Thurston House Read Online Free PDF Page B

baby, but there was no point thinking about that. She couldn't have another one, the doctor said it was too dangerous to even consider, and he didn't seem to want one, at least he'd never mentioned it to her although he was always kind to her children when he saw them. But it was not her children he thought of when he came here. It was what he saw now that filled his mind and seemed to drown his senses, that rose-scented skin, as delicate as parchment, the green eyes like emeralds burning into his as he laid her gently on the bed and began to unlace the pink corset. It fell away from her body with surprising ease beneath his expert fingers, and the pantaloons slipped away from her long, graceful limbs until she lay naked and gleaming before him. This was what he came for' to devour her with his eyes and his tongue and his hands until she lay gasping and breathless beneath him aching for him to take her. And today he wanted her even more than he had in a long time, it was as though he couldn't get enough of her, couldn't quite breathe deeply enough of the heady aroma of her hair and her flesh and her perfume. He wanted to push away the memories of his long dead financ+!e, and the grief-filled night he had spent with John Harte, and he needed Mary Ellen to help him do that. She sensed that he had had a difficult week, although she didn't know why, and as always she tried to give him something more of herself to fill the void she instinctively felt in him. She wasn't a woman who could have easily put her impressions into words, and yet she had a deep, almost animal understanding of him.
    She lay sleepy and sated in his arms, and looked up at him as she gently touched his beard. Are you all right, Jeremiah?
    He smiled at how well she knew him. I am now ' thanks to you ' you're awfully good to me, Mary Ellen
    She was pleased by his words, as though he understood what she tried to give him. Was something wrong?
    He hesitated for a long time. What he felt about the night before seemed to be strangely intertwined with feelings about Jennie, and yet that was so long ago. It seemed strange that the feelings should resurface now. But it was all so reminiscent of eighteen years ago. I had a rough night last night. I was with John Harte
    She looked instantly surprised, and propped herself up beside him on her elbow. I didn't think you two spoke.
    I went over there last night. He lost his wife, and his daughter ' He hesitated, and closed his eyes, remembering little Barnaby's face again after he had died. ' and his boy, after I got there ' A tear slid unbidden down his face, and Mary Ellen gently touched it, and then took Jeremiah in her arms. He was so big and so strong and so much a man, and yet he was so gentle and so kind. She loved him more for the tear, and for those which followed it as she held him. He was so young. ' He began to sob for the child whose eyes he had closed, and he held Mary Ellen close to him, embarrassed at the emotions he could no longer hold back. It was like a flood coming from a place deep inside him. The poor boy lost all three of them in one day' . The flood began to ebb and he sat up in bed and looked at Mary Ellen.
    It was nice of you to go to him, Jeremiah, you didn't have to do it.
    I knew how he felt. She knew about Jennie from Hannah when they talked. Hannah had known Mary Ellen since she was a child and they met frequently at the produce market in Calistoga. But Jeremiah had never mentioned Jennie to her himself. Something like that happened to me once.
    I know. Her voice was as soft as the rose petals beside her bed.
    I thought you did. He smiled at her and wiped his face. I'm sorry' . He was embarrassed now, but he felt better than he had all day. She was good for him and she had helped him. Poor lad, it's going to be so rough for him.
    He'll be all right.
    Jeremiah nodded and then looked at her. Do you know him?
    She shook her head. I've seen him around town, but we've never spoken. I hear he's as