that garden. Here’s your lemonade.” She plunked down the tray on the wicker table beside the swing and went back inside.
That was certainly plain talk, Matt thought, frowning after her. Oh, well, he did ask.
Matt turned his attention back to Maude Ann. It was funny—when she’d worked for the department, he would never have pegged her as a nurturer. He had assumed that all psychiatrists were cool, analytical people who stood a little apart from the rest of the world, observing, rather than participating. That was part of the reason he’d steered clear of her. That and the fact that he had always preferred chic blondes with a bit of an edge.
Maude Ann, however, was neither cool and distant nor chic and sophisticated. She was totally natural and unaffected. She was a woman who went around barefoot in cutoff jeans and T-shirts without a speck of makeup. A woman who opened her arms to children with problems. A woman who was compassionate and loving and maternal, a natural born earth mother.
Her husky laugh rang out, and Matt saw her grab Debbie up and swing her around.
He’d seen her do that sort of thing constantly since his arrival. Daily, she gave each child an equal amount of attention and time, listening to their earnest chatter as though it was the most important thing she’d ever heard, laughing with them and giving them smiles and praise. He’d noticed, too, that she constantly touched the children, ruffling their hair, patting their cheeks or their shoulders, giving them hugs and kisses or squeezing their hands.
No doubt, that sort of thing was important to a child’s emotional well-being. The kids certainly seemed to eat it up.
What baffled Matt was, why the devil did those simple actions suddenly seem so damned sexy?
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