Heart Of Texas. Mary Baxter Lynn

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СКАЧАТЬ were a million other questions she would’ve liked to ask, such as how had he known who she was and where she lived. But those questions were easily answered. In a town the size of River Oaks, nothing was sacred.

      He seemed comfortable, sprawled on the carpet that covered her hardwood floor. At least he was no longer moaning, and a semblance of color had returned to his face.

      “The cattle prod’s right here.” Clark rolled onto his stomach, grimacing, and placed his hand in the middle of his lower back.

      His analogy brought another smile to Sara’s lips, although she knew exactly what he was saying. In order to understand back pain, one had to have experienced it. She certainly had. That was one of the reasons she had chosen this profession.

      “Let’s see if we can’t get rid of that prod,” she said, “but I’m making no promises. This situation is far from ideal, but then, I don’t have to tell you that.”

      “Dammit, lady, just do what you gotta do, okay?”

      “I have a table in my spare bedroom. You think you could make it in there?”

      “Do I have to?”

      Sara picked up on his shallow breathing at the same time she noticed the muscles in his jaw were bunched. “No. I think I can make an adjustment right here and work the kink out. A hard surface is what we need, and the floor certainly is that.”

      “Go for it.” He cursed. “Otherwise, I’m not sure I’m going to live through this.”

      Sara hid a smile. “Oh, I suspect you’ll live. I’m good at what I do.”

      “Let us pray.”

      “Your shirt has to come off,” Sara said calmly but crisply, ignoring his ill humor and crankiness.

      He struggled onto his elbows. Between the two of them, the shirt was soon off and tossed aside. Once he was again flat on his stomach with head to one side, she knelt and placed her hands on his upper back, then began a slow, deliberate descent down toward his lower back, touching, pressing in what she knew were just the right spots.

      He moaned.

      “Am I hurting you?”

      “God, no,” he rasped. “Please don’t stop. Your hands feel like magic.”

      Sara had had her hands on numerous bodies, most of them male due to the numerous ranching and farming jobs around River Oaks. Never once had she experienced any stimulation whatsoever. Until now. Suddenly, she was light-headed, and her mouth was dry as her hands massaged his muscles.

      Maybe it was because she knew him from back when, knew that he had been in her house, knew that he had dated Alice, knew that he had possibly been intimate with her sister.

      The latter thought rocked her to the core. So what if he’d fooled around with her sister? It was nothing to her. It hadn’t been then and it sure wasn’t now.

      Clark moaned again as her hands touched the right spot directly above his waistline. Sara watched as the hard, tanned muscles rippled and quivered underneath her fingers. What a great body, she thought, feeling her mind jump back on that runaway train headed down that forbidden track.

      The first time Clark Garrison walked into their old rambling house on Vine Street, which had long since been sold, her breath had almost stopped. She would never forget that moment. His confident swagger and devilish smile had brightened their dreary kitchen like a dose of unfiltered sunlight.

      She had remembered thinking, If only he was older and she was prettier, maybe he would’ve stared at her with those hungry eyes instead of her sister.

      Stop it! Sara chided herself, feeling her face flame and hearing him yelp. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

      “You hit the place.” His words came out a grunt, and she noticed new patches of sweat on the exposed side of his face.

      “I want you to roll over. Your knee needs to come up to your waist,” Sara told him, her tone all business now. “The pain will be severe at first, then it’ll taper off.”

      “I know,” he ground out. “That’s what my doctor does at home.”

      Once she had the knee where she wanted it, cupped into his waist, and her hands back on his flesh, she felt the knotted muscles give way.

      “Ahhh,” he moaned.

      “Better?”

      Clark blew out a long breath. “You bet.”

      “Think you can sit up?”

      “I know I can.”

      Sara stood. “Once you’re upright, we’ll head for the sofa. I want to put some heat on that area.”

      It wasn’t near the ordeal Sara suspected it would be, though again he was a big man. Still, he was agile and not at all cumbersome on his feet. That was what had made him an all-state athlete in school.

      Within seconds after he was up, Clark was sitting on the couch with his head back and his eyes closed.

      “Are you all right?” Sara asked, scrutinizing him closely.

      His eyes popped open, and he squinted up at her. “You should know.”

      “In that case, you’re welcome.”

      “Patting yourself on the back, huh?”

      “Self congratulations aren’t quite in order,” she finally said. “You still have to get up and walk out of here before I can do that.”

      That mocking smile she also remembered softened his heretofore tense lips. Talk about sex appeal—he seemed to ooze it, a scar under his right eye, another trophy from his football days, heightening that appeal.

      She couldn’t say that he was handsome. He wasn’t. His features were too irregular, yet somehow they worked, especially in conjunction with his unkempt sandy-colored hair, great physique, tanned skin and brilliant blue eyes. They were all undeniable pluses. With those, a man’s face didn’t have to be perfect.

      Suddenly Sara felt self-conscious, thinking how awful she must look, only to jerk herself back in hand. It didn’t matter how she looked. He was a onetime patient—nothing more, nothing less. “Hold still while I get the heating pad.”

      “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m afraid to move.”

      “Don’t be.” Sara’s lips twitched. “We can do it all over again, you know.”

      “I’ll pass,” he said tightly.

      She turned and walked toward her makeshift office. When she reached the room, her heart was beating far faster than it should have been. Damn!

      

      Not bad, not bad at all, Clark thought as he watched Sara make her way out of the room, at least not from the back. If nothing else, her derriere was intriguing, moving СКАЧАТЬ