Lordy, but she was tired, and her leg itched. She sunk into the soft pillows of an overstuffed chair, scratched her healing leg, and took a break. They’d been in Kit’s home for five days, and she had yet to get a good night’s sleep. The boys were having trouble sleeping in their new surroundings, what with all the recent upheaval in their lives. The large bedroom Maddie had given them was right across from Hallie’s, but apparently that wasn’t close enough for them. For the past few nights either Knut or Gunnar, or the two of them together, had crept into her room and crawled into the big feather bed. Those imps did more roving in their sleep than they did awake.
Their first restless night, Hallie had repeatedly trotted them back to their own beds. It had done no good. Like magic seers, those boys had the uncanny ability to discern exactly when Hallie would finally fall back to sleep, and then they’d sneak back in, fall asleep, and pummel an unsuspecting Hallie with a small fist or a flailing foot. Her nights spent sleeping with the twins had her feeling as if she’d been beaten.
The thought of her sister’s bruised face and puffy lips sparked guilt in Hallie. She was responsible for the welfare of her family, and she had failed. Dagny’s beaten features and catatonic state proved it. If Kit hadn’t provided for them, they would still be struggling along on board theSea Haven, unprotected. Of course, she would still have her pride. Lucky her. But then who else would she sacrifice for it?
A whistle of appreciation pierced the quiet room.
“The place smells like home.” Kit walked into the room. “Has Maddie been working you too hard?”
“Not really. I was just sitting here... thinking.”
“How is she?” Kit walked over to the sofa across from her and sat on the arm.
Hallie frowned at him. “How did you know I was thinking about Dagny?”
“A good guess.”
She averted her eyes. “There’s no change. She just stares out at nothing, dully, as if we don’t exist. The doctor was here again this morning, but he still couldn’t get any response out of her. He said there was no surefire way to snap her back. She’s retreated into another world.”
Silence hung in the room. It was awful for her, sitting there, feeling responsible and helpless yet not knowing what to do or say. There was nothing Kit could say either. No words could ease her sister’s pain. He knew it, too. She could feel it in the awkward air.
“I just came from talking to Sheriff Hayes,” Kit said. “No one’s seen Abner Brown. He’s either left town, or he’s holed up somewhere. The sheriff seems to think he’s left, but I’m not sure. If he’s as crazed as Duncan thinks, well, I don’t want to take any chances.
“I’ve hired Duncan as a bodyguard, and he’s moving into the downstairs bedroom this afternoon. No one, not even Maddie, is to leave without him accompanying them. He can handle the carriage and will take any of you wherever you need to go. I’ve spoken to Liv and the twins, while Maddie was present, but I need you to help me enforce this.”
“I will,” Hallie said, standing. “I’ll make sure the children understand.” She fidgeted with her hands. “Thank you, Kit. For all you’ve done.”
“I meant it when I promised to take care of you, all of you.”
She nervously tucked some strands of loose hair behind her ear. It gave her the chance to do something other than look at him. The air in the room took on a sudden thickness, and when Kit stepped even closer, she felt that same familiar racing of her heartbeat. His hands rested on her upper arms, and he rubbed them slowly, up and down. Ever sensitive to his touch, she shivered.
His breath whispered past her temple. “Are you cold?”
Her eyes drifted closed. “No.”
He rubbed her arms, a simple gesture of comfort. His shoulder was just inches away. Her cheek moved to rest on the rough wool of his coat and she settled closer, breast to chest. She looked up at the dark stubble shadowing his jaw, and when his lips descended, slowly, toward her own, she met him halfway.
The taste of him, of their kisses, drove the feeling from her legs. Her hands roved his shoulders as his hands stroked her back, and she opened her eyes again, wanting the eye contact that heightened their last kisses. His eyes were closed but she willed them to open. They did, but an instant later he pulled back and pushed her hands down and away from him.
“What the hell am I doing?” he muttered, stepping back to put a few feet between them while he stared at her as if she had made him hold her and kiss her.
His look carried no love, just censure, which Hallie assumed he directed toward her. She shivered with all the mixed emotions that were racing through her. “I am cold,” she blurted, knowing that the word cold was too mild a term for how she felt.
He reached out. “Hallie, wait.”
She sidestepped his hand and rushed out of the room, her good-bye echoing in the wake of her need to get away.
Later that evening, asthe sun was beginning to set, Hallie was in the kitchen trying to forget she had ever met Kit Howland, let alone kissed him. But her thoughts on him no matter how much she tried to control them.
Maddie walked in and stopped suddenly. “What have you got there?” She asked Liv.
Hallie glanced over her shoulder.
“Nothing.” Liv was wedged into the corner, and every few seconds her shoulders would wiggle as if she were struggling with something behind her back.
Hallie pulled her hands from the tub of dishwater and wiped them on her apron. “Liv... Don’t you fib.” Anyone could see her little sister, an imp of the first order, was hiding something.
“Let me handle this, Hallie,” Maddie said, setting down the dinner tray she had just brought down from Dagny’s room. She crossed her arms. “Let me see your hands, young lady.”
