Home for a Soldier by Tatiana March Read Free Book Online Page A

bottoms
and panties down her legs in one smooth sweep. As she stood up, wearing nothing
but a white bra, cold sweat drenched him. She was finely made, tall and slender,
her shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist and flaring out again in gently
rounded hips. A triangle of brown curls, a few shades darker than her hair,
shadowed the apex of her thighs. With a nimble step, she balanced on one foot,
and slipped the pair of white panties up her legs.
    Rory continued to watch while Grace
covered her body with clothing. Then she folded up her giraffe pajamas and
discarded panties, packed them neatly in the case, and carried the case back to
the wardrobe in the entrance.
    She returned with her tote bag and
the small brown parcel she’d stashed away in the mini bar last night. Carefully,
trying not to rustle the paper, she unpacked the leftover cheeseburger and
proceeded to eat with careful bites, sitting where she’d been chained to the
table the day before. It took her a good few minutes to eat the food he’d have
dispatched in less than thirty seconds.
    After she finished, Grace folded the
wrapper and threw it in the trash beneath the desk behind her. Then she took out
a book from her tote and settled down to read. Relief eased Rory’s tense
muscles.
    Grace wasn’t preparing to escape.
    She wasn’t leaving him.
    * * * *
    Despite his fatigue, sleep wouldn’t
return. Every few minutes, Rory peered at Grace through half-closed lids. She
sat with her head bent, her brows furrowed in concentration. Sometimes she would
flick back a few pages and read them again, so he assumed the book was some kind
of study manual.
    The curiosity to know what went
through her mind as she waited for him to wake up occupied his thoughts. After
almost an hour, Rory gave up on sleep and decided it was time for him to stir on
the bed and flutter his eyes open.
    “Good morning,” Grace said as soon as
she noticed the movement. “I’d like to make a plan for the day.”
    “Can I wake up first?”
    “You’re awake.”
    “My brain isn’t.”
    “Some other parts of you never seem
to sleep.” Her eyes drifted down to his straining jeans.
    “All the better to keep you on your
toes, Goldilocks.”
    “I think you’re confusing The Three
Bears and The Big Bad Wolf.”
    “Can I hog the bathroom?” Rory
wriggled his hips to ease the pressure in his groin, surprised that Grace
appeared at ease with sexy banter. “I want to shower and shave.”
    “Are you going out?”
    He expelled a sigh, yanked up a
pillow to prop against the headboard, and leaned back. Planning was required,
whether he wanted it or not. “Yeah,” he drawled. “I need to take care of a few
errands.”
    “Are you going to handcuff me to the
table again?”
    “Do I need to?”
    “No.” Grace inserted a metal clip to
mark the page and closed her book. “I promise to go ahead with the marriage, and
I always keep my promises. You can call Doug to verify.”
    Rory arched his brows. “Doug would
vouch for you?”
    Grace nodded, leveling a curious pair
of clear eyes at him. “Why Debbie? I mean, why did you ask my sister to marry
you, knowing that she was dating a friend of yours?”
    “Well—” Rory shifted his shoulders to
get more comfortable against the pillow. “It made sense to pick an attached
woman, and if I married someone who was dating one of my buddies, with their
permission of course, I didn’t have to worry that the guy would go ape-shit over
the arrangement.”
    “Why?” Her eyes drilled into him.
“Why did it make sense to pick an attached woman?”
    Rory pursed his mouth as he
considered. He sensed trouble in Grace’s jutting jaw, but he wasn’t one to back
down from a challenge. “An unattached woman might get ideas. Think she can
stretch it out at the end of the two years when I get back from Iraq. An
attached woman is safer. I don’t want some bunny-boiler on my tail.”
    Ignoring Grace’s angry