The Lancaster Men by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

dangling out of the corner of his mouth as he worked the knot of his tie loose and stripped it off.
    “This sofa folds out into a bed. I’ll sleep here tonight,” he stated.
    Shari hesitated, aware of the logic of his decision yet feeling there was a more comfortable solution. “If you insist,” she replied finally.
    “I insist.” Whit smiled at her with his eyes, a spray of lines radiating from the corners. “Go get the blankets.”
    “I’ll bring them right back,” she promised and walked out of the study, closing the door behind her.
    The extra bedding was kept in the linen closet in the upstairs hall. Shari ran up the steps to fetch it and take it back to Whit. When she reached the topof the stairs, Beth was just coming out of Doré’s room.
    “We’ve decided to accept Whit’s offer to use his boat and go for a midnight sail,” Beth told her. “Rory is coming, too. He’s in his room changing. Do you want to go with us?”
    “Yes, but first—” She walked to the linen closet and opened the door to collect the extra blankets and pillows. “—I have to take this down to Whit.”
    “Don’t bother to hurry,” Beth advised and gestured toward the room Doré was using. “Doré hasn’t made up her mind what she’s going to wear yet. You have plenty of time.”
    Shari laughed, aware that their friend had a notorious reputation about the length of time it took her to dress. Of course, the end result was usually perfection, too, so perhaps the time was justified. While Beth continued to her own room, Shari carried the bedding down the stairs to the study. She knocked once and walked in.
    In her absence, Whit had removed his suit jacket as well as his tie. His white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat and the sleeves were rolled up, revealing the dark tan of his forearms.
    He was seated behind the oak worktable with his briefcase opened on its top and a stack of papers spread in front of him. He glanced up when she entered the room, a preoccupied look to his expression.
    “I don’t suppose there is ever an end to paper work,” Shari observed with a sympathetic glance at the briefcase brimming with notes and reports.
    “It’s self-perpetuating,” Whit agreed and pushed his chair back from the table to stand.
    “It will only take a minute to make your bed.” She set the blankets on the cushion of the armchair and began removing the throw pillows and seat cushions from the sofa. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
    “You always do, so why should this time be any different.” There was a wry slant to his mouth as he walked around the table to the sofa.
    “When have I ever bothered you when you were working?” Shari challenged, ready to argue the point because she knew she was always careful not to interrupt him when he was busy.
    “All the time.” The glint in his eyes told Shari that she was being baited even if the rest of his expression appeared dead serious. “I’ll help you lift the hide-abed out.”
    Shari stepped to one side so Whit could fold out the mattress, assured now of his true reason for pausing in his paper work. The sofa bed was sometimes stubborn and required a little manhandling to lie out straight. She watched the muscles in his shoulders and arms flex and ripple under the shirt as he pulled the hide-a-bed out and folded it out flat. She had always known he was strong, but she had never thought of him in terms of hard flesh and bone.
    For the span of a second, her wayward imagination tried to recall what he looked like in brief swimming trunks. Shari blocked out the picture before the image became clear, appalled by her sudden interest in his body.
    Turning away, she picked up the bottom sheet andshook it out to fall across the mattress. Whit moved out of her way while she tucked the sides under. She could feel his eyes watching her as she made the bed. By the time she was through except for the pillows, Shari began having second thoughts about Whit sleeping on the