Nathan's Vow Read Online Free PDF Page A

studied the picture of his
daughters and ex-wife.  And before something they'd both regret could happen,
she stepped away.
    Picking up a teddy bear on the bed,
she clutched it in front of her.  "I promise I won't steal the TV or the
silver."
    A stunned expression marked
Nathan's face, as if he couldn't believe what had almost happened.  His chest
rose and fell. "There is no silver."  After an awkward pause, he
asked, "How long do you think you'll need?"
    "I don't know.  Why don't you
go to work and keep busy.  I'll stay as long as I need to and call you
tonight."
    "Call me the minute you come
up with anything.  If I'm not at the office, call my cell."
    She nodded and sank down onto the
bed with the bear.  After an uneasy goodbye, Nathan left.  Gillian hugged the
bear to her and prayed she'd have some quick answers.
    #
    Eight hours later, Nathan drove
home and saw Gillian's car still in his driveway.  What did that mean?  She
hadn't called him, but she was still here.  Success or failure?
    He'd experienced a visceral
reaction to her he'd never felt with another woman.  He'd almost kissed her. 
Why?  She wasn't anything like the lean, long-legged women he sometimes dated. 
But her big brown eyes, her wispy hair, her feminine curves affected him in a
way that both disconcerted and aroused him.  He couldn't seem to control her
effect on him and that's what puzzled and miffed him at the same time.
    Hurrying inside, he took a quick
look around downstairs.  No Gillian.  He climbed the stairs two at a time and
stopped at the closed door of his daughters' room.  Sometimes, when the worry
and loss was almost overwhelming, he hated Leona.  But then he remembered her
flight was his fault.  A spoiled only-child, his ex-wife had always gotten
everything she wanted...except her father's love and approval.  Though
outwardly beautiful and poised, that lack had made her deeply insecure.
    The insecurity drove her to be the
best mother she could be, but it also made Maddie and Dana her focus for life. 
Nathan had threatened that focus.  He swore.  If only he could do the past five
years over again.
    Opening the bedroom door, he didn't
know what to expect.  What he saw urged him to either laugh or tear his hair
out, he wasn't sure which.  Gillian sat on the floor with her legs curled under
her at the low table in the sitting area, crayon in hand, as she colored a
picture in Dana's coloring book.  He knew it was Dana's because the coloring
was confined to the lines.
    Gillian looked up when he came in,
as if surprised to see him.  "What time is it?"
    He glanced at his watch. 
"Almost five-thirty."
    She straightened and rubbed the
small of her back.  "I guess that's why I'm getting stiff."
    "Gillian?"
    She met his gaze.  "Nothing,
yet.  I would have called you."
    Disappointed, frustrated, and
unnerved because her soft voice was playing over his body as potently as a
woman's touch when his daughters should be the only thing on his mind, he
snapped, "So you decided coloring would help you pass the time until you
could tell me that?"
    She stood and wrapped her arms around
herself.  "Nathan, I don't think this is going to work.  Maybe you should
find someone else."
    "No!"  His vehement
response surprised him as well as her.
    Her arms slid to her sides as she
raised her chin and squared her shoulders.  "Something is blocking my
concentration."
    She was only reading him a page
when a volume lay behind her words.  "You can't unblock it?"
    "You don't understand."
    "Explain it to me."
    "It's personal."
    He stepped close to her, knowing he
was playing with fire.  "Tell me."
    "Nathan..."
    He lightly clasped her shoulders
and commanded again gently, "Tell me."
    "I left Indiana to get away
from my..."
    "Gift," he supplied.
    She gave a small shrug.  "I've
been in California for twelve weeks.  At first I was exhausted.  I ate, I
slept, I learned how to do nails, and that was it.  No feelings, no pictures,
no tapping into