Pulling herself from her thoughts, Julia went around turning off the lights and making up her mind (or making up excuses, depending on how you looked at it).
It wouldn’t hurt, just tonight; he’d had a painkiller which eventually should kick in.
And he’d been shot, for goodness sake.
And he needed human companionship and gone so far as to admit it. She couldn’t say no as she knew exactly how that felt.
She decided tomorrow she could go back to being aloof and unaffected by him.
Tonight, she was going to give Douglas what he wanted.
Just this once.
She climbed into bed cautiously and no sooner had she begun to lay back, his arm shot out and pulled her closer.
Then he hissed, “Bloody hell, your hands are like ice.”
Hastily she explained, “I was in the chapel, I didn’t want to children to hear me pacing. It was cold.”
“Get under the covers,” he ordered and she jumped out of bed as he rolled off the other side. He carefully took off his boots as she ran to put on a pair of socks so her feet wouldn’t freeze him, returned and got under the covers where he already was.
Just as before, the minute she lay her body down, he pulled it towards him. The way they were laying she had no choice but to rest one hand on his chest and her cheek on his good shoulder. She felt his muscles tense at the coldness of her hands but he said nothing.
She felt like a fool.
“I’m sorry my hands are cold,” she whispered.
He made a noise that sounded a lot like a grunt.
Then, silence.
She tried to relax and couldn’t.
So she asked, “Where’s Nick?”
Another grunt and no further reply so she assumed Nick wasn’t coming back.
She waited another moment.
“Who is Nick, by the way?” she inquired, not able to stop herself.
“Julia, if you don’t shut up, I’ll be forced to shut you up and although I have a feeling we both would very much enjoy what I have in mind, it might cause me to bleed to death. So, I’m asking you please, just be quiet and go to sleep.”
“Okay,” she relented, too terrified to say anything else.
“And don’t be scared of me,” he demanded in that tone that again said he expected her to obey even though his demand was impossibly ridiculous.
“Okay,” she repeated meekly, trying to get him to relax as she could tell by the muscles flexing under her hands that he wasn’t. “Goodnight. I’m glad you’re okay,” she whispered.
At that, he pulled her closer.
And, much sooner than she ever expected, she fell into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Fire and Ice
Douglas awoke in an empty bed, moving his head to the side to see Julia was gone. He looked at the clock and it was seven forty-five. The children would have left for school and he was wondering where the hell she was when he heard the shower.