her down, staring at her, feeling an unwanted surge of lust roil through his body.
He started to cover her solicitously with the sheet, but could not help but notice how the shape of her showed through the worn cotton of her thin chemise. Her breasts were high and firm and surprisingly voluptuous for her thin frame; he could see the aureole and her puckered nipples through the transparent cloth and he ached suddenly, unexpectedly, to wet them with his mouth, to dampen and warm the cloth covering them with his hot breath. The hot shaft of desire took his breath away, and he let his eyes roam over the rest of her, his heart beating harder and harder in his chest and his breath beginning to whistle between his clenched teeth. She had a high, arching rib cage and was so thin he could count her ribs and see the indentations between. Her waist was small he could have spanned it with his hands and still have room left over and her hipbones thrust out sharply. She needed weeks of good food and rest and he found himself wondering idly how big her breasts would be then. Nick felt his blood surge through his veins and grow hotter. His hands trembled on the sheet, and he hurriedly covered her.
You are a beast, he thought disgustedly. What is wrong with you? She is in the grip of something horrifying and all you can think about is fornication. He smiled wryly. He was standing stark naked with an attractive, nearly naked female and he wondered why he was lusting after her. Maggie whimpered again, and all levity fled from his mind.
“Ssh,” he whispered. “Ssh, it is okay.”
“Papa?” she whispered. “Make him go away. Do not let him hurt me anymore.”
“I will not, sweeting,” he whispered back, and stroked her hair back from her sweaty forehead. "He will never hurt you again." Tenderness threatened to consume him as she turned her face blindly into his palm. Nick felt something twist in his gut as she pressed her lips against his fingers and then gripped his hand with her smaller one.
“Do not leave me,” she begged.
He sat on the edge of the bed. “I will not,” he said. “I will stay with you until you go to sleep.” He picked up the coverlet. “Let me tuck you in.”
Maggie curled up under the warm blanket and he watched her drift back into a peaceful sleep. He determinedly kept his eyes on the delicate lines of the features that were delineated by the soft moonlight seeping through the window in her room, and tried to ignore the desire raging through his body. He stroked her hair one more time, his fingers going unbidden to the slippery strands, and she murmured something as she cuddled her pillow. Nick had a sudden deep urge to be a pillow. He damped down his desires and watched her until he was sure she was deeply asleep, and then left the room, taking great care to be quiet.
In his own room, he lay on the bed with his hands behind his head and stared broodingly at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pulse that still thumped in his groin. This is going to be trouble, he thought grimly. Maybe a trip to see the widow Henderson was in order. He had just been too long without a woman, that was all. He would talk to Ned about moving into the house, too.
*********************************************************
“Good morning, Maggie,” he said quietly to her back. She shivered with a remembered terror, then made her hands stop shaking through sheer effort of will.
“Good morning, sir,” she replied calmly, turning from the oven to wipe her hands on the apron she wore. The garment dwarfed her slender figure and Maggie knew she must look ridiculous. She wrapped dignity around herself much as she had wrapped the apron strings around herself thrice.
“If you would seat yourself in the dining room, sir, I would serve you your breakfast,” she said smoothly, her eyes lowered. She was a perfect picture of servility, and she should be, she thought bitterly. She had had three years to practice that emotion. A quiet chuckle brought her head up sharply.
“No need for that.” A grin crinkled the skin at the corners of his brown eyes.
He had beautiful eyes, she thought detachedly. They were the rich deep brown of strong coffee and they were framed with long, curling lashes. The twinkle in them invited her to