When he finally turned up the driveway at Green Oaks, he killed the engine near the house and sat staring at its dark bulk. A light burned in a downstairs room, probably left on by the boys. Everyone would be in bed by now. He stared at the upstairs, knowing that her room—the room they had shared—was across the back of the house. She would be in bed now. His body tightened as images flitted in his mind of Juliana in his arms, of her soft, voluptuous body beneath him. He could remember exactly how it felt to have her long legs around him.
For a few minutes, he entertained the idea of storming her defenses, seeing if he could get past her anger and convince her to forgive him for not telling her about Webb. To see, even in a weak moment of passion, if she could love him in spite of his brother’s follies.
Cal stormed out of the car and into the house, locking the back door behind him, going up the stairs two at a time. In the hall he turned and faced her closed door. He halted.
He wanted to kick open the door, pull her into his arms, love her senseless until her anger melted into passion. In- stead, he stood rooted to the spot because with the rage she had felt, he knew that it wouldn’t be that simple.
Clenching his fists, he went to his own room, moving to the window to stare into the dark night and think about the future.
The next day, Cal moved his things to another bedroom and left for work before any of the rest of the household, except Gladys and Stoddard, had stirred. That night, he was home the same time as Juliana. Dinner was quiet, with the boys constantly looking from one to the other of them. Conversation revolved around the boys’ activities.
Juliana was acutely aware of Cal seated across from her, of moments when their glances would meet. Her body had no awareness of the trouble between them and responded to his nearness, to his slightest look. Her gaze lowered to his mouth, remembering his lips on hers, his tongue in her mouth, his hands sliding over her.
“You’re not eating,” Josh said, staring at her. Quin was studying her, as well, and she took an unwanted bite of food, glancing at Cal to find him watching her with an in- tensity that made her breath catch. Their gazes locked and she felt tension snap between them. She wanted him, wanted his love, yet she was still furious with him and certain she couldn’t trust him again. For a long moment, she forgot the boys or Gladys or anyone except Cal.
He looked angry, as if he found it unreasonable for her to expect him to confide in her. She had given to him com- pletely, her heart, her body, her trust. She wanted as much in return. He should have trusted her enough to confide in her about his brother.
Finally, she tore her gaze away from him. With a scrape, he pushed his chair away from the table. “We’re done. We better get back to our building, guys.”
“Yes, sir,” Chris said, falling into step beside Cal.
She watched the two leave the room, her gaze resting on Cal. At the door, he paused and glanced back at her. She looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring at him, wishing things were different.
Juliana went to the sun room to look out the recently re- paired windows. Cal was hunkered down in the yard, jeans pulled tight on his long legs as he nailed a board in place for the corral.
She hurt more than she had the day before. He had moved his things from the room they shared back to the bedroom he’d occupied originally. Last night, she hadn’t slept until the early hours of morning, too aware he was at the end of the hallway, remembering each moment in his arms. If she could forgive and forget—not care whether he confided in her or not, he would be back. She had caught some of the hungry looks he had given her. His glances held anger, but they also held a blatant longing that tore at her heart.
That night was another sleepless torment until she finally slipped out of bed to stand at the window and look at the moonlit yard. A figure moved across it and her heart jumped in fear, but just as swiftly, she recognized Cal’s long legs, broad shoulders and purposeful stride, with Red trail- ing along behind. She watched Cal walk down to the boat dock where he was lost in the shadows of the night. Was he having as much difficulty sleeping as she?
Idly scratching Red’s ears, Cal stood on the edge of the dock and looked at moonlight and the shadows of trees play across the dark surface of the water. Barely seeing the shimmer of silvery light, his thoughts were on Juliana. He needed to move out. They could stay married. Maybe they could get around the stipulation in Elnora’s will that they had to stay at Green Oaks. If he didn’t move and they had many more dinners and hours like tonight, the boys would share the strain. None of them needed that, especially Quin.
Cal swore silently. He ached to storm back into the house, down the hall to her room and silence all her protests and anger in the one way he knew he could. But with morning, she would be as angry as before. And there was no way to expect her to want to live with him when he had a
