Her Favorite Husband

There was a huskiness in his voice. She could almost feel it against her skin. She got onto the bed, letting her legs rub along his. Somewhere between floor and mattress, waiting became too much for her, too. She lowered herself onto him, gasping at the relief of that touch. Before she’d had time to reconcile the strangeness with the familiarity, heat and a tremulous heaviness gripped her. She gave in to it, and let the waves carry her. In moments, he followed, pulling her hips closer, finding his way deeper, whispering her name.

They rested, and then he began to stroke her again, taking his time, making her feel the way he always had, that there was no one more beautiful or more important to him in all the world. Far at the back of her mind was something she needed to tell him, but she couldn’t get hold of it, couldn’t see it at all, and soon there were no thoughts left, only him, moving over her and in her, only the rightness of that.

CHAPTER TWO

SHE FELL STRAIGHT TO SLEEP. At first she nestled close, soft puffs of air blowing on his chest. Unbelievable, to feel that again. Soon she turned, onto her side, but with her back still pressed against him. Disconnecting a step at a time.

Soft and sweet as she slept, apparently harmless.

But here, and therefore not harmless.

At the bar he’d nearly walked away from her, even as they’d toyed with the idea of coming upstairs. One foot on the floor, ready to get up and go. That was thanks to a small, really small, portion of his brain that knew what was good for him. They couldn’t fall together like this and then just as easily fall away, with no repercussions.

He was an idiot.

Her hair, dark soft waves of it, had fallen forward, a few wisps fluttering each time she exhaled. He propped himself up on one elbow so he could smooth it from her face.

A thinner face. She was thinner all over. Between wedding bands. Had three disappointing men taken away her glow, given her those sharper angles? Poor Lady of Shalott. That was what her brothers used to call her. Always dreaming. No real man would ever make the grade.

A few years ago one of their former classmates had told him about marriages two and three. That was when the second was over and the third was on the horizon. That Sarah. She’s had more husbands than I’ve had winter coats.

True or not, it wasn’t a friendly comment. He’d said so, and got a pitying look. No doubt he was part of the story now. Poor guy, still on Sarah’s hook.

He would have denied it before that urgent need to get to his room had taken over, before that kick in the chest when he’d turned and seen her at the door.

SARAH WOKE UP RELAXED and refreshed, with no sense of time.

The length of Ian’s body was pressed against her back and legs. No one else felt like him. If they’d been apart for fifty years instead of ten, she’d still know who lay behind her. She wished she could doze off again so neither of them would have to move just yet, but she could tell he was awake, too.

“Is it morning?”

He kissed the back of her neck. “You’ve had a fifteen minute snooze.”

“You’re kidding.” She opened one eye to squint at the window. Natural light glowed around the closed curtains. “So the midnight sun thing is real?”

“At this latitude and time of year, not quite. More of an all-night dusk.”

The blanket and sheet had fallen on the floor. Sarah turned onto her back and stretched, happy to have Ian looking at her, confident the years hadn’t done her body any harm. “I feel wonderful.”

“You sure do.”

She nudged him with her hip. “You know what I mean!” His smile made her heart twist. She’d always had a soft spot for him tousled and bleary-eyed.

It wasn’t really a happy smile, though.

How could he not be happy, after what they’d shared? They had shared it, hadn’t they? She hadn’t been on cloud nine all alone while he labored thanklessly?

She rolled onto her side to face him, trying to study him without staring. Already, the drawbridge was on its way back up, his expression becoming guarded, his smile fading.

“Well?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Your verdict? My abs okay?”

“More than okay, as you well know!” She stroked the taut skin and felt his muscles tighten. “Much more than okay.”

It was an odd feeling, though, to touch him so intimately. Briefly, he’d been her Ian again. Fell asleep, and he was. Woke up, and he wasn’t. Like having blurred vision. Then and now, two of him, two of her. Sarah supposed it was to be expected, but it made for a crowded bed.

She pressed her body against his, hoping the feeling would go away. “Wasn’t that amazing? How quickly we clicked.”

“The question is why.”

“Why?” There wasn’t any need to ask why. Was it the clicking itself he questioned, or the speed of the clicking?

She couldn’t think about it now. Her brain wasn’t working on all cylinders. It wouldn’t be for hours. Perceptions changed after making love. She’d never figured out if postbliss chemicals cleared the view or clouded it.

“There’s a time for thinking, Ian.”

“And this isn’t it?”

“Of course this isn’t it.” She leaned over him, running a hand across his chest, then down to those much more than okay abs.

Gently, but firmly, he pushed her away. “I’m still fuzzy about how you landed in Yellowknife.”

“Well,” she said, watching the space between them grow wider as he sat up and leaned against the headboard, “I think first they pull the rudder back and then they do something with those wing flaps.”

“What’s the big secret, Sarah? What are you avoiding telling me?”

“There’s no secret. I already explained why I came.”

“Something about Santa.”

“You don’t believe I’d search for Santa’s workshop?”

His mouth twitched. “You probably would. And now that you spend all your time surrounded by children’s books, what could be more natural than an expedition to the North Pole?”

“Hey, you could come along.” She was so pleased he knew something about her work. About the rings, too. All these years apart she hadn’t been invisible to him. “Take the National Geographic photos, write the article. Interview the man himself!”

His attention sharpened when she mentioned his work. “Keeping tabs on me?”

Some self-protective urge got in the way of admitting anything that purposeful. “I wouldn’t say tabs.”

“What would you say?”

“I’d say—” I think about you sometimes, I wonder how you are “—I’d say, I try to notice what’s going on around me.”

“I haven’t exactly been around you.”