By Honor Bound Read Online Free PDF Page B

she approached and ran her hand from his forearm to his shoulder.
    “Took off my shirt and shoes. Picking ice can be as messy as shoveling snow. I drove back to my place early this morning. I needed a change of clothes and you needed salt for your walk.”
    “Thanks for doing that. Would you like eggs with your toast?”
    “Scrambled.”
     “Fine.”
    As Angela cracked eggs into a bowl, her heart fluttered as she asked, “How many days’ worth of clothes did you get at your place?”
    He chuckled. “Is that ‘cause you’re afraid I’ll overstay my welcome?”
    “Actually I was hoping you’d stay for a few days. Polly will be with my parents for the rest of the week.”
    His arm slid around her from behind and his hand folded over hers as she used a wire whisk to beat the eggs. Taking her earlobe in his teeth he licked it gently then kissed her cheek.
    “If I stay here for a week, it’ll be awful hard to leave.”
    “Maybe not.” She turned, gazing up at him. “We might find we can’t stand living with each other.”
    “So maybe we should make like a couple of those long-haired hippies and try out living together.”
    “Excuse me, Master Sergeant, but just because I slept with you doesn’t mean I’m a—”
    “Hold on, darlin’.” His brow furrowed and he grasped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “That blood on those sheets this morning surely wasn’t from some two-dollar whore practicing free love and all that. I guarantee if I stay here I won’t want to go.”
    “You’ll have to. With Polly—”
    “I’d never do anything to hurt your reputation or expose that girl to a damaging situation.”
    “Then what are you saying, Abe?”
    He dropped his hold on her and walked across the room, running a hand over his peach-fuzzed head. What the hell was he saying? That the short time he’d spent with her had given him a taste of what he’d been missing all his life? That he was tired of having no one to come home to after spending months in strange places having his ass damn near blown off by enemy fire? Was it really Angela he wanted or the illusion of what she offered? No. He’d never been a man ruled by dreams and fantasies. He was thirty-three years old and had never gotten this close to any woman. Sure, he’d had sex, but he’d never hung around afterward to chop ice off her front walk and look at her whip up scrambled eggs. Just seeing her in that prim, high-necked dress with a strand of pearls around her neck and her hair combed just so as she cooked breakfast made his gut twist with tender feelings he’d never experienced. Earlier, when he’d walked in on her, the sight of her blushing face and gorgeous naked curves had not only given him an erection that would have shamed a breeder bull but stirred his emotions.
    “Abe, I really want you to stay,” she said, “but I’m afraid.”
    “Of me?”
    “Of doing something I’ve been told all my life is wrong.”
     “Then I’ll go.” He cupped her face in his hand. “Just tell me we can see each other again?”
    Angela sighed and took his hand. She kissed his palm. “And I’m afraid because—”
    “What?”
    She was falling in love with him. Falling fast and hard. Unless she stopped herself, he’d probably end up breaking her heart. Not intentionally, but as a side effect of his duty. Losing Jim had been terrible, but she couldn’t imagine losing a husband to war. Something told her that if she and Abe continued as they were, they would undoubtedly marry. She didn’t buy for one moment her insinuation that after living together they’d find they weren’t compatible. Like any other powerful emotion, love was often immediate. The brain registered hate, pain, hunger, thirst, and jealousy right away, so why not love?
    The phone rang. Glad for the interruption, Angela reached for it. “Hello?”
    “Sweetheart, it’s Mother.”
    “Hi, Ma. How’s Polly?”
    “Just wonderful. She’s playing with her Christmas gifts. I