Blazing Bedtime Stories, Volume IX. Rhonda Nelson

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СКАЧАТЬ for you,” Robin drawled.

      John merely laughed and his gaze drifted fleetingly past Robin’s shoulder before finding his again. “Smart-assed bastard,” he groused good-naturedly. “I’m entitled to gloat. That’s what happens when you win.” He snorted. “You should know, you’ve done it often enough. By the way, have you been by the clinic to see Marion or are you still avoiding her?” he asked suddenly, his tone light.

      Tone aside, the question itself carried enough weight to flatten an anvil and John bloody well knew it.

      The clinic in question was the Michael Cross Clinic, one that Robin had founded as soon as he’d inherited at twenty-two in memory of a dear childhood friend who’d died officially of sepsis, but more truthfully of being poor and not having health insurance. Michael’s family had lived on the estate grounds and worked for his grandfather. His mother was the cook, his father the head gardener. By all rights, as a capable employer, Robin’s grandfather should have offered them coverage, but he’d been too tight-fisted to provide it.

      Michael’s younger sister, Marion—the mere thought of her made something in Robin’s chest shift and ache—ran the clinic. She was a former friend, a onetime lover and the only woman Robin could honestly say ever terrified him.

      Though his grandfather hadn’t approved of the Cross children as proper playmates for him, that hadn’t kept the four of them—Robin, Michael, John and later, Marion, who couldn’t bear to be left behind—from spending as much time together as possible. They’d built a tree house and forts in the forest around the estate, swum in the creek that cut through the woods. They’d invented their own type of Morse code with flashlights and had communicated late into the night. They’d caught lightning bugs, played hide-and-seek and I Spy. Though five years younger than the rest of them, Marion had been determined to keep up and though she occasionally got on her older brother’s nerves, Robin never minded when she came along.

      She’d been special, even then.

      And the adult version of Marion was even more potent. She made him feel things he couldn’t recognize much less name, stirred a longing, an ache, a need beyond the basest level of attraction.

      Because he’d needed to do something to show her that first, he wasn’t like his grandfather and second that he had genuinely cared for her brother, Robin had founded the clinic and then handed her the reins to run as she saw fit once she’d graduated from college. He’d run into her half a dozen times in the ten years since she’d officially opened the door to the clinic and each time, no matter how fleeting, was more powerful than the last. It wasn’t enough to talk to her—he needed to see her. It wasn’t enough to see her—he had to touch her. Even if it was the merest brush of his shoulder against hers, it electrified him. Though he’d been with countless women over the past ten years—and had been with others prior to her—that single ill-conceived night with Marion a decade ago was still somehow the most significant experience he’d ever had, and had become the measuring stick by which any other coupling was evaluated.

      Ridiculous, he knew, but there it was.

      He’d been back in town for nearly three months now and, while he’d done on-site visits to the other charities and businesses he supported, he’d avoided going to the clinic.

      Why? Because he knew what would happen when he saw her—what he’d feel—and he had enough self-preservation instincts to delay it as long as possible.

      Though there’d always been an easy camaraderie between them before, the tension now was palpable. She deliberately kept her distance and made sure they were never alone. It was obvious that she regretted their night together—and to some degree, he did, too, because he’d never been able to forget it—and wanted to keep their relationship on a strictly professional level.

      His consolation? He knew she still wanted him, as well. He could practically feel the desire humming off her, caught glimpses of it when she thought he wasn’t looking. He never left that clinic without feeling emotionally drained and wound tighter than a three-day clock.

      “I’m not avoiding her,” Robin lied, annoyed that John had noticed. “I’ve been busy. She has everything in hand at the clinic. There’s no reason for me to check up on her.” There. That sounded perfectly logical. Even John should appreciate that.

      “How about just checking in on her then?” John pressed, the dart penetrating. “She’s a friend, isn’t she? You’ve known her most of your life.”

      Robin scowled, growing increasingly uncomfortable with this topic of conversation. “I know how long I’ve known her, dammit,” he snapped, reaching again for his glass. “I don’t need you to tell me.”

      John shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, then leaned forward and smiled with all of his teeth. “Maybe so, but do you know what you do need me to tell you?”

      John’s gaze shifted past his shoulder once more and a prickling of uneasiness slid up Robin’s spine as a grin that wasn’t directed at him broke impossibly wider over his friend’s face.

      “What?” he asked ominously.

      John beamed at him. “Marion’s here and headed this way. Put the hat back on.”

      2

      MARION CROSS HAD BEEN LOCKED in a state of dreadful anticipation since the moment she learned several months ago that Robin Sherwood was back in Atlanta. As her boss, she’d imagined their first meeting would take place at the clinic—rumor had it he’d been making the rounds, doing on-site inspections of his various interests around town, though irritatingly, he hadn’t made it to hers yet. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or insulted and, if she was honest, she’d admit to being a little hurt, as well. She hadn’t expected to be the first on his list—too much history—but she’d expected him to at least make it.

      Although, had anyone told her that she’d run into him at one of the city’s finest, most exclusive restaurants dressed in an extravagant Robin Hood costume, she would have never believed it. Her lips quirked.

      Of course, knowing Robin, she probably should have.

      No doubt this was the result of one of his and John’s equally notorious and ridiculous bets. They’d been doing it as long as she could remember. The daring and daunting, goading and gloating, the cork-brained testosterone-induced idiocy that, for reasons that would always escape her, she found reluctantly endearing. There was something so natural about their friendship, the mutual understanding of what made the other one tick. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

      John immediately smiled and got to his feet when he saw her. His bright blue eyes twinkled with mischievous pleasure. “Marion,” he said warmly, wrapping his massive arms around her. The only thing little about John was his last name. More blond Adonis than ogre, he’d left a string of broken hearts around Atlanta.

      Unaccountably nervous, she returned the embrace. “Hi, John. It’s good to see you.”

      He drew back. “You, too, sprite. You’re looking lovely as always.”

      She murmured her thanks, her heartbeat suddenly thundering in her ears. She didn’t have to see him to know that Robin was looming right behind her—she could feel him. The weight of his presence rolled over her, prickling her skin. Her stomach gave an involuntarily little jump and her pulse quickened right along with her mounting anxiety. She felt the weight of his gaze bore into the back of her head, then trail СКАЧАТЬ