bedroom door. Stepping out barefoot into the hall, he stopped. Just what was he doing?
And then he turned and saw her.
Lacey stood at the far end of the hall, a light cotton shift barely giving her form decent covering. Her fair hair hung loose in tendrils that almost pointed to the pert breasts Dylan could see in the light coming from her room. For a second Dylan wondered if she were sleepwalking, so hushed was the night.
“I…I couldn’t sleep.”
Dylan thought her voice was like a Siren’s song, mesmerizing him to go to her. The words, “Me neither,” escaped his lips before he took a step toward her. “I…I…”
As Lacey turned and moved slightly, she caught the light, and he could see the outline of her whole body, the peak of her breasts, the curve and round swell of her hips.
“I…I couldn’t sleep either,” he finally got out.
He was drawn to her, as if someone had thrown a rope about him and was pulling him in. Lacey hadn’t moved but stood waiting for him, waiting to feel his arms about her, to be embraced in the safety of his strength. When he embraced her, she sighed, which Dylan thought was the breath of night, a sound he had been waiting his whole life to hear. His hands slipped down the length of her night shift then moved back up to remove it, revealing the satin of her skin. And then he stopped. Releasing the shift, he let it fall back to cover her as he stepped back.
“I can’t. I…it isn’t right. I can’t dishonor you this way.”
Lacey’s head tilted as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. Dishonor. Could a woman ever understand how such a stain would destroy him?
Dylan turned back to his room as Lacey stood there. A breeze slammed a door shut.
****
In the morning Dylan sat and prodded the eggs in front of him, the enticing smells of bacon and coffee not doing much for his appetite. He ate mechanically, his fork lifting food, finding his mouth, before searching round his plate once again. He chewed without tasting, his eyes avoiding Lacey as she pushed some home fries around before stabbing one.
“I’ll be off.” He rose suddenly. “It’s best if I go.”
Her hands were on her hips as she stood and tapped that delicate foot he had seen. “You’re an honorable man, Dylan Kane. I don’t reckon I have anything to fear from you as far as my own honor goes.” A minute passed in silence. “Are you heading off from hereabouts or just leaving me? ’Cause if you think you’re gonna find another place to stay, you’ll be wasting your time. You know that.”
“I can sleep out. It’s best.”
A moment passed in which her chest rose and fell with a deep intake of air. “I need the money. Plus, of course, if I’da said no, you’da stopped. I know that. You know that.”
“Mebbe. But that don’t make what happened right. You sayin’ yes, if you did, don’t make it right.” Why had the woman let him lift her shift like that?
Lacey studied her toe for a moment.
The front door opened and banged shut. “Laaaaace?” a voice called familiarly. “Got off early—I’m…” Luke Everhart tossed his hat on the hallstand as he entered the kitchen, then stopped. His glance darted from Dylan to Lacey and back again as he bit his lower lip. “What...”
Dylan spun round, eyes narrowing as he assessed Lacey’s brother. Luke Everhart was young.
And his coloring was fair.
Part Two
With introductions made, Lacey busied herself clearing up. She violently pumped water to wash the dishes, breaking one plate as she banged it, tutting as she tossed it aside.
Dylan had sunk back down onto his chair. He crossed one long leg over the other as he leaned back sizing up Luke Everhart, whose hands shook slightly as he helped himself to a cup of coffee.
“I thought you said you’d be off?” Lacey’s plates had never been so clean with scrubbing. Outside, a ball of tumbleweed spun by as branches tried to meet the earth and the gate crashed open and