Read From the Heart for Free Online Page A

me . . .” His voice slid over her skin as gently as his fingers. “Do you think of me when you’re alone at night, in your room?”
    â€œNo.”
    He smiled again. Though he drew her no closer, Kasey felt the needs battering inside her. She was unaccustomed to restraining passion, unused to feeling it necessary.
    â€œYou don’t lie well.”
    â€œYour arrogance is showing again, Jordan.”
    â€œI think of you.” His fingers roamed to the back of her neck and tightened. “Too much.”
    â€œI don’t want you to.” Her voice was weak, and that frightened her. “No, I don’t want you to.” Shaking her head, she pulled away from him. “It wouldn’t work.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause . . .” She fumbled and became more frightened. No one had been able to do this to her before. “Because we’re looking for different things. I need more than you’d be able to give me.” She ran a hand through her hair and knew she had to escape. “I’m going to take a break. We can pick up after lunch.”
    Jordan watched her dash from the room.
    She’s right, of course, he thought, frowning at the closed door. Everything she says makes perfect sense. Why can’t I stop thinking about her? He walked around his desk and sat back down at the typewriter. She shouldn’t appeal to me. Leaning back, he tried to dissect what he felt for her and why. Was it simply a physical attraction? If it was, why was he suddenly drawn toward a woman who was nothing like any other woman he had desired? And why did he find himself thinking of her at odd moments—when he was shaving, when he was in the middle of structuring a paragraph? It would be best if he simply accepted his feelings as desire and left it at that. There wasn’t room for anything else. She was right, he decided. It wouldn’t work.
    He turned back to his notes, typed two sentences and swore.
    Dashing through the parlor on her way to her room, Kasey spotted Alison sitting primly on the sofa reading. The girl looked up, and her eyes lit.
    â€œHi.” Kasey could feel nerves and longings still running through her. “Playing hookey?”
    â€œIt’s Saturday,” Alison told her. She gave Kasey a hesitant smile.
    â€œOh.” She would have had to be blind not to see the needs in the child’s eyes. Setting aside her own problems, she sat next to Alison. “What’re you reading?”
    â€œ Wuthering Heights. ”
    â€œHeavy stuff,” Kasey commented, flipping a few pages and losing Alison’s place. “I was reading Superman comic books at your age.” She smiled and ran a hand down Alison’s hair. “Still do, sometimes.”
    The child was staring at her with a mixture of awe and longing. Kasey bent down to kiss the top of her head. “Alison.” She swept her eyes down the girl’s blue linen pants suit. “Are you attached to that outfit?”
    Alison looked down and stammered. “I—I don’t know.”
    â€œDo you have any grubbies?”
    â€œGrubbies?” Alison repeated, experimentally rolling the word around on her tongue.
    â€œYou know, old jeans, something with a hole in it, a chocolate stain.”
    â€œNo. I don’t think—”
    â€œNever mind.” Kasey grinned at her and set the book aside. “With all the clothes you have, one outfit shouldn’t be missed. Come on.” Rising, she took Alison’s hand and pulled her to the patio door.
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    Kasey glanced down at Alison. “We’re going to borrow the gardener’s hose and make mud sculptures. I want to see if you can get dirty.” They stepped outside.
    â€œMud sculptures?” Alison repeated as they wound their way around to the garden.
    â€œThink about it as an art project,” Kasey suggested. “An educational