Abound in Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

surreal, standing in a darkened hallway with Dalton Jance, the object
of her teenage infatuation.  And unfortunately, she still felt the familiar
pull of attraction for him.
    He
shook his head.  “No way.  You’re not going to bed yet.  You’ve sustained a
head injury.  It’s never a good idea to fall asleep directly after receiving a
blow to the head.  And we need to get ice on your eye.”  He took her hand and
began tugging her toward the staircase to downstairs.
    “Where
are…?”
    “Ice. 
We need ice.”
    Soon,
Laura found herself on the sofa, with an ice pack on her eye.  Dalton sat
nearby, his concern gaze riveted on her face.  “Are you sure you’re all right?”
    “Absolutely.” 
She furrowed her brow, and abruptly winced from the pain.  “What did I plow
into?”
    “My
badge—er, my chest.  My badge on my chest,” he clarified with a rueful smile. 
    “Oh,
well, I appreciate the ice.  I am, however, going to go back to bed.  I’ll just
… take the ice with me.”
    He
shook his head.  “Please.  Humor me.  I hit you pretty hard.  I’d hate to take
any chances…”
    Laura
relented with a sigh.  “Did you just get off work?”
    He
nodded.  “Swing shift.”
    “Was it
a busy night?”
    “Fairly
busy,” he acknowledged.  “But it’s only Thursday.  The real fun comes tomorrow
night.”
    Laura
settled against the back of the chair and pulled her feet up and under her. 
She felt a sudden, grateful relief that she had donned a robe before escorting
Kenny to bed.  Had she not, Dalton might have gotten a look at her sleep
attire.  It was modest, but she would have felt horribly uncomfortable
regardless.
    “Are
you cold?” he asked, and simultaneously rose and retrieved a throw blanket from
the nearby loveseat.
    “A
little.  It was sunny and seventy degrees when I flew out of Atlanta.”
    He
grinned.  “I’d love to see a little of that Georgia sunshine myself.”
    She
nodded with understanding.  “We see the occasional grey, cold day, but we
definitely see more sunshine than you do.”
    “Don’t
rub it in,” he said in a mock-scolding tone.  “How do you feel now?”
    “Tired.”
    “Your eye
and head, I mean.”
    She
gave a dismissive wave.  “I’m fine.  No permanent damage.”  She rose to leave,
but he shook his head. 
    “Give
it thirty minutes or so.”
    She
noted it was nearing eleven.  “I’ll probably conk out from exhaustion before
the clock strikes twelve.”
    “I
won’t let you.”
    “I’m
not sure how you’re going to prevent it.”  As if to demonstrate, she yawned.
    “We’ll
talk.  Tell me what’s been going on with you.”
    “Not
much to tell.  I’m a news writer for an Atlanta news organization.”
    “Television
news, I understand.”
    “That’s
right, although I write the occasional article for various magazines.”
    He
nodded.  “I’ve read an article or two.  You’re very good.”
    Laura’s
face infused with warmth.  Having Dalton compliment her caused her to hearken
back to the days when any word from him would have caused her heart to
swell.  Lord, she had been ridiculous back then.  The truth was, she was
feeling pretty ridiculous right now.
    “What
are you thinking?” Dalton asked suddenly.  “Your face just got…”  He grinned. 
“Your peaches and cream complexion suddenly turned the color of a ripe
pomegranate.”
    Laura
laughed self-consciously.  “That was very descriptive.  Maybe you should try
writing.”
    “I
write all the time.  Incident reports at work.”
    “I
don’t imagine that calls for a lot of colorful language.”
    “Maybe
not, though unfortunately, I’m often on the receiving end of some colorful
language in my line of work.”
    Laura
smiled sadly.  “I don’t envy you your job.  It has to be difficult.”
    “I
wouldn’t want to do anything else,” he told her.
    She
smiled.  “That’s right.  I remember you, even as a kid, talking about going
into law