Clay by Jennifer Blake Read Free Book Online

breasts down over the flat surface of her abdomen. “Reminds me of the lake just before dark.”
    “Observant of you.” Her voice was flat.
    “My mother is an artist. I guess I’m used to looking at things from a different perspective.” Hepaused, then asked, “So you’re staying here for the inspiration?”
    The words were so offhand that she almost missed the significance behind them, might have if she hadn’t been half expecting some kind of interrogation. With a noncommittal smile, she answered, “Why not?”
    He let that challenge pass as he glanced around the room once more. “Anyway, don’t let me chase you out of your studio.”
    “You aren’t. I just choose to work elsewhere.”
    “Because I’m too much of a distraction.”
    “Not at all.
    “Maybe you’re just afraid of what else Lainey might tell me.”
    His tone and his gaze were dulcet with suggestion. She chose to ignore both as she said, “She really has nothing to tell.”
    “You might as well work here, then, hadn’t you? It will be more convenient with all your supplies around you, not to mention cooler for Lainey.”
    He was right about the last. The two window units that cooled the camp—one in the kitchen and one in the larger bedroom—were working overtime. It would be stifling outside. “We can set up the dye baths now, I suppose, then work on the fabric later this evening.”
    “Or work tomorrow and play today.”
    Play. She’d almost forgotten what the word meant. Not that Lainey lacked for attention. They read together, watched video movies together, cooked together, took walks together. They were together constantly, in fact. But the reading was primarily for home schooling, the movies were to distract Lainey during medical procedures, the cooking was to encourage her daughter’s interest in food despite her restricted diet and the exercise was because the doctors prescribed it. Little of what they did was for simple pleasure. Which wasn’t precisely a new thought, though it seemed much drearier now than in the past.
    “I don’t have time for fun and games,” she said curtly.
    Clay tipped his head. “What about Lainey?”
    What indeed? If Janna’s plan worked out, her daughter would have all the time in the world for being a child. If not, oh, if not, then playing would be ended forever, for both of them.
    She gave Clay Benedict a straight look. “Why are you so determined to keep me…keep us in here?”
    His smile was all high-voltage charm. “Maybe Lainey’s right, maybe I’m lonesome.”
    She doubted it, but was painfully aware that her daughter could be in need of company other than her mother’s and had perhaps projected her feelings onto Clay. In any case, Janna thought, it might be just as well to stay where she could keep an eye on the man. She distrusted his docility so far. She’d thought earlier that he was recovering from the hefty dose of barbiturates she’d given him, but that should have worn off. Some kind of violent protest or attempt to escape would be normal, surely, but it hadn’t materialized. Either he meant to lull her into false security, or else was remaining quiescent for reasons of hisown. And she wasn’t sure which prospect made her more nervous.
    “I’ve changed my mind, Mama,” Lainey said. “I’d rather stay with Clay.”
    “Oh, honey, I don’t think…”
    “I’m not going to hurt her,” Clay said. “I wouldn’t do that.”
    She met his gaze and was lost for long seconds in its rich blue depths. Honesty and integrity seemed to swirl there, along with steadfast promise. Could she believe him? Did she dare? He wasn’t the person breaking the law here, after all, but only a man who had been going about his business until she had waylaid him.
    Abruptly Janna pulled herself up short. No matter what Clay was like, she didn’t dare leave Lainey alone with him.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to help with the dye baths?” she asked her daughter in coaxing