“But she’s so young. I feel like a lecher.”
“I am a lecher.” Lee scanned the room. “I thought you wanted to cut your wolf loose? We need some ladies!”
Kit finished off the bottle. Maybe Lee was right. He needed a woman. Then he would be able to keep his hands off Hallie. He was her guardian, after all, so he should guard her, even from himself.
Another bottle thumped onto the table, and suddenly a woman sat on Kit’s lap. He looked at her, but he couldn’t make out her features. He squinted at her blurred nose—noses—while she snuggled up to his chest. Her perfume was strong, and it did nothing for him. Her lips met his and parted. Instinctively, he accepted her kiss and invaded her mouth with his tongue.
“I’m sorry, love.” Kit pulled away and lifted her off his lap. “You’ll have to share your charms with someone else.” He shoved a handful of money into her hand. “It’s not my night.”
The woman’s eyes roved over him like a prospective buyer. “No sugar, it’s not my night.” With that, she strolled off.
Kit stood, and the room rolled like it was at sea, during a storm—a big storm. He leaned on the table for support. “Lee?”
“Hmmm?”
Kit couldn’t see Lee’s face with that brunette wrapped around him. “I’m going home.”
Lee waved him off.
Kit grabbed his coat and hat, and the bottle, and left the saloon. Shrugging on the coat, he hummed on of Lee’s whaling ditties while he walked up the street, but he stopped when he reached the corner.
He remembered his horse. Walking back to the animal, Kit crammed his hat onto his head and the bottle into his pocket, untied the reins and mounted the horse, sipping and humming on his way through town.
When he reached home, he dismounted, throwing the reins over the hitch post. He walked up the stairs and tried the door. It was locked.
“Damn!” He searched his pockets. “Where is that key?” Then he remembered he kept a spare in the band of his hat. Feeling around the rim, he located the key and unlocked the door.
He headed straight for the stairs, realizing that he had better scale them now or else he’d pass out on the floor. He entered his room and felt for the lamp. It wasn’t near his dresser. Oh hell, he didn’t need it.
Kit shucked off his boots and clothes, casting them behind him as he headed for his soft feather bed. He pulled back the blankets and climbed in. He closed his eyes and turned over, slinging his arm over the extra bed pillows. Breathing deeply, he drifted to sleep, dreaming of the sweet tropical smell of plumeria blossoms.
Hallie awoke, stirring slightly.One of the twins was in the bed again. She tried to turn over but the weight of a leg across her ribs stopped her. She wiggled to dislodge it, but it flopped back. Irritated, she opened her eyes so she could move the boy off, but it wasn’t a leg that had her pinned. It was an arm, a hairy, adult, male arm. Hallie screamed and twisted around, using both her hands and her feet to push the man out of the bed.
Kit, in all his naked and hungover glory, hit the hard wooden floor. Stunned, he looked up at her. She knelt on the edge of his bed, staring at him in complete shock. He grabbed the sheet to cover himself.
He grabbed her nightgown by mistake, pulled her off the bed, and right on top of him. They both rolled on the floor, trying to get untangled.
Hallie was pinned under him. “Get off me!” Hallie shrieked, and she punched him hard.
Kit grunted something like a curse.
“Oh, my God!”
Both Kit and Hallie looked up at the sound of Maddie’s voice. She stood in the doorway, spreading out her skirts to block the scene from the twins’ wide and curious eyes.
16
“My sister’s getting married,” Knut informed Agnes Treadwell.
She smiled at Knut. “Yes she is, and it’s wonderful. That handsome Kit Howland just swept her off her feet. It’s so thrilling.” She turned to Hallie. “Isn’t it, my dear?”
Hallie nodded, feeling as if the world were closing in around her.
“Tell me, my dear, how did he propose? Wait! Let me guess.” Agnes gazed upward and her eyes looked dreamy. “I bet it was during a romantic walk in the moonlight, right?” Agnes turned her expectant face back to Hallie.
“Well, uh, no. Actually, it was this morning.” Hallie picked up the pillow from the sofa and began twisting its fringed tassels.
Agnes clapped her hands. “Oh my, that boy’s in a hurry, isn’t he?”
