jawline and into the hollow of her throat.
“Meg…Meg…sweet Meg,” he murmured, his breath hot against her neck.
“Seth,” she sighed, loving the sound, the feel of his name on her lips.
His hands left her hair and instead caressed down her back and she arched like a cat beneath a stroking hand.
She wasn’t sure who pushed the blankets aside, Seth or her. In any case, the bedspread fell to the floor and the sheet was shoved down at their feet.
He kissed her shoulders, then pushed the straps of her slip and bra off her shoulders in an effort to be rid of them.
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