Darling Jenny Read Online Free PDF

charming picture of a log cabin with blue smoke rising from the chimney and the words 'Home Sweet Home' beneath it. But it was the other one that really caught Jennifer's eyes—a large red heart with lace edges covered the front with 'My Darling' scrolled inside. She choked with laughter as she wondered mischievously which one of their heads was going to rest on it. Without a word she placed them side by side on top of the quilts.
    Finished, she curled up in the rocker by the hearth and stared into the hypnotic flames. She glanced over at Logan, but he was watching the old man at the counter with the most peculiar, calculating expression on his face.
    'Well, dishes are all done,' Carmichael announced, his shuffling feet taking him over to the cot. 'If you folks don't mind, I'll go ahead and turn in. You're welcome to go to bed whenever you've a mind to.'
    Jennifer sat in horrified silence, barely hearing Logan speak up quickly.
    'I was wondering if it would be all right for Jenny to sleep in your bed tonight.'
    'In my bed?' their host exclaimed incredulously, his gnarled fingers digging into the mattress as if he thought they were going to steal it from beneath him. 'What's wrong with the one she made ya on the floor?'
    Jennifer stared from Logan to Mr. Carmichael to the quilts on the floor. Hysteria welled up inside her. It was a dream! A nightmare! It couldn't be true!
    Suddenly it wasn't an old brick fireplace she was in front of, it was a sparkling white one. The quilts on the floor became a plush fur rug, and she was lying on it in the arms of Brad Stevenson. She was kissing him…no, she was fighting him, pushing off the hands that were trying to slip under her sweater, twisting, struggling to free herself from his embrace until at last she had wrenched herself away. Brad was shouting at her.
    'Don't pull that innocent, hard-to-get act with me!' he was saying, his lips curling in anger. 'You knew exactly what was going to happen when I invited you here. That baby-face of yours won't cut any ice now. I've been coming across with the dough and fine manners for weeks now. And you! You're going to come across tonight!'
    She remembered looking down at him, filled with disgust that she had actually wanted to fall in love with this man. This wolf! Then she had run. Run, until she had come full circle back into almost the same situation.
    'That's my bed!' The old man was saying. 'It's got my lumps in it. You two are young. Your bones aren't brittle like mine. A night sleepin' on the floor ain't gonna hurt her.'
    'But you don't understand,' Jennifer whispered in a strained voice. 'We aren't married.'
    'Ya will be. I seen the way you two have been lookin' at each other.' He glanced at Logan with a conspiratorial smile before adding belligerently, 'Because it's my house and I say I'm sleepin' in my bed!'
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    LOGAN rose from his chair by the table to walk over by the fire. Tears misted Jennifer's eyes as she looked pleadingly at Logan. When he refused to return her glance and continued to stare sombrely into the flames, she rose to stand by his side.
    'Please,' she whispered, touching his arm lightly, 'you've got to do something.'
    He studied her face, the anxious, almost fearful expression in her eyes. He shook his head in puzzlement.
    'I don't know what we can do,' he said, flashing a swift glance behind him at the man sitting on the bed.
    'I can't possibly sleep in the same bed with you!' Nothing masked her horror mixed with embarrassment. She stared at the stark whiteness of the sweater covering his chest.
    'Don't get hysterical about it, ' Logan said, calmly and softly. 'Let's look at this sensibly. We're both fully clothed and there's nothing that says we can't go to bed in what we've got on. Not only that, I can sleep on the side here by the fire and just use the one cover. You can sleep on the other side under both covers.'
    Jennifer hugged her arms about her. It was logical. It wasn't as if they had