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so fast, that it wasn’t even surprising anymore.
    -38-

    NAUTI BUOY
    “I’m just going to lie beside you, that’s all,” he whispered. “If you can’t sleep, then I’ll lie on the floor. But I’ll be there, Kelly. Will you trust me enough to let me be there?”
    She was breathing roughly, the realization of it forced her to try to regulate it. She hated this weakness, this fear. Even the sessions with the psychologist hadn’t been able to erase it.
    “I would trust you with my life, Rowdy,” she whispered, knowing she did.
    “Come on then.” His arm wrapped around her as he led her to the stairs. “Let’s go on up and see if we can get some sleep. I don’t know about you, Kelly, but I’m dead tired.”
    She hadn’t had nightmares in months, she thought as he turned out the lights and led her upstairs. She wasn’t sleeping well, but when she did sleep, she wasn’t waking screaming as she did in those first months.
    It should be safe. She could have something she had always dreamed of.
    Rowdy in her bed, sharing his warmth with her. Maybe even holding her.
    Surely she could handle that?

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    Kelly finally eased into sleep hours later. Rowdy felt her relax against him, felt the soft sigh that left her lips. Moving slowly, he eased the blanket further over her shoulders, feeling her head on his arm, her silky hair against his chest as he held her. It was killing him, the pain, the fear he knew she had to have endured. He could feel his heart breaking in his chest even as a killing rage burned in his soul.
    She was his. She had been his as long as he had known her and by God he wasn’t letting her go. She knew him, knew he would cut out his own heart before he’d hurt her—that trust was still within her. If it
    -39-

    Lora Leigh
    weren’t, she would never have been able to sleep in his arms, to allow him to hold her, her sweet body tucked so close against his own.
    He stared into the dimly lit bedroom, his eyes narrowed, his mind working. Whoever dared to hurt her, to stalk her, wouldn’t be breathing for long. He wouldn’t be breathing two seconds past the time Rowdy learned who he was. And that was a silent promise, a vow he made to Kelly. She would never be hurt again.
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    NAUTI BUOY

CHAPTER FOUR
    Maria opened Kelly’s door the next morning, not really expecting what she saw. Ray had warned her the night before, but he had been drunk, amorous, so she hadn’t really taken him seriously. Perhaps she should have, the shock wouldn’t have been so great.
    She was used to coming in to find Kelly napping in the large wingback chair on the other side of the room, the television droning in the background. The room was silent now, and Rowdy was staring at her through slitted eyes from the bed.
    He was wrapped around her sleeping daughter like a living vine. Kelly lay on her side, her back pressed against Rowdy’s front, her head sheltered beneath his chin. One hard leg lay over her daughter’s fragile ones, his arms surrounded her as her hair tangled over them. He was bent over her, wrapped around her, and Kelly was sleeping peacefully.
    Kelly was still dressed in the large T-shirt and sweats she had worn last night, and Rowdy had changed into a pair of his own sweats. Rowdy was lying atop the blankets and all modesty was intact as he held her covered body, but it was still a shock. Kelly was her baby, seeing her sleeping in a man’s arms, especially Rowdy’s, was disconcerting. She had expected the closeness they had before her marriage to Ray to develop, but not in this way. As siblings, very close friends, but never this. This terrified her.
    -41-

    Lora Leigh
    The sensuality that seemed to wrap about the two whenever they were together had always worried her, deeply. She had been terrified for years that Rowdy would break her daughter’s heart. What she saw now filled her with conflicting emotions. Rowdy would protect her and, ultimately, that was Maria’s greatest wish. Her daughter’s