Page 83 of Winter Vows

“I can’t sleep,” Kelsey protested. “I could give you something.”

“Absolutely not,” Kelsey said, horrified. After all, it was pills that had gotten them where they were now. The tranquilizer she had agreed to take the night before was one thing, but sleeping pills were another. Add in something to wake her back up again and she’d be on a roller-coaster. Who knew where it would end up? She could be in worse shape than her ex.

“You’re not going to get hooked like Paul,” Lizzy said, as if she’d read her mind.

“How do you know?”

“Because you don’t have the same kind of obsessive personality he has.” Lizzy clasped her shoulders and gazed into her eyes. “Sweetie, you need some sleep. If and when Paul does call again, you have to be thinking clearly. You can’t be all strung out with exhaustion.”

“And I can’t be groggy with sleep, either.”

Lizzy uttered a sigh of resignation. “Okay, at least go take a nice, warm bath.”

Kelsey didn’t want to leave the phone for a second, but she could see the sense in Lizzy’s suggestion. A bath might relax some of the tension. And she would feel better in some fresh clothes, more in control.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But I’ll take the portable phone up with me.”

Once she got upstairs, she considered taking a nice, invigorating cold shower instead, but the lure of a bath was more than she could pass up. She filled the tub with bubbles and sank into it up to her chin. The scent of lilacs, a distant memory from childhood summers in Maine, surrounded her. The water felt wonderful lapping gently against her skin. Her eyes drifted closed.

A soft tap on the bathroom door snapped her awake. Glancing down, she had just noticed that the bubbles were also a distant memory now, when the door inched open and Dylan poked his head in.

“You okay in here?” he asked, his gaze settling on her face for an instant, then drifting down.

Kelsey felt her nipples pucker under the intensity of his stare. A gentleman would have turned away, but he seemed to be frozen in place. There was enough heat in his gaze to warm the now-chilly bathwater. She couldn’t seem to muster up the required indignation. Finally, he swallowed hard and backed out.

“I’ll be out here when you’re dressed,” he said, his voice sounding choked.

As if her brain had finally clicked into gear, it registered that he wouldn’t be there unless something had happened. Kelsey scrambled from the tub. Without bothering to dry herself, she pulled on a heavy terry-cloth robe and belted it as she flung open the door. Dylan was standing guard just outside, leaning against the wall.

“Why are you here? What’s happened?” she demanded, standing toe-to-toe with him.

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Shh,” he soothed. “It’s okay. Nothing’s happened. I just came over to relieve Lizzy for a bit. She said she’d sent you up to take a bath. When you didn’t come back down, I thought I’d better check on you.”

“Are you sure that’s all?” she asked, still shaky. “That’s all. I swear it. If we find out something, I’ll tell you,” he promised, his gaze locked with hers. “I won’t hide anything.”

“Even if it’s bad?” she insisted. He nodded. “Even if it’s bad.”

She believed him. There was something in his expression, something in the way he held her that made her believe that Dylan Delacourt would never lie to her. She had the feeling he was the kind of man who told the unvarnished truth, even when it was painful. She found that reassuring.

“Sorry I overreacted,” she apologized.

“Sorry I intruded on your bath,” he said, though the glimmer in his eyes suggested otherwise.

Disconcerted by the attraction that was totally inappropriate given the circumstances, Kelsey backed up a step. Dylan allowed his hands to fall away from her shoulders. She almost regretted that, but she faced him squarely.

“You look like hell,” she observed. His cheeks were shadowed with the beginnings of a beard. He looked exhausted. “Give me a minute to get some clothes on and I’ll fix breakfast. You can tell me what you did all night.”

“Take your time. I’ll cook,” he said. “Have you got eggs and bacon? Scrambled okay?”

“Just toast for me.”

“You need the protein,” he said decisively and headed for the stairs.

Kelsey stared after him. She’d never had anyone around who showed the slightest inclination to take care of her. After all, she was a cool, competent doctor. Everyone knew she was the caregiver. Dylan apparently hadn’t caught on to that yet. But he would, she thought with a sigh. For now, though, it was rather nice to take a few extra minutes dressing and know that when she got downstairs breakfast would be waiting.

Even if she wasn’t hungry. Even if she had no intention of eating it.

Well, that was sweet, Delacourt, Dylan thought to himself as he marched back downstairs. Ogle the woman in her bath, why don’t you? But he hadn’t been able to tear his gaze away. Kelsey was an attractive woman and that baggy T-shirt and shorts he’d seen her wearing earlier had done nothing to enhance her natural beauty. Out of those, with all of her on display, so to speak, it was evident that she was a sensual, voluptuous woman. What man wouldn’t look?

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