He was deep into some very vivid illicit fantasies when a voice intruded.
“Nathan? Are you OK?”
Eyes flying open, he jumped guiltily to his feet. He shoved both hands through his hair and then carefully sat down again. Inwardly, he laughed at himself. Sure, he had been caught in a compromising situation before, but never alone.
She was standing in the doorway, looking at him with a frown of concern. “Are you ill? Do you have a fever? You look hot.”
A series of possible responses ran through Nathan’s mind, each one rejected by his stern super-ego.
Be nice, Nathan. She hasn’t seen the nice side of you yet. You can be nice, can’t you? You still remember how?
He cleared his throat. “I don’t think so, no. I just…uh…fell asleep…”
She nodded. “The boys are asleep too. At last.” She held up an oblong box. “I brought a peace offering.”
Nathan gritted his teeth as he ordered his body to ignore the way her breasts moved under her sweater as she lifted her arm.
“Peace offering?” he managed to ask.
“Scrabble. Want to play?”
Nathan laughed. “You bet, Librarian.” He winked. “Maybe you will make a nice change after all.”
She looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but then smiled, to his relief accepting his humor at face value.
She was a worthy opponent, matching his every move. It did not help that in order to keep his promise to himself, Nathan had to reject all the best words that by themselves formed in his mind and on his slate. At the moment he could think of three words that would send her into a fit, with good reason. Regretfully he threw his last letters on the board to win the game with the innocent word LACES.
Of course, he would have preferred seeing her reaction to some of the other words, but he was trying really hard to be a gentleman here. For now.
As if she’d read his mind, her eyes met his and their gazes locked for a few tension-filled moments.
Erin felt herself tremble as their eyes met. His face was intense, dark pupils wide, firm lips slightly apart. His whole body was tense as unspoken messages flew between them. She could read them easily, with her intellect and her mind as well as with her heart. Non-verbal communication, body language, this was her field, what she had specialized in during those long years studying anthropology. She knew his heart must be picking up speed, his hormone system sending messages to different organs, his senses open to receive her every signal. In short: all the same things that were happening in her own treacherous body.
She could not be misreading him. The attraction was mutual and strong. How could she be feeling this for a man she didn’t even like?
Throughout the day, he hadn’t made it easy for her to keep disliking him, she admitted to herself. With his humor and constant smile, his easy way with her brothers, he kept charming her off her pedestal. She had to work at it, constantly remind herself of the thoughtless and cold way he treated his family.
She shook her head and clenched her eyes shut for one second, breaking the mood. Ignoring what they both knew, she smiled politely at him as she put the letters away.
“You’re good. I’m not used to losing at Scrabble.” He held out his hand. “You’re a very worthy opponent, Erin.”
Erin took his hand and congratulated him. The warm pressure sent tingles up her arm until she pulled her hand away. But he had behaved. He hadn’t even made one dubious word during the game, and heaven knew that plenty of them had somehow arranged themselves on her own slate.
She hesitated. “I’d like to apologize for my outburst last night and this morning. I had no right to criticize you like that. It really is none of my business.”
Nathan folded the game and put it back into the box. “I was out of line too. I wasn’t exactly a gentleman last night.” He grinned at her. “I’m not used to finding half-naked librarians in my room at night. The devil in me took over.”
Why did the devil in him have to be so darn appealing?
“OK, pardons are granted all around,” she said breezily.
He held out his hand again. “Shall we shake on that?”
She hesitated a moment, then took his hand again, careful to slide her hand quickly out of his grasp again. Tingles once more. What was the man doing to her?
Nathan shifted his gaze from hers and out the window to the darkness beyond. “Actually, I’ve thought a lot about what you said,” he said quietly. “I didn’t realize Sally needed me. With the age difference we’ve never been close. She was only a child when I left home.”
“Neither of you have any other blood relatives,” Erin commented. “Apart from her daughter, you are her only living relative.”
He shrugged, his posture turning defensive and his voice distant. “I do fine on my own. Anyway, if I had known it meant so much to her, I would have tried to visit more often. I really didn’t know. The fact is, I hardly know my sister. We’re strangers to each other.”
Perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps not. She felt confused. He seemed contrite about having ignored his sister’s needs, but he sounded very cold stating that he did fine on his own. How could he have failed to realize that his sister might need him after their father’s sudden death?
“If you don’t care, then why did you come back now?”
He glanced at her. “Are you getting personal again?”
His voice was friendly enough, but Erin recognized the warning for what it was.
“Anyway, you may not have been close,” she said with hesitation, “but you are her older brother. Sisters tend to idolize older brothers.”
Nathan chuckled, warm light appearing in his eyes, that in itself convincing her that he loved his sister deeply. “She used to follow me around like a puppy. She even hid in my car once, but I made sure she never did that again.”
“You did?”
He frowned mockingly at her. “That’s a chilling tone of voice, Erin. I didn’t beat her. We had a serious discussion about privacy and safety, that’s it. I’m not a monster.”
“I never said you were. But…”
“Spit it out, Librarian.”
Erin squirmed. “You were right. It’s none of my business. But you’ve never even seen your little niece…” She let the question trail off.
“I look forward to seeing her,” Nathan replied after a short but loaded silence.
Erin didn’t push further. She stood up. “Well, I should be heading for bed. The boys will have me up at the crack of dawn. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” He smiled up at her, and she clenched her jaw as the sudden transformation of his face from serious to cheerful did wicked things to her insides. “See you tomorrow.”
Tomorrow came all too soon. Predictably, the twins woke her up at seven. Yawning off the dreams she refused to acknowledge she remembered in detail, she got up, fed them as quietly as possible so they wouldn’t disturb Nathan and was off to the indoor swimming pool by eight. As she had suspected, the lure of underwater pictures was enough to cure the twins of their fear of getting water in their faces.
The day passed quickly and they were home at four, just in time for their mother to arrive and pick the boys up.
“Thanks for having them,”