Shadowing Shahna

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Shahna was fairly sure that Morrie wouldn’t have let his wife persuade him if he hadn’t been in considerable pain and probably more than a little worried. “Poor Morrie. I must phone Alison later.”

“You’re quite close to…the family?” Kier inquired.

“They’ve been good to me, and I try to repay them any way I can.”

“You can’t have many friends, out in the country like this.”

“I know most of the locals, at least to say hello to. And there’s a playgroup that I take Samuel to twice a week. All the mothers get a chance for some adult company.”

Kier glanced at her shrewdly. “Do you miss that? Adult company?”

“Not much. But it’s nice to talk to people with similar interests now and then.”

“Similar interests?” Kier looked incredulous.

“We all have young children, for one thing,” she reminded him rather tartly. “But we talk about a lot of other things too. Books, art, the education system, what’s in the news, farming, TV—I don’t have one, but the McKenzies ask me over sometimes when there’s something special on… It isn’t all knitting and cooking.”

“I’m sure it’s very stimulating.”

She flashed him a look. “It may sound boring to you—”

“It just doesn’t sound like you,” he commented. “Unless you’ve changed a lot.”

“A baby gives you a new perspective on life.”

Kier scowled at her, perplexed. “It doesn’t lead many people to alter their life so radically.”

“I suppose not,” Shahna acknowledged. “But it was the right thing for me…and the Scamp.”

Hearing his nickname, Samuel began to bang on the tray of the high chair, making little crowing noises. Shahna offered him another piece of toast that he declined decisively by throwing it on the floor. Chiding him, she picked it up and popped it into the scrap bucket she kept for the hens before releasing him from the chair.

Kier stood up too. “I’ll dig that garden for you.”

“There’s no need…”

But he didn’t listen, merely casting her a withering look and going right ahead anyway.

He certainly got it done faster than she would have and with less effort. Shahna discouraged Samuel from helping and took him inside to distract him with toys, before returning alone to see Kier chopping up the last of the turned sods. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I’m very grateful.”

He plunged the spade upright in the soil. “No sweat.” A lie; his face was glistening, but it only added to his attraction.

He swiped an arm across his forehead and grinned, as if realizing he’d used the wrong words. Shahna caught her breath, her heart tumbling. It was rare, that grin of pure enjoyment. Kier had always been sparing with his smiles, and often they hid less innocent emotions.

She couldn’t help an answering smile, looking up at him as the sun lit his eyes, making them bluer than ever, and picked out glints in his dark hair.

“Of course, if you really want to thank me…” he said softly, and stepped toward her.

She should have protested, or at least turned away, made it clear his kiss was unwelcome. Instead she waited with a sense of expectation as he took her shoulders gently and bent his head until his mouth met hers.

She closed her eyes, and involuntarily her lips parted under his warm persuasion. She could feel the sun beating on her hair, and hear the water rippling along its bank, Samuel babbling a wordless little song in the background.

Everything faded as Kier’s mouth worked a familiar magic, making her breath come unevenly and her skin tingle with anticipation when his hands slid down her arms and fastened on her waist to draw her closer.

She lifted her hands, momentarily resting them on his chest, fighting the urge to fling her arms around his neck. Instead, with a supreme effort, she pushed against him, and wrenched her mouth from its erotic enthrallment.

His hands tightened for a second on her waist, and then he let her go. They stared at each other, her cheeks hot, his eyes glittering with a fierce satisfaction.

Shahna swallowed hard, unable to tear her gaze away. Dumbly she shook her head in futile denial.

Kier smiled. Quite differently from before. This smile was knowing and confident and very, very male. It spelled trouble.

I must be crazy, Shahna thought. Why had she allowed him to do that?

“You’ll want your clothes,” she said, trying to appear unaffected by the kiss. “They’re dry now.”

“If there’s anything else you need done…”

“You’ve done enough,” she answered huskily. “And had your payment.”

Immediately she wanted to bite her tongue. A stolen kiss that she hadn’t made the least effort to avoid was hardly compensation for the amount of work he’d put in both yesterday and this morning.

Kier smiled again, tipping his head to one side as he regarded her with lurking amusement. “And very nice too,” he said.

Anger dispelled the warm afterglow of the kiss. Was it a game to him? Coming here, upsetting her hard-won equilibrium, intruding on the life she’d made for herself and Samuel, simply for some sort of whim.

“I’ll get your things,” she told him, and marched back to the house. As she climbed over the barrier keeping Samuel inside, Kier was right behind, entering after her.

Samuel was absorbed in poking wooden shapes into matching holes in a colored plastic bucket. He stopped to watch the two adults pass, then returned to his task.

Shahna picked up the neatly folded garments from the top of the washing machine and turned to present them to Kier. But as he held his hands out to take them she gasped, staring at his upturned palms.

He looked down too, at the reddened skin and broken blisters. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said, letting his hands drop.

“It’s bad enough!” Shahna felt quite sick. “Have you put anything on them?”

“Disinfectant, last night when I broke the blisters I collected yesterday. And Alison gave me some salve.”

But he’d been digging her garden this morning! Unaccountably angry, she said, “What the hell are you trying to prove?”

“Apart from the fact that I’m not accustomed to using my hands for physical labor,” he said wryly, “nothing. But I’d hate to see this happen to you.”

So he’d taken over the job when he realized she meant to dig the soil herself. “I wouldn’t have gone on working if it had,” she retorted.

He reached out again and took the clothes she held. “Thanks for this,” he said, not moving away, and she found herself crowded against the washing machine. The laughter had left his eyes and they were searching, intent. “I’ll be back,” he said.

“What?” Her own eyes widened.

Kier frowned. “Why are you scared?”

“I’m not!” Shahna floundered, torn between a useless hope and the prospect of future heartbreak. “I just don’t know why you’d bother.”

“What is it with you?” He sounded exasperated. “I’d never thought you lacking in self-esteem.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my self-esteem, thank you! I told you, I’ve changed.”

“Some things don’t change.” His gaze lingered on her mouth, then he lifted his eyes to hers in challenge and added softly, “Do they?”

What was the point of arguing? He was leaving anyway, and once back in his own milieu, absorbed in the world he knew and loved being a part of, he would forget her again.

After all, he hadn’t chased her up until the sight of her name on her jewelry had reminded him of her existence. “It was nice seeing you,” she said, striving for a pleasant indifference, “but I won’t be holding my breath for another visit. Enjoy your life, Kier.” She had to look away in case he saw sadness in her eyes, guessed at the tug of grief inside her.

“I intend to.” A grittiness had entered his voice. “What about you?”

“My life is just fine. I have everything I need.”

“Including a lover?”

She glared at him. “Like I said before, I don’t need a man.”

“You’re a passionate woman, Shahna. How long do you think you can do without sex?”

“Just as long as I want to,” she returned, meeting his eyes defiantly. “There are plenty of other pleasures in life.”