The thought of a child scared him to death. He couldn’t imagine what they’d do if they’d created a life together during that frenzied coupling. He didn’t want a child to suffer for his lapse. He was terrified because of his father’s character, sick at the thought of passing those genes onto a child. It wasn’t rational, but it was how he felt. God, there couldn’t be a child!
But even as he dreaded that thought, his eyes sought Allison and he scowled thoughtfully. She had a built-in maternal instinct. He could imagine her with a baby in her arms, suckling at her breast...
The sudden, fierce arousal of his body made him gasp audibly. God, what a thing to trigger it! But the more he thought about Allison’s slim body growing big with a child, the worse it got. He got up from the chair and left the room without another word, leaving Allison to stare after him with sad curiosity. He couldn’t imagine what was wrong with him!
Dwight was glad to see him, and Gene was relieved that his baby brother wasn’t going to meet his maker just yet. He looked at the face so like his, and yet so unalike, and smiled indulgently as he held the other man’s hand tightly for a minute.
“Need anything you haven’t got?” he asked.
Dwight smiled through a drugged haze. “Not really, thanks. You handle things for us while I’m here, okay? I think I’ve made a real mess of the books.”
“You don’t know what I’ve done to the daily routine with the livestock,” Gene confessed with a grin.
“Dad sure fouled us up, didn’t he?” Dwight groaned. “I know he never meant it to wind up this way. He knew I couldn’t handle finances. Why saddle me with it?”
“We’ll never know,” Gene replied. “We just have to make the best of it.”
“No, we don’t. We can go back to the way we were doing things before Dad died. If we both agree to it, we can have a contract drawn up and the will won’t be binding. I’ve already asked our attorneys.”
“You didn’t mention that to me,” Gene reminded him.
Dwight shifted. “You weren’t ready to listen. I know it hit you hard, finding out about the past. But I figured when you were ready, we could talk about it.” He winced. “Head hurts real bad, Gene.”
“I know.” He patted the younger man’s shoulder. “I’m trying to talk Allison into nursing you at home. Would you like that?”
He smiled weakly. “Yes. They’d let me go home earlier if I had my own nurse.”
“Did you know she was one?” Gene asked, scowling.
“Sure. Winnie told me. And about her parents. Incredible, that she got out at all, isn’t it...? Gene, I need a shot real bad.”
“I’ll go and ask for you,” Gene replied, puzzled about what Dwight had started to say. What about Allison’s parents? Had there been anything unusual about the way they died? And what was that about it being incredible that Allison got out? Out of where? What? He glowered with frustration. Well, he was going to find out one way or the other. He was tired of being kept in the dark.
Winnie asked, and so did Marie, if Allison would nurse Dwight. It had been hard enough to refuse Gene, but there was no way she could refuse Winnie. What she didn’t know was how she was going to survive a week or more under Gene’s roof when Dwight went home.
“You’ve been different lately,” Winnie said several days later, when Allison had put some things into a small bag to take to the Nelson home.
“Different, how?” she hedged.
“Quieter. Less interested in the world. Have you and Gene had a fight? Is that it?”
“Yes,” Allison said, because it was easier to admit that than to tell the truth. “A very bad falling out. I was going to leave the morning that Dwight got hurt.”
“Oh, Allie.” Winnie sat down on the bed where Allison was folding clothes. “I’m sorry. But if Gene wants you to stay with Dwight—and Marie said it was his idea—he can’t be holding a grudge.”
“He has a lot of reasons to hold one,” Allison confessed. She lowered her eyes to the floor. “It’s better that I don’t see too much of him, that’s all.”
Marie’s eyes narrowed. “Would this have anything to do with Dale Branigan?”
Allison lifted her head. “How did you know about her?”
“Everybody knows about her.” Winnie grimaced. “She’s been after Gene for a long time—just like most of the single women around here. But she was more blatant with it, and she’s a very modern girl. Gene wasn’t the first or the last, but she’s persistent.”
“Yes, I noticed.”
“I gave you a bad impression of Gene at the start,” Winnie began. “I just wanted to protect you, but I wasn’t quite fair to him. Gene can’t help being attractive, and I hear he’s just plain dynamite in bed. Women chase him. They always have. But since he met you, he’s not as wild as he was—he’s calmed down a good bit. It’s just that he can’t shake his old reputation, and I didn’t want yours damaged by it.”
“Thanks,” Allison said quietly. “I know you meant well.” She managed not to blush at Winnie’s remark about how Gene was in bed. She knew all too well that he was dynamite, and if she hadn’t been a virgin, maybe it would have gone on feeling as sweet as it had when he was just kissing and stroking her body.
But maybe that really was all sex was supposed to feel like, for a woman. Maybe it was the preliminary part that made women give in. She sighed. If that was what sex felt like, she wasn’t in any rush to experience it again, despite the brief pleasure that had led to it.
Winnie drove her over to the Nelson house, where Dwight was tucked up in bed with every conceivable amusement scattered around him.
