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Tess felt a surge of pride and love so strong, her knees went weak for a minute. Never in her whole life had she been prouder of someone than she was of Savannah at that moment. She nodded. "It sure does, sweetie."
The sun was melting into the pewter-colored sea by the time they finished. Katie's curtain was an explosion of yellow spots and red handprints. Savannah's creation was a perfect Milky Way with hundreds of tiny yellow spots, a crescent moon, and big, bright red stars.
"Last one!" Katie giggled as she flicked her wrist toward the curtain.
At that precise moment, Jack turned the corner and strode into the yard. Yellow paint hurtled through the air and splatted across his face and shirt. He stopped dead. There was a moment of stunned surprise, then Tess
burst out laughing.
"You think this is funny?" he said incredulously, wiping a particularly large glob out of his eye. It smeared in a war-paintlike streak across his cheekbone. Anger drew his mouth into a grim line.
Tess catapulted past the girls and grabbed his arm. Her yellow-tipped fingers tightened warningly. "Jack Rafferty, if you yell at these children right now, I swear I'll ..."
"What?"
"Punch you right square in the stomach."
Surprise widened his eyes. Then he did the last thing in the world Tess expected: He laughed. It was a rich, baritone sound that sent heat spilling through her body.
Tess's death grip on his arm lightened, became a friend's touch. "Would you like to see what we've done?"
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He nodded. Together they walked over to the girls and kneeled down in the grass. It never occurred to Tess to take her hand from his arm.
He reached out and touched the drying red star.
Savannah turned to him with wide, eager eyes. Her hands were in her lap, twisted together in a pale, nervous ball. "Do you like it?"
He turned to his eldest daughter. "It's perfect."
Savannah's eyes glistened. "Th-Thanks, Daddy."
"What do you think of mine, Daddy?" Katie whispered.
Jack studied her painting very seriously, then gave his daughter a bright smile. "It's wonderful."
Katie looked as if she'd been given the most precious gift in the world.
Jack pushed to his feet. "Now you'd better clean this mess up."
Tess got to her feet beside him. Casually she pressed onto her toes and brushed a paint-globbed lock of hair from his eyes. Their gazes met, held. Something fluttered around Tess's heart and made her breathing quicken. She remembered their kiss, the butterfly-soft meeting of their lips and tongues.
A slow, seductive smile curved her lips. What she felt right now had nothing to do with families, or kids, or even belonging. It was a selfish need to touch this man, to hold him and kiss him and hear the richness of his laugh.
He grabbed her wrist. The smile slid off his face. An infinitely bleak expression filled his eyes. "Do you know what you're doing to me?"
The words were spoken so quietly, and with such despair, that Tess felt as if she'd been punched.
What has she done to you? Tess wanted to cry out.
What?
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Then the fingers encircling her wrist were gone. And so was he.
Jack lay on the couch, the woolen blanket pulled tight to his chin. It had been years since he had slept well; he'd always been so afraid of the nightmare that he lay awake as long as physically possible. Tonight was different. He longed to sleep, but his mind wouldn't stop working. He'd been lying here, wide-awake, for countless hours.
