Loving Lydia (Atlantic Divide) Read Free Page A

touched her cheek, his hand so huge and dark against her white skin. Skin that felt so soft against his callused work hands. He leaned closer, and whispered her name again in the semi-darkness.
    “Lydia.”
    Her eyes flew open in horror, and she flung herself away from him, virtually climbing up the door in her attempt to get as far away as possible. Her reaction was so violent that he jumped back away from her. His heart leaped into his throat. When she fumbled for the door handle though, he moved back to take hold of her arm. It was a long way down, and she wasn’t properly awake.
    “Whoa, steady there,” he soothed. “You were just dreaming, honey. You’re okay. Take it easy. It’s okay. You’re safe, sweetheart.”
    He could hear her panicked breathing and see the glitter of her eyes as she stared at him through the darkness, but she never shook his hand off her arm, and her own hand slid away from the door handle.
    She took in a long, hitching breath and after a moment sat up straight. With a shaky hand, she tucked her golden hair behind her ear, and then stared down at his hand that still gently soothed her arm.
    “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I must have been in a deeper sleep than I realized.”
    It was dark inside the cab, except for the glow of the dashboard lights. It was pitch black outside. She seemed irritated that she’d allowed herself to fall asleep instead of remaining awake, for some strange reason, and he realized that she didn’t trust him in the least.
    He watched her closely, his hand still on her arm. Oddly enough, she seemed to take comfort in his touch and didn’t seem compelled to shake his hand off, but her breathing was still uneven and her hands shook. She turned her face to the front window and stared at the dark outline of the house in front of her.
    “Well, I suppose this means we’ve arrived.” Her voice was still a little shaky.
    “Yeah.” Sam opened his door and the interior light came on, over-bright in the dense darkness of the night. He glanced over at Lydia and noted the paleness of her skin. Exhaustion and fear. She’d reacted like a skittish foal.
    He realized she was one of the walking wounded, and he knew he had plenty of experience dealing with the wounded, the beaten, and the damaged. It was going to be a long haul for those wounds to heal, but he thought it might be interesting to stick around, keep an eye, and see what developed with this pretty little woman with her fears and her secrets.
    “I’ll turn some lights on in the house, and then we can get the kids and you to bed.” He heard her stomach give a loud growl and wondered how long it had been since she had eaten. It can’t have been easy on the plane with the two kids. He considered it might put her a little more at ease if they ate together. “Perhaps we need to feed you first, before you sink into a coma.”
    *
    It was almost two thirty by the time she crawled between the sheets of the double bed. She found it strange that it had the familiar and comforting smell of her sister. The bedding was clean, but Katie had washed it in her normal powder, and it somehow had a slightly surgical smell to it. It comforted Lydia as she drifted into sleep, thinking of the gentle giant downstairs who’d fed her re-heated spaghetti bolognaise that Katie had left in the fridge. He said he would stay until they had word from Jack so she wasn’t alone in a strange house with the kids.
    She’d barely spoken to him, but she couldn’t stop flicking glances his way. She knew he didn’t expect a response from her, but whenever he caught her looking, his dimples creased in his cheeks as he smiled in encouragement.
    Her room was enormous, and they’d had to walk through it to get to the children’s room and bathroom. She noticed a new lock on her door and knew that Katie was responsible for that. Not that a lock was much security against a determined interloper, but she didn’t want to think about that right now,