Nathan's Child - By Anne McAllister Page 0,46

the pockets of his canvas shorts. “If you say so.”

“I say so,” Carin said. “And that is that.”

She’d known she was living dangerously all the time she’d been at Nathan’s. But it was true, what he’d said—she hadn’t had any choice. Not a viable choice, anyway.

She couldn’t make Lacey take care of her. She couldn’t impose on Estelle or Fiona or Hugh. And until she’d been able to hobble around, staying in her own place—even with help—would have been difficult in the extreme.

So she’d stayed at Nathan’s. And she’d steeled herself against him as best she could. It had been hard once she’d begun to feel better, once her mind had become less preoccupied with pain and more with the persistent presence of Nathan Wolfe.

As soon as she could put weight on her leg, she’d refused to let him carry her—even though she nearly went stir crazy staying in the house. He’d offered several times to carry her down to the beach.

“You can sit on a towel on the sand and watch Lacey swim,” he’d said.

And it had been very tempting. It would have got her out of the house. It would have permitted her some time on the beach. It would have been lovely to sit in the sun and watch Lacey swim.

But she would have been in Nathan’s arms all the way there and all the way back. And she would have had to watch Nathan swim.

It was bad enough seeing Nathan in shorts and T-shirts every day. With the heat, there was rarely any reason for him to wear more than that. But if she’d taken him up on his offer to go to the beach with them, she would have seen him in less.

She had enough trouble remaining indifferent to Nathan. She didn’t need to see his hard abs and bare chest. She didn’t need to watch his bathing trunks mold to his masculine frame and watch water stream down his belly and disappear into his trunks. She had enough memories. She didn’t need that!

The night before she’d packed up and made Maurice come and get her, she hadn’t been able to sleep because of those memories. They’d had her shifting around on her bed, agitated and uncomfortable. It was too hot, she’d told herself. It was too humid. There were half a dozen reasons why she couldn’t sleep.

Finally she’d got up to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Ordinarily when she did so, she tried to get from her room to the bathroom as quickly and quietly as possible.

Last night she’d been quiet, but she hadn’t moved quickly enough. The moonlight had tempted her to slow down as she passed the archway to the living room. And a glimpse of the sculpted masculine form sprawled on the sofa had immediately drawn her eye, had made her pause and stare.

The silvery light streaming in the window highlighted the planes and threw into shadow the angles of Nathan’s muscular body. He was lying on his back, his only covering a pair of light-colored loose-fitting boxer shorts. But their looseness didn’t completely mask the swell of his masculinity.

Carin couldn’t help herself. She stopped. She looked. And then Nathan had moved and spoken to her.

Dear God, he’d been awake! He’d seen her standing there ogling him!

At least he’d only thought she needed help! Quickly Carin had assured him she was fine and had limped rapidly away.

That had been bad. What had followed was worse.

If she had been restless before her trek down the hall, after Nathan had spoken to her, Carin hadn’t been able to sleep at all. She’d been awake and staring out into the moonlight through the sliding glass door to her bedroom when another door had opened and she saw Nathan, still wearing only his boxers, step out onto the deck.

As she watched, he had grabbed one of the towels hung out to dry on the railing. Then, slinging it around his neck, he hurried down the steps and in seconds had disappeared through the trees onto the path that led to the beach.

He was going for a swim? At two-thirty in the morning?

Why? Because he was as restless as she was? Because he was remembering things, too?

It was possible. It was even likely. She didn’t question that he was still attracted to her. She didn’t doubt that he’d be delighted to go to bed with her. He just wouldn’t love her.

Carin wanted love.

But three-quarters of an hour later, when she saw him