She rolled over on her back and opened her eyes.Although the king-size bed took up a lot of space in the bedroom, there was still ample room in which to move about.Their sleeping arrangements could do with an overhaul.Maybe if she traded the king-size bed for two twin-size ones—
Her nerves shifted into higher gear.That would be fair, but it would also increase the intimacy of their sleeping arrangements.She trusted herself to cope with it, but could she trust the man who was now her husband to stay in his own bed and on his own side of the room?
Well, why not?They were adults.Hopefully, two responsible adults.Nothing was going to happen.Having satisfied herself with what seemed a plausible solution, she sighed with exhaustion.
Lord, but it felt good to lie down.At the same time, she realized that she was here in bed, fed, bathed and resting because Ryder Justice had seen to it.She rolled back over on her stomach and burrowed her nose a little deeper into her pillow, savoring the knowledge that someone cared enough about her to make a scene.What she couldn’t do was make a big deal out of it.Ryder Justice was simply passing through her life, not becoming a part of it.
* * *
Ryder couldn’t sleep.The floor was hard.The covers hot.He kicked them back, leaving his body bare to the night, and still the cool flow of air blowing across his arms and legs could not ease the tension coiling within him.
Images kept popping into his mind.Casey alone at her desk.Casey in the other room, alone in that bed.He sat up with a jerk and reached for his jeans.Get out.Get out now before you make a mistake you can’t fix.
Ryder didn’t hesitate.He didn’t need to know whether it was conscience or gut instinct warning him off.All he knew was he had to put some distance between himself and the woman who was his wife.
Grabbing his boots, he exited the apartment, then sat down at the top of the landing to put them on.The air outside felt thick, almost too warm and too stifling to breathe.Perspiration instantly broke the surface of his skin.He stood, then started down the stairs with no goal in mind other than to move.
Security lights dotted the grounds of the vast estate, highlighting the driveways, the doors to the house, and the area just inside the rim of trees circling the lawns.Down on the highway outside the city, he heard an eighteen-wheeler shifting gears as the driver maneuvered around a curve in the road.
Crickets rasped.A night bird called.A stringy cloud floated past the surface of a pale half-moon.Ryder lifted his head, inhaling the scents, absorbing the sounds.Ordinary sounds.But there was nothing ordinary about his situation, and there hadn’t been since he’d walked out on his life six months earlier.
For lack of a better destination, he aimed for the trees at the far edge of the estate.It felt good to move, to be doing something besides lying in the dark and wishing for something he couldn’t have.He glanced up at the mansion as he passed, trying to imagine what it would be like to grow up in such an austere environment.He’d had wide open spaces and brothers.Horses to ride and endless days of childhood where nothing ever changed and the status quo was your security blanket with which to sleep each night.
Music drifted to him from somewhere out beyond the ring of lights, probably from a passing car.It reminded him of the nights at home when he and Roman and Royal had been kids; of watching his mother and father dancing cheek to cheek out on the front porch while an old portable radio played nearby.He wiped a shaky hand across his face, remembering the night Barbara Justice had died leaving Micah to raise their three young sons alone.
Ryder paused, blindly reaching for the nearest tree as his composure crumpled.
You were the strong one, Daddy.You survived everything… except what I did to you.
Long, silent moments passed while Ryder stood in judgment of himself.Moments in which his heart broke and bled countless times over.And finally, it was the sound of laughter from another passing car that brought him to his senses.
Laughter.Proof that life does go on.
Angry that he was still part of that life, he moved deeper into the trees and away from temptation, unaware that he was being watched from the upper windows of the family home.
* * *
When Ryder moved out of sight, Erica stepped away from the window and flopped down on her bed, but the intensity of her conversation with Miles was still going strong.Although it was not necessary, she caught herself whispering into the phone.
“I said, I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s not sleeping in our dear sister’s bed, that’s for sure.”
New Orleans at midnight was lively.More than once, Miles had given serious thought to never going home.He downed the last of the bourbon in his glass and then waved to a passing waitress for a refill before shifting his cell phone to his other ear.
“Look, sister darling, I already told you.It doesn’t matter if he and Casey never get it on.The terms of the will have been met.She got married.She’s living under his roof—under his protection.If it lasts a year, she’s done her part.”
Erica pouted.“It isn’t fair.”
Miles lifted his glass in a silent toast to a woman across the room before answering.“Who ever said life was fair?”
Erica kicked off her slippers and stretched out on her bed, absently admiring the color of polish on her fingers and toes.Practicing a pout she hadn’t used in years, Erica’s voice rose an octave.
“I can certainly vouch for the fact that life around here is deadly dull.When are you coming home?”
The woman in the bar lifted her own glass in a long-distance toast to Miles and smiled.His pulse reacted by skipping an anticipatory beat.
“Soon.Maybe tomorrow.The day after for sure.”
Erica frowned.“Well, all I can say is you’d better hurry.Grandmother is beginning to waffle.In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was quite smitten with Casey’s honky-tonk man.”
