Slow Heat in Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page A

each half was still referred to by its traditional name.
    The adoptive sisters waved good-bye to each other. Schyler walked through the wide hallway and out onto the veranda. She was on the second step down when Ken spoke to her. He left the rocker he'd been sitting in and came to join her on the step. Encircling her upper arm, he led her toward her car, which was parked in the drive. It made a semicircle in front of the house, then ran along one side of it to the back and the garage.
    "Let me drive you to the hospital," he offered.
    "No thanks. You and Tricia went this morning. It's my turn."
    "I don't mind."
    "I know, but there's no need."
    He turned her to face him. "I didn't offer because I thought you needed a ride. I offered because we haven't had a second alone since you got here."
    Schyler didn't like the direction the conversation was taking, nor Ken's confidential tone. She politely but firmly disengaged her arm. "That's right, Ken. We haven't. And I think that's best, don't you?"
    "Best for whom?"
    "For all of us."
    "Not for me."
    "Ken, please." Schyler tried to sidestep him, but he heeded her off. Facing her again and standing close, he ran his fingers down her cheek.
    "Schyler, Schyler. I've missed you like hell. Jesus, can you imagine what it was like for me to see you again?"
    "No, what was it like?" Her voice was harsh as were her accusing eyes.
    He frowned with chagrin and withdrew his hand. "I can imagine how you felt when we found out that Tricia was pregnant."
    Schyler's laugh was bitter. "No, you can't. Not unless you've been betrayed like that. Not unless the planet has been jerked out from under you. You can't know what I felt like at all." She wet her lips and shook her head as if to ward off an attack of insurmountable depression. "I've got to go."
    Again she tried to walk around him and again he impeded her. "Schyler, wait. We've got to talk about this."
    "No."
    "You hightailed it to London without ever giving me a chance to explain."
    "What was there to explain? We were about to announce our engagement to be married when Tricia upstaged us by announcing that she was pregnant with your baby. Your baby, Ken," she repeated, stressfully enunciating each word.
    He gnawed his lower lip, his only concession to a guilty conscience. "We'd had a fight, remember?"
    "A quarrel. A stupid, lovers' quarrel. I don't even remember what it was about. But it must have been over a real bone of contention with you because you wasted no time in sleeping with my sister."
    "I didn't know she would get pregnant."
    Schyler was speechless. She didn't remember obtuseness being one of Ken's character traits. Six years was a long time. She had changed. Apparently so had Ken. Still, it was incredible that he missed the point.
    "It was inconsequential that she conceived, Ken. It hurt me just as much to know that she could be pregnant with your baby."
    He took a step closer and caught her shoulders. "Schyler, you're blaming the wrong party here. Tricia came on to me something fierce. Hell, I'm only a man. I was depressed. I was missing you. At first I thought she just wanted to comfort me, you know, sympathize, but then—"
    "I don't want to hear this."
    "But I want you to," he said, shaking her slightly. "I've got to make you understand. She, well, you know, started flirting with me, flattering me. One thing led to another. She kissed me. Next thing I know, we're making out. It just happened once." Schyler looked at him with patent disbelief. "Okay, maybe a few times, but it never meant anything. I screwed her, yeah, but I loved you." He tightened his grip on her shoulders. "I still do."
    Angrily, Schyler threw off his grasping hands. "Don't you dare say that to me. It insults us both. You are my sister's husband."
    "But we're not happy."
    "Tough. I am."
    "With that Mark character you work for?"
    "Yes. Yes, with that Mark character. Mark Houghton has been wonderful to me. I love him. He loves me."
    "Not like we loved each