Page 119 of The Enchanted Land

Seth’s eyes teased. “I know one little grandaughter who’s a beauty.”

She glanced away.

Seth looked around the room for the first time, walking to a group of drawings on the wall. He turned startled eyes back to Morgan. “This is you, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“But how did they get here? I thought you left New Mexico when you were a baby.”

Morgan explained briefly about the agent her father had hired, and why he had written that preposterous will.

Seth threw his head back and laughed. Adam turned over in his bed but did not waken. Morgan opened the door and they both went into the hall.

“Would you mind telling me why my story is so amusing?” Her voice was hostile.

“Because I thought that will of your father’s was one of the meanest things I’d ever encountered. But he was a sly one. He knew all along about that crazy mother of yours and the way she’d raised you.”

“My mother was not crazy!”

“I shouldn’t have put it that way. I’m sorry.”

“I’ve found that a lot of things my mother taught me were perfectly true.”

“Such as?”

“Men! Men are not to be trusted. They use women. Women are better off without them.”

She didn’t see Seth move, but all at once, she was in his arms. Before she could think, his lips found hers, quietly at first and then searchingly. Her arms went around his strong, hard body, pulling him closer. Her long-withheld passions came to the surface, and she felt she was falling.

Her body acted by itself, pressing her softness against his muscular thighs and hips. Her mouth opened under his and she returned his thrust with an eagerness of her own. Her lips moved with his. His lips sought her neck, traveling down the tendons with little nibbling bites, causing chills along the curve of her spine and on her legs. “I love you, Morgan. I’ve always loved you.”

The words pierced her brain, recalling a time when she had said those words to him. She remembered his sneer. She couldn’t let it happen again. She wasn’t going to fall in love with him again and be hurt like that. He was not trustworthy. It might happen again.

“No,” she whimpered. “No.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Seth heard her protest. He loved her. He could not hurt her, not again. She wasn’t ready yet. He’d gone too fast. He must leave, get away from her, because he wouldn’t be able to contain himself much longer.

He would wait. There’d be another time, a time when she’d welcome him. He held her at arm’s length. Her eyes held passion and rage. He smiled down at her and tenderly kissed her forehead. Her breath was soft and warm, still coming in gasps.

He turned and ran lightly down the stairs. Holding his hat in his hand, he stopped in the doorway and looked back up at her. He grinned at her. “I’m glad you still remember me.”

Morgan stood for a long time, staring at the closed door. Remember him! She wanted to follow him and tell him what a selfish oaf he was, and how conceited. To think his kiss meant anything to her!

She went shakily downstairs to the study to finish balancing the accounts. She sat at the thick pine desk and began adding figures. But after a few minutes she turned and gazed out the window, unseeing. She stayed that way for a long time.

Morgan looked at the clock and realized the entire afternoon had passed. It was nearly time for dinner. Hearing Adam’s squeal from the kitchen, she went to investigate.

Adam sat on a stool at the big work table in the center of the kitchen, shaping pieces of gingerbread.

“Those are the ugliest people I have ever seen. Why do some of them have four eyes?”

“I believe, Mrs. Colter, that some of those eyes are supposed to be ears.”

Morgan tweaked Adam’s ear. “Ears don’t grow beside your nose.”

Adam laughed and pushed her hand away. “Ears.” He put a piece of raw dough in his mouth.

Morgan left the kitchen and went upstairs to change for dinner. Since Adam’s nap had been so late, she decided, he could eat with Gordon and her tonight.

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