Page 40 of The Formation of Us

“It won’t be enough.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

She smiled. “Get out of the tub, Sheriff. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

“I thought you were going to call me Duke.”

Her lips parted, and all he could think about was kissing her. He had to taste her.

Her lashes swooped down, then up, her gaze clashing with his. “Get out of the tub, Duke.”

The tremble in her voice undid him. He tugged her toward his mouth and leaned down to kiss her, knowing his need for her would consume him. He just didn’t give a damn.

o0o

Instantly Faith’s good intentions to take care of Duke’s shoulder and protect her heart were splintered to finders. She should shoo him out the door for taking such liberty with her, for standing in her tub like a king, stark naked but for a skimpy towel around his hips, kissing her like she was one of his harem. But her heart skipped a beat and her eyes fell closed and she forgot everything but the feel of his hard chest, the taste of his mouth, the low moan she knew meant pleasure . . . for him . . . for her . . . . His touch was soft, as was his tongue that pressed to part her lips; not pushing, not assaulting or demanding, just there, asking, wanting . . . her.

Against all doubts, and filled with a hope she’d never known, she parted her lips and allowed the kiss to deepen. Her stomach lifted and her legs trembled, and she thought of his tender tone when she’d told him he could be her suitor. She’d have been a fool to turn this man down, to forfeit a chance to win his affection that promised to be stalwart, true and . . . physically pleasurable.

He moved his hands to her waist, caressing her, drawing her toward him, making every nerve in her body grow taut with desire. She fought her need to lean into his embrace. It was wild and abandoned to kiss like this. What would he, a man used to courting respectable women, think of her wanton response?

God help her, was she more her mother’s daughter than she’d thought? With a gasp of denial, she pushed away from him. She wouldn’t be like that. Not ever.

He stared in surprise, then snapped to attention as if he realized how inappropriate their kiss had been. But she was the one at fault. Water soaked through the front of her dress and she trembled as she backed away.

He finger-combed his dripping hair with his right hand, the act so natural and male it captivated her. “Guess we’d better get my shoulder stretched,” he said.

Faith nodded and turned away, fearing he would see her unbridled lust and figure out where she’d come from. She’d made a mistake with Jarvis, and she wasn’t going to repeat it with the sheriff no matter how wanton his kisses made her.

Her hands shook as she spread towels on the table. Duke sprawled his big body on top of them, acting as if nothing had happened, but Faith wasn’t that good of an actress. She avoided his eyes and hurried him through his treatment. When she finished, he caught her hand to keep her from moving away

“Will the water ruin your dress?” he asked, sitting up to face her.

She nearly laughed at the absurdity. Here he was worried about ruining her dress when she was worried about ruining her reputation. “It’ll be fine.”

“Will you?”

She ducked her face, embarrassed. “I hadn’t meant to . . . you caught me off guard.”

He hooked his warm finger beneath her chin and lifted until she was looking at him. “I know. I hadn’t meant to kiss you either, but I couldn’t resist. It was the best moment of my day” His lips quirked. “What was yours?”

The kiss for sure, but it was also her worst moment. How could she have let herself go like that?

He tilted his head, looking askance at her, his eyes encouraging her to answer.

“Hearing the organ in church was the best—” She couldn’t lie and saymoment, because that belonged to Duke and the thrilling kiss he’d just given her, so she said instead, “It was beautiful.”

“So is your smile, Faith.” And then he silenced all her protestations with a tender, lingering, almost chaste kiss.

Chapter 12

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Adam kicked a round stone the size of a plum ahead of him as he walked down Liberty Street toward the small school in Laona. He didn’t know why he had to go school. There were only two weeks left. At breakfast, Faith had said the sheriff would be out of town this week, so the man wouldn’t even be around to check up on him.

He batted the stone with the side of his foot. It was stupid to go for the last two weeks. If he wouldn’t fit in at the beginning of the year, how was he supposed to fit in now? The children would stare at him, and whisper about him like they had when he’d tried to go to school in Syracuse.

He kicked the rock so hard it ricocheted off the stone fence guarding somebody’s front yard.