couldn’t argue that. Not that he gave her a chance.
Before she could move, he took her face in his hands. She felt his calloused hands, warm and strong, on her cheeks. The hands of a man who did an honest day’s work. That picture didn’t quite fit with the one she’d already painted of him. But she didn’t have time to worry about that now. In the depths of his gaze, she saw what he planned to do. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to react before he took her mouth as he’d probably no doubt taken her sister’s body, with an intensity that stunned her. And for those few moments, she was El. And she knew the power this man had over her twin.
Abruptly he broke off the kiss and shoved himself away from her. “You and I have never kissed before,” he said, his voice as rough as his hands. “Believe me, if we had, I would have remembered.” He limped a few feet away on his crutches and turned to glare at her.
Marni fought the urge to cry out. In frustration. Her body ached, reminding her how long it had been since a man had kissed her. Had one ever kissed her like that?
Worse yet, he’d been testing her and she’d failed miserably. Failed to pull off her fraud. And failed El. She already felt like a traitor to her sister for just letting the man kiss her.
“Let me give you some advice, Miss McCumber,” he said, his voice sending a shiver through her. “You picked the wrong man to fool with. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but if you’re smart, you’ll get away from here as fast as you can. You and your baby aren’t safe in this house.”
He left, the threat hanging in the air as he slammed the door between their rooms.
Long after Chase left, Marni lay on the big log bed, her arm protectively around Sam as she stared up at the ceiling and mentally kicked herself. What had she hoped to accomplish by coming here? When was she going to learn that she couldn’t solve everyone’s problems?
As for the kiss…
She tried to excuse it. It was only a test and a test kiss didn’t amount to anything. She shouldn’t feel guilty. Really, if she was going to pretend to be Elise, these things were bound to happen. Men kissed El unexpectedly, passionately, soundly.
Not that Marni would let it happen again. One test kiss per sister’s boyfriend, thank you. But if it should—
Marni groaned. Why was she agonizing over one silly little kiss? Instead she should be worrying about how El was going to take the bad news. She’d tried to call her sister before climbing into bed but the phone line was dead. Probably the storm.
She stopped a moment to listen, almost sure she’d heard footsteps out in the hallway again. As she drew the covers up around her shoulders, she assured herself the house didn’t feel exceptionally imposing or hostile and that all those grunts and groans, creaks and crackings were just from the storm outside. This was Chase’s doing. Him and his “you and your baby aren’t safe here.”
Only silence came from the adjoining room. Chase had no doubt gone to bed and was sound asleep by now. So much for his guilty conscience keeping him awake.
She’d really believed that once she had him alone, she could get him to admit his part in Elise’s pregnancy. At least she would have accomplished that much. Not that he planned to do anything about it. But instead, he wouldn’t even consider she might be part of his lost memory. If indeed he suffered from such a convenient affliction.
Marni squeezed her eyes closed and searched for sleep, wishing she’d grabbed a book from the library. Nothing could distract her mind faster than a book.
Her stomach growled. How could she be hungry when she’d devoured such a large meal just hours ago?
She tried to ignore the hunger pangs and the mental picture that kept flashing in her brain. Cake. A moist white cake, rich with buttery frosting.
Her stomach rumbled loudly. She opened her eyes. It would be incredibly rude to raid the refrigerator. Not for a woman who was eating for two, she argued, as she slid her legs over the side of the bed.
The embers had burned down in the fireplace and the storm’s icy chill settled in along with Chase’s warning. He didn’t know her very well if he thought he could scare her that easily.
She reminded herself that he didn’t know her at all. He knew Elise. And the truth was, Elise probably wouldn’t have budged from her bed until morning.
Marni opened her bedroom door cautiously and peered out. The hallway was empty. And dark except for a light at the far end beyond the stairs. The house seemed to hunker in silence as if waiting for something. For her, the voice of reason warned. But a piece of cake, rich with frosting, was calling. The cake won. She stepped out and, quietly closing the door behind her, tiptoed down the hall.
A cold draft crawled over her bare feet. She pulled Chase’s robe around her. The robe was thick and warm and like the shirt, smelled faintly of its owner, a scent that was both disarming and comforting.
When Marni reached the stairs, she trod down them carefully, her near accident still too fresh in her memory for comfort.
Someone had left a light on and Marni wondered if she was the only one up raiding the fridge. The thought of running into Vanessa almost changed her mind. Marni tiptoed across the foyer, peeked into the dining room, then headed for what she figured would be the kitchen.
The kitchen was spacious like the house. But unlike the house, it had a warm, almost homey feel to it. Marni guessed it was probably because Vanessa never set foot in it It was the first room that Marni could say she actually liked. And it was blessedly empty.
She found the cake without having to raid the fridge, cut herself a large slice and sat down at the table. The cake was delicious. She licked the frosting from her lips as she eyed another piece. Oh, what would it hurt?
As she was scraping her plate to get the last of the crumbs, she marveled at her increased appetite. Was it just nerves? Or was her body somehow kidding itself into believing she really was eating for two?
Whatever it was, she had to quit or she’d gain a ton.
A short while later, she made her way toward the library. The house groaned and moaned around her. Snow piled up at the windows and cold crept along the bare wooden floors like snow snakes.
Marni had started down the hall when she heard something that made her freeze in midstep.
Crying. At first she thought it was the baby again. Then realized it wasn’t the same sound she’d heard earlier coming up through the heat vent. The heart-wrenching sobs pulled at her and she found herself trailing the sound past the library toward the back of the house.
A faint light shone from a far corner of what appeared to be the living room. The thick, dark curtains along the bank of windows were open to the night. The darkness outside blurred in a thick lattice of falling snow.
Lilly Calloway sat slumped in a large log rocker, in a golden circle of light from a floor lamp beside the chair. She clutched something in her arms and rocked, Marni noticed with a start. Beside the rocker on the floor sat a half-empty wine bottle. The room smelled faintly of gardenias.
Marni
