resolution, she squared her shoulders and crossed into the bedroom. But the instant she unfastened the top button of her shirt, memories flooded her.
It had been so long since she’d been touched. The feel of Kurt’s work-roughened skin against her smooth skin had sent shivers of something she didn’t dare name skating down her spine to settle near her womb.
For a moment, if she closed her eyes and imagined, she might believe that he’d actually wanted to touch her....
But he hadn’t.
He’d simply been trying to drive home his angry point. As she’d learned, wanting and being wanted were for other women.
Jessie finished undressing and pulled on a flannel nightdress. Last week, at the women’s clothing store in town, she’d passed satin and lace teddies on the way to the dressing room. She’d stopped, looking longingly at the material while wondering how it might feel against her skin.
Since it didn’t really matter anyway, she’d settled for flannel. No one would see her in lingerie. Besides, a long gown was warmer, especially when there was no one to share the bed with.
After combing her hair its customary one hundred strokes, she turned off the lights and slipped beneath cold blankets, curling into a ball, seeking protection from the rejection still searing her heart.
Seconds later, the insistent thud of a fist on her front door made her sit upright.
“Open up, Jessie!”
Kurt.
She dragged a pillow against her chest and hugged it tight. Maybe if she ignored him...
“I’ll get Sheriff McCall, say we’ve got an emergency.”
He wouldn’t.
“I will, Jessie. Try me.”
Her heart pounded.
“Neighbors just turned on their porch light.”
Jessie groaned. Maybe when she went to Denver in the morning, she wouldn’t come back.
“No, Mrs. Johnson, Jessie’s not answering. I’m starting to worry. Yes, her car’s here.”
Silence hung as cold as a newborn snow.
“Sure...thanks. I’ll wait here for the sheriff.”
“Wait!” Galvanized by the threat, Jessie tossed back the covers and pillow, then ran toward the front door. She’d never be able to show her face in Columbine Crossing again if anyone else witnessed her private torment. “Don’t you dare call Spencer,” she called, twisting the bolt.
Before she had a chance to open the door, Kurt did.
She gasped.
He stood there, wearing no jacket, his cheeks bitten by the frost. His breath clung frigidly to the night air, air that still felt more like winter than spring.
“Invite me in.”
“But the neighbors—”
“Are asleep. Invite me in, Jessie.”
There were no lights on across the street. There was only Kurt, all six feet of him, masculine determination written in the set of his jaw and shoulders.
Jessie had never felt more helpless. “You lied.”
“I accomplished my goal.” When she said nothing more, he added, “Fine. We’ll talk here.”
In the years she’d known him, she’d learned to tell when he was joking. He wasn’t. “Kurt...”
“Decision’s yours, Jessie. We’re going to talk. Now. We can do it inside or out here, where the neighbors might overhear. Unless you want what I have to say printed in Miss Starr’s column?”
The threat chilled as much as the weather. For protection against both, she dragged the neckline of her nightie tighter around her throat. The subzero wind nipped at her toes and ankles. But even that didn’t freeze as much as the ice in Kurt’s green eyes.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll play it your way. First of all—”
“Stop!” Her insides reeled and she felt as though the world had started spinning backward. “You can come in.” The invitation contained only the barest hint of civility.
He didn’t hesitate.
With the door closed and both of them standing in the tiny foyer, she suddenly felt very small, very feminine. Her skin tingled where he’d touched her earlier, and sanity demanded that she get him out of here immediately. “Go ahead, Kurt. Say what you need to so you can leave.”
“I’m wondering,” he said, taking a step toward her, filling her senses and indicating her suitcase with his thumb. “Where the hell you think you’re going.”
The question was delivered quietly, but whipped by the lash of anger.
Jessie took another step away from him, then stopped. She reminded herself he was her best friend’s brother, nothing more. She was a grown woman and answered only to herself.
Straightening her spine, she pretended an indifference she didn’t feel. “It’s none of your business.”
“You made it my business.”
She shook her head, her hair falling forward to frame her face and allowing her to hide. “Look, Kurt, I presented you with a business arrangement, but you didn’t like the terms. End of discussion.”
“It would be, if you weren’t planning a trip.”
Frustration began as a small knot in her stomach. “It’s late, and I have to get up early.”
“So you can go to Denver.”
“Yes.”
“And get inseminated.”
The knot became tighter. She hated the emphasis he put on the words, as though she was doing something repulsive. Tipping back her head, she gave him a falsely sweet smile. “Good night, Kurt.”
He turned and she experienced a flash of triumph.
Then he clicked the dead bolt into place with a threatening thud.
Her heart momentarily stopped. “What are you doing?”
“Stopping you from doing something you’ll regret.”
Two
Until that moment, Kurt hadn’t realized how deadly serious he was.
He knew Jessie, better than she realized. Mary, his sister, had spent many evenings telling him about her friend. He knew about Jessie’s broken engagement and the time she was stood-up for the prom.
And
