Sharing Sunrise by Judy Griffith Gill Read Free Book Online

she got pale and shaky because she found the guy’s touch disturbing for other reasons, then maybe it would be best to let nature take its course.”
    Rolph said nothing. His mind was whirling frantically, spinning out of control.
    “Well?” Max asked, after a moment.
    “Well, what?”
    “You gonna do it?”
    “Let nature take its course? Hell, no!”
    “Then, I guess it must be kneecap time,” said Max cheerfully.
    Rolph blew out a long breath. Easy for Max to feel sanguine. He wasn’t faced with a … complication like this one. Because what if she had turned white and shaky for the reasons Max suggested? What if she was as interested in him as he was in her? Why not find out? Why not go for it? The thought, when he dwelled on it for more than three or four seconds, was breathtaking. But … it was an insane idea.
    Marian’s staying power was about as long as that of a marshmallow on a bonfire! And he wanted someone capable of commitment, therefore, he was not interested in her. He couldn’t afford to be. So if he was, if his body was, he was simply going to have to curtail it.
    “Yeah,” he said. “Right. Kneecap time. You can consider it done.”
    As he hung up, though, Rolph’s mind was whirling again, with images of the day’s events flipping over and over like a film out of whack. Marian, standing on the deck of Windrider as fresh and as bright as the morning. Marian, bent over, her adorable bottom thrust high in the air as she poked her nose into Neo Cleo ’s bilges. Marian, with a smear of grease on her face, standing before him while he wiped it with a rag soaked in solvent. He could still feel the delicate bones of her cheek and chin as if they were imprinted on his hand.
    He groaned, considering what it was going to be like that evening, holding that slender, supple body in his arms again while they danced. It had been torture the last two times he’d tried it, and then he was in a hell of a lot more control of his hormones than he was now. Now, they were raging like starving lions. He drew in a deep breath. Would dancing with her be enough? Oh, hell, he asked himself, why take the risk? Why not simply call her and cancel? Why not lie and tell her the Mastersons couldn’t make it?
    With a heartfelt sigh, he reached for the phone.
    “My God,” said Rolph slowly, his eyes sweeping over Marian as she stood in the doorway. He scarcely saw the hair swept back on one side and held with a big, gold clasp, the other side tumbling over a pale, golden shoulder. “Is that a dress or are you still in your underwear?”
    “A dress,” she said sunnily, clasping her hands high over her head and turning in a circle before him. “Like it?” She smiled as if knowing he did, letting her arms fall to her sides. “Come on in. Can I get you a drink before we go?”
    “No,” he said, then cleared his throat and said it again. It came out just as strangled. “We’re meeting the Mastersons in less than half an hour.”
    A dress. She was planning to go out with him tonight wearing that dress? She was planning to sit across a table from him and eat dinner, wearing that dress? She was planning to dance with him, for heaven’s sake! The damn dress was the color of lime Jell-O and had three tiers of fluffy gathered stuff that formed a very short, extremely flirtatious skirt and he’d seen swim suits that didn’t fit as well on top. Or as scantily.
    He swallowed the sudden dryness in his throat and forcibly reminded himself of what Max had said, keeping in mind sledge hammers and kneecaps and, and with no difficulty at all, brought back Marian’s words when discussing her former husband: I was twenty. He was twenty-eight. We were worlds apart … Worlds apart, and eight years … Exactly the age difference between himself and Marian. Eight years, in the normal course of events was nothing. But … this was Marian. She was special. And he wouldn’t just have Max to deal with if he put one finger on her against