Honor Bound(50)

Chapter 9



The resulting silence was terrible. Gene stared into his coffee cup and fidgeted in his chair. Alice studied her hands, composed but embarrassed. Aislinn's eyes were riveted to the top of Tony's head while color rose high in her cheeks. Only Lucas seemed unaffected by his bold declaration.

"Do you need anything out of the truck?" he asked, scraping his chair away from the table and standing.

"The small suitcase and Tony's bag," Aislinn replied in a low voice.

"Mother, can you fashion Tony a crib out of a drawer or something?"

"Yes of course. Come on, Aislinn," Alice said, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Let's get Tony settled for the night."

"I'll help Lucas." Gene seemed grateful for something to do. He followed Lucas from the kitchen.

The bedroom into which Alice led Aislinn was small, having room for only an old-fashioned vanity table with a padded stool, a chest of drawers, a nightstand, and a double bed.

"These drawers are empty," Alice said, taking one out of the chest of drawers. "I cleaned everything out after Father died."

"I didn't have time … before … to tell you how sorry I was," Aislinn said.

"Thank you. It was inevitable. He was old. He didn't want to linger for years in a hospital or nursing home. It happened just as he wanted it to. There, do you think that will work?"

While they were talking, she had lined the bottom of the drawer with a quilt, folding it several times in order to make it fit and to form soft bedding for the baby.

"That will be fine. For now. In another month or two he'll be kicking the sides out." Aislinn hugged Tony affectionately and kissed his temple.

"Oh, by then I'll have bought a crib. I'm counting on you to bring him to see me often."

"You don't mind about Lucas and me?" Her eyes shyly sought Alice's.

"Maybe I should be asking you that. Do you mind about Lucas and you?"

"At first, yes, very much. Now, I don't know," she said honestly. "We hardly know each other, but we both love Tony. The quality of his life is extremely important to us. On that basis, we might make the marriage work."

"Life out there on the ranch will be far different from what you're accustomed to."

"I was sick to death of the life I was accustomed to, even before I met Lucas."

"It won't be easy for you, Aislinn."

"Nothing worthwhile is."

The two women stared at each other, the younger with determination, the other with skepticism. "Let's make up the bed," Alice suggested quietly.

Once the clean sheets had been smoothed over the bed, Aislinn realized how narrow it was. How would she get through the night sleeping there with Lucas? He had come into the bedroom to deposit the bags she had requested from the truck, but had immediately gone out again. She could hear him conversing with Gene in the living room.

"I'd better leave so you can get some rest," Alice said. "Besides, if I don't say a special good-night to Gene, he might think I've deserted him in favor of Tony." She leaned down to kiss the baby who was lying contentedly in the makeshift crib. Before she left, she took Aislinn's hand. "I'm very glad to have you in the family."

"Even though I'm an Anglo?"

"Unlike my son, I don't harbor a grudge against a race for what a few have done."

Without thinking about it, Aislinn kissed her new mother-in-law on the cheek. "Good night, Alice. Thank you for your kindness to Tony and me."

When she was alone, Aislinn fed the baby, hoping he would sleep straight through till morning and not disturb Lucas. She rushed him along, hoping she could get done with the nursing before Lucas came in. She wanted to spare herself another scene like the one earlier in the pickup.

There was only one bathroom in the house. It was located in the hallway between the two bedrooms. Aislinn took her turn as soon as she put Tony to bed. When she came back into the bedroom, there was nothing left to do but get undressed.

Officially this was her wedding night, yet the nightgown she took from her suitcase wasn't exactly bridal. This was its second summer season, and though it was soft and the fabric sheer against the light, its modest, scooped, elasticized neckline wasn't sexually enticing. In fact it looked rather dowdy and plain.

She was sitting at the vanity table, smoothing lotion on her arms when Lucas came in and closed the door behind him. Aislinn fumbled with the bottle of lotion. She told herself that her clumsiness was due to the fact that her hands were slippery and not because she was facing a night alone in a bedroom with Lucas Greywolf.

Had she been looking at herself in the mirror rather than at her husband, she would have seen that her eyes were wide and apprehensive. They made her appear very young and innocent. In contrast, her hair fell around her shoulders seductively. Her lips were soft and dewy and naturally rosy. The nightgown looked maidenly. The total package, especially seen through the eyes of a bridegroom, was sexy.

The lamp on the nightstand was turned down low. The shadow that Lucas cast onto the walls and ceiling was long and ominous in the small, square room.

"Is Tony asleep yet?" he asked, his hands going to the buttons of his shirt.

"Yes. I don't think he minds sleeping in a bureau drawer at all."