Heart of Gold - By Tami Hoag Page 0,44
his black hair glistening, wet from his shower. It seemed to Faith the look in his eyes was blatantly male and possessive as he came toward her. He didn’t even glance at Alaina when he answered her.
“Like you said, counselor, a rhetorical question.”
He stopped within inches of Faith—too close for his own sanity—and lifted a hand to brush his knuckles against her cheek. He had told himself in the shower that he was going to take a step back from her, cool things off a little so she could get some perspective. But his stern, cold dictates had vaporized the instant he’d walked into the kitchen. It seemed his knack for detachment couldn’t hold a candle to Faith’s appeal. Looking at her now, all he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms and carry her back to bed. If he hadn’t been dimly aware of their captive audience, he would have done just that.
Dammit, she brought every primitive feeling he had rushing to the surface. Every time he got within three feet of her he felt more like a caveman than a man with an Ivy League education. When Faith looked up at him the way she was doing now, her big brown eyes all soft and shining, he felt as if he were going to go up in smoke—not unlike the pan of scrambled eggs on the stove.
“Faith?”
“Hmmm?” she asked as the air seeped out of her lungs. During the long night her body had become very well acquainted with Shane’s, to the point that the slightest signal from him could set off every sensual alarm she had. At the moment her whole body was humming. It was a wonder she even heard him.
“Your eggs are burning,” he said with a devastatingly soft, sexy smile.
“They’re not the only thing,” Jayne mumbled from her ringside seat. Alaina shushed her as she slid down on a chair.
Faith’s eyes rounded in shock as she turned back to her smoking pan. She yanked it off the burner and tossed the contents with a spatula to see if the food was salvageable.
“I don’t want any eggs, Mama,” Lindy announced as she toddled across the floor to take Shane by the hand. She sent him her sunny smile. “Come and have some toast, Shane. I’m sorry it’s not the kind with raisins.”
Faith managed to sit through a half hour of breakfast conversation without finishing a single piece of raisinless toast. While her friends discussed the errands they had to run and Lindy lobbied Shane for another day at the beach, Faith sipped her tea and fidgeted.
She wasn’t quite certain how she was supposed to act. She’d never had a lover before. Including her husband, she added ruefully. One night with Shane made twelve years with William Gerrard pale in comparison.
“Earth to Faith. Earth to Faith,” Jayne called across the table, waving a hand back and forth in front of her.
Faith jerked to attention, blushing furiously. “What? I’m sorry.”
“And I thought I was the flake of the Fearsome Foursome!” Jayne drawled, shaking her head. She stared into Faith’s eyes and spoke very distinctly, as if English were Faith’s second language. “Honey, what are your plans for the day?”
“Oh, um, I’ve got book work to do, then I thought I’d put the finishing touches on the captain’s suite and some of the other guest rooms.”
“We could go to the beach,” Lindy suggested hopefully.
“Not today, Lindy,” Faith said firmly, pinning her daughter with a stern look. “Now I don’t want to hear another word about it. If you’re finished with your breakfast, go brush your teeth.”
Sullen, Lindy gathered up her herd of plastic dinosaurs and slid down off her chair. She made the most of her exit, giving her mother a disappointed, teary-eyed glare. “When I’m a mama, I’m gonna take my babies to the beach every day!”
Faith heaved a sigh, propping her chin in one hand and letting the other fall to the tabletop. “Great. Now I’m Attila the Mom.”
Shane reached over and gave her hand a squeeze, a move that drew not only Faith’s surprised gaze but Jayne’s and Alaina’s as well. They all stared at him, slack-jawed. Hell, Shane thought, he was shocked himself, but the action had been automatic. It felt like the right thing to do, and he was a man who usually trusted his instincts. Swallowing down his confusion, he said, “She’ll get over it.”
The smile of appreciation Faith sent him hit him like a hammer between the eyes.