Page 43 of Inventions of the Heart

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

MICHELLE WASN’T A WOMAN TO BE OVERLY EMOTIONAL.She didn’t cry much. The same was true for happy emotions. She was more likely to grin than laugh out loud. And she never, ever blushed.

Except right now.

There was a very good chance her face was the color of a ripe apple.

Entering the room with Zane just behind her, she turned to face him in time to see him close and firmly lock the door.

“I-I don’t know if—if—”

Zane held up a halting hand. “I know we haven’t had what might be considered a normal courtship. We haven’t spent weeks or even months deciding to marry. I’m not going to put any pressure on you to do ... wifely things with me tonight, Michelle.”

The heat in her face went up a few degrees. Shocked that he’d speak of such intimacies. But relieved, too, that he didn’t expect anything of her.

“I did like the idea of spending time alone with you, though. Time to talk and ... well, I’d like to hold you in the night, just hold you. Sleep next to you. I would never ask for more until you’re fully willing. But maybe a good-night kiss wouldn’t be amiss under the circumstances.”

Michelle managed to grin. “Thank you, Zane. I admit I’ve worried you, that is that we, uh, might ... might...”

“You really aren’t finishing your sentences at all well.”

Her grin widened, and she slapped him on the chest far more gently than he probably deserved.

“I will step out into the hall and give you a few moments to change into your nightgown.”

It occurred to Michelle that he might be finishing his sentences a littletoowell. His own formal little talk was as laced with nerves as her stammering. It made her feel steadier.

“I’d like to talk with Nick anyway, and see if he wants me to spell him with guard duty.”

Nodding, and still blushing if the temperature of her face was any way to judge, Michelle said, “Thank you.”

Zane’s hand slipped on the doorknob, then he fumbled with the lock for a moment, wrenched the door wide, and stepped out.

Smiling at his awkward effort to be a perfect gentleman, she kept looking at the door, admiring the man who’d gone through it. Then she remembered she had to put her nightgown on and stay in the same room as that man.

Granted he was her husband, but it was still a shocking business, and her smile was nowhere to be found.

There was a mirror in the room. She stepped up to look at herself, and her cheeks were vivid red. With no time to ponder how to get over her embarrassment, she swiftly changedinto her nightgown. She was covered in white cotton from neck to wrist to toe, and still she felt ridiculously ... unclothed.

Afraid he’d come back too soon, or run away, she went to the door, cracked it open, and peeked out.

He stood facing her, with Nick’s back to her. Zane noticed the door open, nodded, and she shut it again with a bit more of a creak than she’d intended.

“I NEED TO GO NOW.”Zane couldn’t hold a single thought in his head anyway. This conversation was over whether he wanted it to be or not.

Nick smiled. “Congratulations, Boss. You’ve got yourself a fine woman.”

Zane went to his room and slipped in, not wanting to chance anyone getting a look at his wife. His very own, sworn-before-God-and-man wife. The woman he was going to share a room with and a bed with for as long as they both shall live.

Zane was innocent of women, having lived his life in a mostly male world. He rarely saw them and didn’t spend his time thinking about them ... well, not much time. Once in a while a man had himself some thoughts.

Frozen just inside the door, he studied Michelle, lying on the far side of the bed, on her side, facing away from him. Her whole body rigid as if she were a small creature hoping she didn’t draw the attention of the big bad wolf.

The bed was on his right. It was a good-sized room, but no hotel rooms were ever exactly large. He noticed she seemedto be breathing with an unnatural steadiness as if she was pretending to sleep. She had the covers pulled up to her ears.

It was very unlikely she’d fallen asleep in the two seconds it’d taken him to enter the room after she’d looked out the door.

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