The Marriage Merger Read Online Free PDF

to England’s winter. In the
courtyard large potted palms and ferns scattered green against the
fawn patio furniture. A green and fawn striped shade cover extended
over the furniture and the swimming pool. The pool beckoned
invitingly.
    Jenna changed into her bikini and dived in.
The cool water was bliss and she revelled in the change from heated
indoor pools that had been her norm for the past six months. Her
long graceful limbs slipped into the well-remembered dance rhythms
of the water ballet she had learned in her youth. Pointed toes,
sleek body gliding through the water in a series of turns and
pirouettes, losing herself to her inner music.
    Her thoughts strayed to the memory of
Braden's powerful body slicing through the water, and she tried in
vain to stop the desire that shivered through her. Her imagination
taunted her with images of Braden's hard-muscled body sliding over
hers, dark-haired thighs against her smooth limbs, and she thrust
them away, grateful for the water's coolness on her suddenly
overheated body.
    Gradually she became aware of a small shadow
falling on her. She glanced up to see Caitlin standing at the edge
of the pool, eyes wide with wonder. Jenna executed a few more
turns, then swam leisurely over to the child.
    “Would you like to learn water ballet?” she
asked casually, as though it was of no consequence to her if
Caitlin refused. The child’s small white teeth bit into her bottom
lip as she looked at Jenna, then the water. Jenna could read the
longing there; the longing, and also the fear. Slowly, the longing
won, and the small head nodded gently.
    “Better put your swimmers on then,” Jenna
said and slipped lithely under the water in a series of twists and
turns before Caitlin had time to protest. When she surfaced and saw
the little figure limping back inside she held her breath.
    She had taken a gamble when she’d seen the
yearning in the child’s eyes. If she could get Caitlin in the water
she would have a chance to start her on some exercises which would
help build up the muscles in her thin little legs and strengthen
the damaged one.
    As she moved with dolphin-like agility
through the water Jenna kept her eyes averted from the penthouse.
She didn’t want Caitlin to sense how anxious she was to have her
join her. So when Caitlin lowered herself awkwardly onto the
built-in steps sweeping down one corner of the pool Jenna kept
swimming about for another minute before she approached the child.
She sat on the step next to her, careful to avoid looking at the
ugly scars on Caitlin’s thigh.
    “When I was five years old,” she said “I used
to get asthma. Do you know what asthma is?”
    Caitlin shook her head.
    “Well, sometimes there are funny smells in
the air that affect certain people, and make it hard for them to
breathe. Their lungs aren’t strong enough to suck the air in.” It
wasn’t quite an accurate description but one she felt Caitlin could
understand. The grey eyes looked at her with grave interest.
    “To help me get stronger lungs so I wouldn’t
get asthma so much my mum used to take me to the pool to learn how
to swim.” Jenna continued. “I had to do a lot of swimming before my
lungs could get strong enough so I could hold my breath and learn
to do water ballet.”
    She slid off the step and floated out in
front of Caitlin, looking up into the trusting face. “You are going
to have to do lots of exercises to get your legs strong enough
before you can do water ballet, Possum. Will you trust me to teach
you how?”
    There was a slight hesitation, then Caitlin’s
arms reached out to Jenna.
    For the next half hour Jenna eased Caitlin
into simple exercises such as leg swings to gain her confidence in
the water. They also had the benefit of gently loosening the hip
and lower back joints. In the days to come she planned for Caitlin
to do them more quickly in order to strengthen her buttock and
thigh muscles. But for now she took it slowly.
    Occasionally Jenna would