A Woman's Heart by Gael Morrison Read Free Book Online Page A

surfer knew he was there, that with skill and good luck the wave would be his. She caught, too, his exultation.
    "Did you get it?" Peter asked, his voice carrying the same excitement Jann felt inside and coming from somewhere close to her ear.
    "Yes," she cried happily, forgetting to be wary. "I got exactly what I wanted."
    He grinned down at her, his hair blowing in the wind. Jann's heart began pounding like an out-of-control drum before lurching suddenly to a halt. Impulsively, inexplicably, she raised her camera to her eye and pressed down on the shutter.
    A soundproof wall seemed to descend around her, the noise of the surf disappearing, as did the laughter of the people walking by on the sand. All that remained was the slow thumping of her heart, suddenly and erratically, resuming its beat. She stood motionless, her cheeks on fire, unwilling to lower the camera and face him.
    With an inward moan, slowly and reluctantly she did just that. Peter's full lips had curved into a smile and one brow was questioningly raised.
    She glanced down to where her baby lay sleeping on a blanket. "I thought Alex should have something to remember you by when you leave," she said defiantly, grateful to the child for the excuse coming to mind.
    Peter laughed, a full-bodied, heart-stopping explosion of sound that erupted from his chest and made mincemeat of her lies. Then he slowly leaned towards her, placing one hand on the back of her head as his lips descended to hers.
    The first touch of their warmth drifted somewhere between a promise and a threat, pummeling her with the power of the sea, demanding... enticing... relentless. Hard lips, yet smooth as satin, and salty from the ocean air.
    Desire, as unbidden as the kiss, snaked through Jann's body and molded her lips to his. Another moan, as soft as a sigh this time, rolled up from her throat. Twisting her head away, she stepped backward, chest heaving. Tendrils of her hair, snatched by the wind from the elastic tie holding them, whipped against her face like harsh threads of reality.
    Peter's smile died. "I shouldn't have done that," he said quietly, his stunned expression revealing to her the shock the kiss had given him.
    "No," Jann whispered back. "Why did you?"
    "It was just something for you to remember me by when Alex and I leave."
    The world seemed to swirl, flipping end-over-end like a leaf in the wind. Desperate for an anchor, Jann forced her gaze downward to the pink-tinged cheeks of her sleeping baby.
    Until Alex had come along, she had kept everyone steadfastly locked from her heart. But she'd let Alex in and now she had to keep him safe. Had to keep him with her.
    "I want to go now," she said.
    "Alexander is sleeping," Peter countered, in a voice sounding as strained as hers. "Don't wake him."
    She was tempted to do just that, willing to do anything necessary to get away from this place and away from this man who was winning her baby over. But with Alex sleeping so peacefully, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
    She risked a glance at Peter and found him watching her, his expression showing no sign now of the dark emotion just moments before. Stifling a sigh, she put her camera in its bag and set it on a log.
    An off-shore breeze fluttered the edges of the lamb skin she'd tucked around Alex. She slipped down beside him, determined to leave the second he awoke.
    Peter moved back to the water's edge and stood there a moment as motionless as a statue staring out at the ocean.
    Was he thinking about Alex? Jann envied him his tie by blood to the most important person in her world.
    Then she saw his hand clench. He couldn't be thinking of Alex. Not if he was angry. He must be thinking of her and the kiss they had shared. Regretting it.
    One thing she could be sure of, he wasn't thinking about Claire. Jann angrily scrubbed away a tear. According to her friend, in the year-and-a-half since Claire left high school, Peter had vetoed everything she wanted to do, had distrusted her and