Seducing Nell

“Never you mind.”

His cheek was resting on her hair, a state of affairs that she liked very much. She murmured, “You smell nice.”

“So do you,” Kyle said.

Against her face she could feel the roughness of his body hair at the neckline of his shirt; it seemed the most natural thing in the world to nuzzle at it with her lips. Warmth began to spread through her body, her shivering changing its tone so gradually she was scarcely aware of what was happening.

“Don’t do that!” he choked.

Her head reared back. “What’s wrong?”

Easing his hips away from hers, he said grimly, “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“You mean you…” Nell flushed scarlet, stepped backward, tripped over a tree root and sat down hard on the puffy folds of her sleeping bag. It failed to pad the root. “Ouch!” she said.

Kyle reached down and hauled her to her feet. “What in hell are you doing junketing through the woods with a sleeping bag?”

“I was going to find a dry spot and go back to sleep,” Nell replied with as much dignity as she could muster. “You swear too much.”

“There’s something about you that brings out the worst in me. One aspect of which is swearing. I don’t suppose it’s a two—person sleeping bag?”

“It is not.”

“Too bad. Because I’m not leaving you out in the woods alone while those party animals do their best to tear up the beach. You’ve got two choices. We’ll go to the bungalow where I’m staying—you can have my bed and I’ll bunk down in the living room on the chesterfield. Or else the two of us’ll stay out here for the rest of the night”

It was cold in the woods, and her bottom was still smarting where it had connected with the root “Let’s go to the bed—and—breakfast,” she said meekly. “As long as we won’t disturb the owners.”

“My God—no arguments?”

“Would they do any good?”

“No. Here, take my hand.”

He led the way to the path on the ridge, and within minutes they were walking along the paved road, Kyle favoring his left leg. The beach party was still going full blast “I hope they don’t touch my tent,” Nell said.

“If they do, they’ll have me to reckon with.”

She had never before allowed a man to protect her.

She rather liked it. “How’s your knee?” she asked.

“Fine.”

Nell was light—headed with tiredness, the waning moon was casting a silver sheen on the ocean, and Kyle was still holding her hand even though he didn’t really need to. She said vigorously, “I was scared back there in the woods, right?”

“So you should have been. You notice I haven’t said I told you so?”

“That’s very noble of you. I was scared, I let you see I was scared and I was happy to be rescued. So I don’t think it would hurt you one bit, Kyle Marshall, to tell me that your knee’s sore—sore as hell, as you no doubt would say—and that perhaps we should walk a little slower.”

He stopped dead in the middle of the road. “Maybe you came to Newfoundland because all the eligible men in Europe got together and bought your airline ticket.”

“How’s your knee, Kyle?”

“I bet they even chased you onto the plane.”

“Answer the question!”

“Hurts like hell,” he said cheerfully. “But if we walk any slower, I’ll be tempted to kiss you again. You were dynamite in the daytime. I hate to think what you’d be like by moonlight.”

“That’s only sex,” Nell said testily.

“Nothing wrong with sex.”

How would she know? “One more thing,” she said with considerable determination. “You take the bed, I take the chesterfield.”

“Don’t want to talk about sex, Nell?”

“Do shut up, Kyle!”

“I’ll take the chesterfield. When the owners wake up in the morning I think it would be better if they find me in the living room rather than a woman they’ve never seen before.”

“Breakfast,” she said wryly, “could be a most interesting meal…mmm, smell the roses.”

Kyle had unlatched the gate in a neat white picket fence that was overhung with a tangle of old—fashioned roses. He ushered her in the front door of the bungalow, where she bent and took off her hiking boots. The interior of the house was newly painted, sparklingly clean and decorated with starched lace doilies on every available surface; night—lights were plugged into sockets in the kitchen and hallway. Feeling a little guilty that she would be taking advantage of Kyle’s sore knee, Nell tiptoed into the living room while he was still awkwardly untying his boots; she lay down flat on the chesterfield with her sleeping bag in a mound on her feet, gripping her haversack to her chest.

Kyle padded into the room. In a hoarse whisper, he ordered, “Nell, get up.”

She had no idea a whisper could sound so adamant “It’s very bad for you to have your own way all the time.”

He advanced on her. “Just because my knee is sore doesn’t mean I’m totally incapacitated.”

In the dim light, her eyes were dancing. “You’ll have to remove me bodily. During which process I shall contrive to drop my water bottle on the floor as noisily as possible. You’d hate for the owners to discover you carrying me into your bedroom at four o’clock in the morning.”

“How bored all those men in Europe must be without you,” Kyle murmured. “You win. Sweet dreams and pleasant awakenings.” He limped into the first room off the hall and closed the door softly behind him. He had made no attempt to kiss her good—night

After pulling a rude face at the blank white—painted panels, Nell deposited her haversack on the carpet, arranged the cushions to suit her and snuggled into her sleeping bag. Within moments, she was asleep.

In her dreams, Kyle was waving a bouquet of bog laurel at her from his seat in Wendell’s truck, and the eagle had stolen her water bottle. Nell buried her face in the stream to get a drink. But the stream was warm and rough and smelled rather peculiar—Her eyes flew open.

Her nose was being thoroughly licked by a very large dog with mournful brown eyes. “Jasses!” Nell exclaimed, and burrowed her face into her elbow. Whereupon the dog licked her ear.

“What does that mean?” Kyle asked with genuine interest

Nell sat up, scrubbing her nose with her sleeve. “It means yuk, ugh, disgusting and gross.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Kyle said.

She scowled at him. “Pleasant awakenings—so that’s what you meant.”