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“Here.” She sat on the rug in front of the fireplace and enjoyed the soft feel of the rug against her skin. It didn’t take him long to ease down beside her.
He leaned forward and kissed her with infinite care. The kiss was long and slow and deep. As he pressed his rough palm against the smooth skin of her abdomen, he claimed another deep kiss. She panted while he stroked her soft flesh, his calloused hands arousing her to a fever pitch.
“Zane.” She broke off the kiss and tossed her head from side to side pleaded for what they both sought. “Please…I need you so much.”
Zane groaned and became one with his wife. Afterward he held her close, his breathing harsh and heavy. Lesley wrapped her arms around him, buried her face in his neck and silently wept. He’d given her only pleasure, but the beauty of what they’d shared demanded an emotional release, and that came in the form of tears.
“Lesley?” He gently stroked the hair away from her face.
She shook her head, not wanting to answer him.
“I hurt you?”
“No…nothing like that.”
He reversed their positions so that she was above him. He continued to smooth her hair as he held her close.
“Will it always be this good?” she whispered when she could.
Zane kissed the top of her head and slowly exhaled a deep breath. “I sincerely hope not.”
Confused, Lesley raised her head to look at him and saw that he was smiling.
“A man could die from this much pleasure.”
Lesley laughed and closed her eyes. That being the case, they both just might be dead before the end of the week.
* * *
Carl was not a happy man. Zane was married, which was shocking enough, and now Candy was looking to slip a ring through his nose. Well, he had news for her. Zane might have taken leave of his senses, but not so with Carl. He’d as soon leap off a bridge as take a wife.
Every time he thought about how Candy had led him down a merry path, it irked him. He should have known better than to trust a woman. She’d been plotting against him from the first, and he’d been to blind to recognize what she was doing and had fallen for it.
Carl walked into the kitchen and vented his frustration by slamming the door.
“When are Zane and Lesley due back?” he asked Mrs. Applegate.
“Monday,” the cook said, ladling soup into a bowl. “Sit down. Lunch is ready.”
“What kind of soup is that?”
“Chicken noodle.”
He hadn’t had much of an appetite lately. “I think I’ll skip lunch.”
She emptied the bowl back into the pot. “Suit yourself. I don’t know what burr’s under your saddle, young man, but I suggest you take care of it.”
Carl glared at the older woman. Even the kindly housekeeper had been in a surly mood of late. It used to be that they’d laugh and joke. No longer.
“You’ve been snapping everyone’s head off for the last week. What’s the matter with you?” she demanded. “I swear you’d complain if they hung you with a new rope.”
Carl growled a response and slammed the door on his way out, just as he had on his way into the kitchen.
He hated to admit it, but the old woman was right. Dang it all—he was angry. Most of his irritation was directed at Candy, but he wasn’t feeling kindly toward Zane, either.
Married. Zane. It didn’t add up.
Frankly, Carl was worried, but what Zane did with his life was his own business. Carl knew his friend wouldn’t take kindly to any advice or interference.
