Propping his feet upon the bed, he covered himself to his chest, and then, as an afterthought, shoved his injured foot out of the blanket. He grunted with self-disgust as the blanket settled over him, forming a tent at his groin. He glared at it as though it were a dirty double-crosser.
If she didn’t want to share his bed, he reminded himself, then he didn’t want her. Trouble was in convincing his Judas body of that fact, because it didn’t seem to have accepted his decision. At this rate, he sure as hell wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep.
Laying his head back, he stared at the roving shadows on the ceiling, willing himself to sleep, willing the tent to fold itself up. When that didn’t work, and the pain in his crotch intensified, he tried to shift his concentration to the pain in his foot, hoping the one would overpower the other.
It didn’t work.
Hell, he could actually hear his breath quickening and his heart hammering... pounding? No, more like pattering. His body tensed with awareness, but it was another befuddled second before Cutter realized that the little thumps he heard were not his own... that they came from the hall. It was another instant before he determined that it was the sound of Katie’s little feet... and that Miss Mimi was calling after her... and that she was coming closer...
“Katie!”
His reflexes kicked in immediately. By the time the handle on the door turned, Cutter had already vaulted into the bed, and was under the bed sheets with Elizabeth, his own telltale blanket left strewn like a trail across the bed.
Her head popping up in surprise, Elizabeth stifled a cry as Cutter’s body came flush against her.
Finding Elizabeth awake surprised Cutter all of two seconds, and then he regained his senses in time to shove her head down and laid down his own a mere instant before the door flew open and Katie scurried in. She’d gotten no more than two steps into the room when Miss Mimi caught her by the back of her nightgown. “Katie!” she reprimanded. “What in heavens do you think you are doing, child?”
“I tol’ ya, Miss Mimi,” Katie wailed. “I forgot to say night to my uncle Cutter! Uncle Cutter, are ya wake?” she asked in the same secretive whisper she’d used earlier.
Drowsily Cutter lifted his head, opening one eye. When Elizabeth tried to lift hers, as well, he held her down with a firm hand.
“Goodness!” Miss Mimi declared, seeing the sleepy expression on Cutter’s face. “I’m so sorry to wake you, Mr. McKenzie.” She shook her head in exasperation. “I went in to say good night to Katie and made the mistake of asking whether she’d kissed both of you good night already.”
Katie shrieked in protest when she couldn’t get near enough to the bed.
“It’s all right,” Cutter replied gruffly, spreading his hand across Elizabeth’s face. The pad of his little finger settled in the groove of her mouth, while two of his other fingers splayed across her eyes, blocking her vision.
It was all Elizabeth could do not to bite down on his finger. But she understood what Cutter was trying to do, and knew that she was supposed to be appreciative. It was just that he was pressed against her so intimately. Feeling that particular part of him nestling into her bottom so shamelessly, she couldn’t stifle a mortified groan. Fortunately for her, Miss Mimi didn’t seem to hear it. She was obviously too busy fretting over Katie’s unforgivable intrusion to hear Elizabeth’s distress.
“She was halfway down the hall before I’d realized where she was off to!” Miss Mimi exclaimed by way of apology.
Again, Elizabeth tried to lift her head, but Cutter kept her restrained, patting her cheek firmly, instead. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” he murmured, sounding hoarse with sleep. “It’s just Katie... and Miss Mimi.” Having said that, he removed his hand from her face at last, allowing her to lift her head, but she cringed as it slid to her shoulder, instead, caressing softly. She resisted the urge to elbow his gut and screech in outrage.
“Are you certain it’s all right?” Miss Mimi asked.
Cutter feigned a yawn, his hand leaving her shoulder for the briefest second, and then returning to squeeze it gently. Elizabeth shivered over the tenderness of that gesture.
“Sure,” he said with good humor and a wink for Katie. Katie beamed. The moment Miss Mimi released her, she flung herself into the bed, scrambled across it, and stretched her neck over Elizabeth to peck at Cutter’s cheek.
“Couldn’t sleep myself thinking that I’d missed my good night kiss,” Cutter assured her.
With a smile as wide as the Missouri, Katie slid back off the bed, landing nimbly on her feet.
“I take it your aunt Lizbeth’s already gotten hers?” he asked, all the while stroking Elizabeth’s shoulder and upper arm as though it were the most natural thing for him to do.
And it might have been... had they been man and wife. But they weren’t. And it wasn’t. Elizabeth’s heart cried out with that reminder, and her eyes stung.
“Yes, sir,” Katie replied as she scrambled out the door. “Night!” she called from the hall.
“Night,” both Elizabeth and Cutter replied simultaneously.
Miss Mimi’s expression was abashed. “Thank you,” she said fervently, “a-and good night to you, too.” Tossing her gaze heavenward, she shook her head and closed the door.
“That was close,” Elizabeth sighed with relief, when they were alone.
For a long moment there was no answer. And then Cutter agreed, “Yes, it was.” He continued to stroke her arm, sending shiver after shiver down her spine. Her head lolled slowly backward, seduced by the gentleness of his touch. She felt his lips move against the back of her head, heard his controlled intake of breath.
“Reckon I oughta get back to the chair,” he said regretfully. Elizabeth didn’t answer. He dared to hope. “Y’ think?”
