Baby On The Run. Kate Little

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СКАЧАТЬ noticed. More than she should have. More than she wanted to admit, even in her private thoughts. The sense of his closeness had somehow made her feel breathless and amazingly serene at the same time. She’d felt as if she could have climbed a mountain beside him. Part of it was feeling safe and protected. A rare feeling for Carey.

      The same way she felt now, in his house. Though she knew it was only a temporary illusion. It was a wonderful feeling to let go and let her guard down, just for a few hours.

      Just long enough to rest. To get a second wind, she reminded herself. Before you and Lindsay move on.

      Chapter Two

      Carey woke slowly. She realized she’d been dreaming. A frightening dream she had often. She is always alone, walking down an empty street at night. Someone is following her, she turns and can’t see anything. She walks faster, then runs. Suddenly, they are right in front of her and reach out to grab her. She can feel a painful cold grip on her body, a touch like ice.

      She fights back and screams…

      Then wakes up.

      “Hey…wake up. You’re dreaming. It’s okay…”

      Her eyes finally opened and she blinked. Ben was crouched near her chair, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder, his face very close. He’d been shaking her awake, she realized.

      She sat up suddenly, feeling embarrassed as he stood up and looked down at her.

      “You had a bad dream.”

      She pushed her hair back with her hand. “I guess so… I can’t remember it now,” she lied.

      “I shouldn’t have let you sleep in that chair. It doesn’t look very comfortable.”

      “It wasn’t the chair,” she assured him.

      He met her gaze again but didn’t answer. He walked over to the stone hearth and tossed another log on the fire. The flames jumped and glowed, filling the room with a sudden flash of light.

      “I fixed a little bed for Lindsay. I hope you don’t mind. I was afraid she might slip off your lap and I didn’t want to wake you.”

      She sat up suddenly, the blanket falling from her shoulders. Her baby was no longer in her arms. She hadn’t even realized it…

      “Don’t worry. She hasn’t gone very far,” Ben reassured her.

      Carey looked down at her feet and found Lindsay snug and soundly asleep in her car seat, tilted back and covered with a soft blanket.

      “Thank you. She looks very comfortable.”

      He stood up and smiled down at her, looking quietly pleased by her compliment.

      “Are you hungry? I made a bite to eat. It isn’t much, just what I could find in the refrigerator.”

      “I could eat anything right now,” she admitted.

      She hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She stood up and followed him to the kitchen, forcing herself not to make a mad dash.

      A few minutes later, she was seated at the table beside Ben, relishing spoonfuls of thick, hot beef noodle soup and eyeing the grilled cheese sandwich he’d set down beside her bowl.

      Neither of them spoke and Carey forced herself to eat at a slow, polite pace.

      “This is great soup,” she said between spoonfuls. “It tastes homemade.”

      “My freezer is stocked with takeout containers from the hotel restaurant. Guess I’m the best-fed single guy in town.”

      And probably the most chased after, Carey silently added for him. But the stocked freezer explained one reason why none of the local single females had caught him yet.

      Carey did wonder at the rest of the story.

      “I made the sandwich. Just don’t look too closely,” he warned.

      Carey glanced at the grilled cheese, golden on one side, burned to a crisp on the other.

      “Not a problem. I’m so hungry, I’ll eat anything.”

      “A clean room, some heat…eats anything you put down in front of her. You’re not very hard to please, are you?”

      She stared down at her plate and didn’t answer. She had her reasons these days for setting low standards. Though she’d never really been fussy or demanding. It just wasn’t her nature.

      “It makes life easier,” she said finally, forcing a small smile.

      “It does,” he agreed. “Though not everyone sees it that way.”

      He didn’t say more. A shadow passed over his expression, dimming his brilliant eyes. She wondered what he was remembering. Some other woman who had sat here once, right where she was sitting now? Some woman who had been difficult to please?

      Carey took a few bites of her sandwich. It wasn’t bad at all. Not nearly as bad as it looked. Ben rose and took the soup bowls away.

      “Would you like some coffee?”

      “Coffee would be great. Just black is fine for me.”

      “No frills. I should have guessed that.” His voice was serious, but Carey noticed a teasing light in his eye. He poured out the two mugs of coffee and carried them into the living room so that Carey could check on the baby.

      Lindsay was still sleeping soundly in her makeshift bed. Carey sat down on the floor next to her and stared into the fire. Ben put another log on the burning pile and stirred up the embers until the fire flared up, bright and strong.

      He stretched out on the floor not too far from her. Leaning on one arm, he sipped his coffee and stared into the hearth.

      Carey had been watching the fire, but now, could hardly take her eyes off her host. He looked so long and lean, so relaxed…and sexy. She hugged her knees to her chest and took a bracing sip of her coffee.

      “Have you lived around here long?” Her voice came out in a croak and she hoped he didn’t notice.

      Okay, so she didn’t sound like the most witty conversationalist, but she was eager to break the heavy silence that had fallen between them.

      “I’ve lived here most of my life. I had two years in the navy and then went to college in North Carolina. I lived down there for a while. But finally, I came back to Maine.”

      “All those mild winters start to wear on you?”

      A half smile played about the corners of his mouth. A dimple creased his cheek and tiny lines fanned out at the corners of his eyes. She hadn’t noticed that before.

      “That was part of it. No challenge. And it never felt like Christmas.”

      Carey had spent the holidays in the Caribbean once. Her late husband’s idea. Ben was right. It СКАЧАТЬ