Lorraine Heath by Parting Gifts Read Free Book Online

hair. She’d forgotten how nice it felt to be pampered. The brush stilled, and Charles caught her gaze in the mirror.
    “I’d like to hold you tonight,” he said quietly.
    Nervously, she nodded in agreement to his request. He handed the brush back to her. “I’ll leave the braiding to you.”
    She took the brush and parted her hair as he walked away. She wondered how she would manage to braid her hair with her fingers trembling so badly.
    Charles looked around the room, trying to decide the best way to prepare himself for bed. This room had no screen behind which he could discreetly change his clothes. And even if it did, he had nothing into which he could change. He’d always slept without a stitch of clothing on and owned no nightshirts. He thought about looking through Jesse’s belongings, but he knew he’d find nothing appropriate there. He eased his shirt out of his pants and slowly undid the buttons.
    Standing, Maddie studied the door. “I think I’ll check on the children,” she said, her voice quivering.
    “That’s a fine idea.”
    She rushed out of the room, clicking the door closed. Charles released a deep breath before quickly stripping down to his underdrawers and burying himself beneath the covers of the bed.
    Quietly walking the hallway, Maddie opened the first door and peered into the girls’ room. They were both lying on their sides asleep, their hands still holding kisses beneath their pillows.
    She closed the door and walked to Aaron’s room. She didn’t have the courage to open his door, to chance disturbing him and making him dislike her any more than he already did. She walked to the end of the hallway and gazed out the window into the black night.
    She thought of all the nights she and her mother had left a lantern burning in the front window so her father and brother could find their way back to them. She and her mother had dreamed of the life they’d have when things worked out for her father, when he had a job that paid off big. She touched her fingertips to the window. Her mother had died never touching her dreams. Now Maddie lived in a house larger than any she’d ever seen, married to a man kinder than any she’d ever known. She made a silent vow that Charles would never regret taking her out of Bev’s.
    She returned to her bedroom, opened the door, and peered in timidly. Charles lay in bed, one arm beneath his head.
    Slowly, she walked across the room. She dimmed the flame burning in the lamp before removing her wrapper. This room contained no settee, and her husband had kept his promise. He hadn’t passed out this night. She smiled shyly as he lifted the covers inviting her into his bed.
    She eased beneath the sheets and lay stiffly on her back, her arms pressed against her sides. She wasn’t certain how a woman went about letting a man hold her.
    “Have you ever slept with a man holding you?” Charles asked.
    “No,” Maddie whispered to the ceiling.
    “Does the thought frighten you?”
    “No.”
    “Does it make you nervous?”
    She shifted her gaze toward him. He was cast in shadows, but she thought she could make out the barest of smiles on his face. “Yes.”
    “I want you to roll over to your side.”
    Maddie did as instructed. Charles placed his arm around her and gently guided her into his embrace. She rested her head in the crook of his shoulder as his hand idly rubbed her arm. She released a nervous laugh. “I can hear your heart beating.”
    “And I can hear yours.”
    She stiffened. It was one thing to hear his heart, another to think he could hear hers. Somehow, it made her acutely aware that she was, for the first time in her life, lying in bed with a man. “Can you?”
    “No, not really. I just thought if I teased you a bit, you might begin to feel more comfortable. You have nothing to fear in my bed, Maddie.”
    Then she relaxed a little and placed her arm over the quilt, her fingers threading through the hairs on his chest. An image of thick black