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She nodded and took the last pot from him.
"Okay, follow me." he took her elbow again and this time the electrical current running through her arm nearly made her faint with shock. Never had a man's touch so inflamed her senses. Good grief, she was reacting like one of those silly heroines from a romance novel. He was only being nice, or trying to be. He certainly had no use for her, and his thoughts of marriage were so removed from her own, she knew better than to contemplate anything. Still, there was an instant attraction, and she knew he felt something, from the way he kept moving away from her.
Get real, this guy was a cop, and he could put her in jail if he knew she'd taken her parents’ car. But what was a girl to do, she couldn't stay at the church, she couldn't marry Chad after what she had witnessed for herself, she had no choice, she had to run. If only she could explain her circumstances. But the one thing she knew about herself was that she could keep a secret. Especially for a friend.
Friend, when had Chad stopped being the man she loved and started becoming just a friend? The answer to that was in the rose garden.
But as Ben directed her to the room, he showed her where the TV was, and the remote, and the few magazines that Mrs. Johnson left. He seemed intent on making her perfectly comfortable for the night. She should have felt grateful, but she knew there was a danger here and she didn't know how to handle it. The danger was in herself. She was definitely overly attracted to the Sheriff. And she was also vulnerable since she ranaway from her own wedding. Flirtation was one thing, but not with a Sheriff. Especially now. Not with the Highway patrol sniffing at her heels.
There were pictures on the dresser, probably him and his family. She picked them up and looked at them for a long moment. The Sheriff was undeniably handsome. He was long legged, thin, but built, weathered from the sun. His jaw was squared with determination, his lips firm and sensual, and his eyes were sometimes warm and friendly with crinkles around them as though he laughed a lot, and sometimes they were cold and hard.
As he left her, she looked about the room. It was very simple, with a big feather bed and plump pillows, yellow curtains at the window, and the television was a good size and swung around from the bed to the chair. She propped herself after changing into her nightshirt and decided to make the best of the night.
She heard him going outside a time or two, and wished she hadn't changed her clothes, a nice walk after dinner would have made her feel better. She'd eaten way too much, but darn it, the handsome Sheriff made her nervous. As it were, she felt leaded down. With a sigh of discontent she grabbed a magazine and glanced through it. It was several months old and she'd read it. She flipped on the television and watched for a while, but most was reruns and she felt a restlessness that confused her.
She didn't belong here, and knowing that didn't give her much comfort.
The day hadn't gone well, but at least she was here, in nowheresville. She could relax, she told herself. She'd get h
er car fixed tomorrow and figure out what to do from there. Everything would be fine.
So why was she so acutely tuned to the Sheriff's every move? And why after running out on one man, did she feel such an attraction for another so quickly? It made no sense. Was she really a dingbat?
It was a given he was a fantastic male specimen. Way out of her league. She'd never dated a man so attractive before. Even though Chad was handsome, he lacked that he-man attraction that this man seemed consumed with. Thick brown hair that was perfectly manicured, eyes like a hawk, and a smile like the devil himself. She'd better be careful. She'd love to photograph him. But there wouldn't be time and she was pretty sure he wouldn't dream of posing for her. No cameras. Still, she doubted she would ever see or be near another Sheriff with his looks and strange kind of charm.
She laid on the bed, sinking into it. All the spas in the world couldn't equal the delight or comfort of that bed. Never had she slept on a feather bed. She was in absolute heaven—until she started sneezing, and couldn't stop.
She got up and walked around the room. Still it wouldn't stop.
Finally there was a knock on the door.
"Something wrong?" Ben asked peeking his head through the door and looking at her strangely.
"Uh—no, of course not." And then she sneezed again.
She saw the tissue on the night stand and rushed for it. She blew her nose and turned back around to see him in the room with her. The room shrank. Now what was she supposed to do, she wasn't dressed for company and with the bed between them, her head was spinning with ideas she would rather not put to words. How could she even think of such things when she had just run from a marriage with a man she had adored and loved? What was wrong with her? She felt out of character.
"You're allergic to feathers, I'd bet my life on it." he stated with a strange kind of panic in his voice.
"Oh—no, it's not that, it's just ..."
He shook his head. "It's okay, let's prove it."
He moved the pillow and held it up for her and she sneezed, several times.
"Yes, it's the feathers." He threw the pillow on the bed.
"Oh no, well, I'll be okay, really..." She began, but he cut her off.
"No you won't. But don't worry, I have another bedroom," he explained pulling her out of the room.
He seemed not to notice that she was only clad in her t-shirt that barely covered her hips. She shrugged away the apprehension that clinched at her stomach. Just stay calm, he's a Sheriff, remember?
"C'mon," he pulled her to the other bedroom which was just down the hall from his obviously.
"This should be better, no feather bed." He smiled down into her face. In that instant she knew she was way too attracted to this man. And she was too vulnerable.
Her eyes were watering and she felt as though she were crying when she looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I loved that bed. It's so soft. I really wanted to sleep in it."
