LITMIR.BIZ

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out in his room with music blaring on the stereo anyway. Was everything okay when you got there? I spent a whole day cleaning. I would have stocked a few groceries, but I had no idea what you’d like.”

      “Everything was fine, spotless, in fact. And I stopped at the store on the way in and picked up a few essential grocery items.”

      “Okay, you take it easy, honey. Leroy will be there in a few minutes.”

      Megan felt better about the situation when she hung up the phone, but the knife was still in her hand. She glanced around the kitchen, then walked into the hall and looked up the imposing staircase. Two levels of living space, and on top of it all a cupola used mostly for storage and to gain access to the widow’s walk and the marvelous view it provided. The west side provided a magnificent expanse of the Gulf of Mexico for as far as the eye could see.

      A huge house with a million places to hide if someone had reason to. In the dusky aura of sunset, Pelican’s Roost took on the appearance of a haunted castle. Shadows climbed the walls of the narrow halls, and the screaming of the wind and creaking and groaning of the floorboards sounded as if the place were inhabited by a family of ghosts.

      But it was the bright sunlight of midafternoon now. And she was in Orange Beach, not New Orleans. Still, someone had been inside the house, and she wouldn’t truly rest until someone had walked through every room and made sure there were no surprise guests. Her pulse slowed to near normal, but, knife in hand, she decided to go outside and wait for Leroy’s arrival.

      That’s when she noticed a basket of muffins on the table in the breakfast nook. Fenelda must have been right, one of her grandmother’s friends had stopped in to welcome her home. Still, she’d feel better if Leroy took a look around.

      MEGAN WAITED on the second-floor balcony while Leroy roamed the house. She would have gone with him, but she’d have only slowed him down. He climbed a full flight in the time it took her to maneuver a half-dozen steps. He’d promised to check every closet and under every bed, even to climb to the cupola and make sure no one was hiding among the stacks of storage boxes and old metal trunks.

      He had his work cut out for him. Besides the family room and kitchen, there was a dining room, a library, a sewing room, a small office, two bathrooms and a couple of sunny alcoves on the second floor. The third floor consisted of six large bedrooms and four more baths. The house rambled and curved and twisted, giving a beach view and access to a balcony to as many rooms as possible.

      In fact, Leroy was gone so long, she would have become worried had it not been for the fact that he sang along constantly to the music from the radio headset that seemed glued to his ears. He’d been polite and didn’t seem to mind going through the house, but he obviously didn’t think she had a thing to worry about. In fact, he’d laughed when he saw the knife she was holding and assured her he didn’t need a weapon.

      She dropped to one of the lounge chairs on the balcony, leaned back and closed her eyes as the sun beat down on her and warmed her through and through. The baby shifted and gave a few reassuring kicks. “I know you’re still there, sweetie. I couldn’t forget you if I wanted to. What do you think of the beach house? When you’re older, you can play in the water and build sand castles with moats and crocodiles, and we can buy plastic knights to do battle with the enemies.”

      Damn. What was she thinking? This baby would never come to Pelican’s Roost. Never play with her in the surf or on the sand. Never be a part of her life at all. She closed her eyes and wished that it was January and that everything was over and done with.

      Taking deep breaths, she forced herself to clear her mind of thoughts of the baby and think only of the water, constant, eternal, forever moving with the tides.

      “All safe and sound.”

      She jumped at the voice, her head jerking from the back of the lounge chair.”

      “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Leroy said, stepping between her and the edge of the balcony.

      “I must have fallen asleep.”

      “No problem. I just wanted to let you know that I checked the house from top to bottom. You got a leak in one of the faucets upstairs. I’ll come back and fix it for you one day next week if you like. It won’t take much.”

      “I’d appreciate that, as long as you let me pay you.”

      “I’m not opposed to taking cash.” He leaned against the balcony, his shaggy blond hair blowing into his face. “Mama says you’re having another woman’s baby for her. That’s pretty weird, isn’t it? I mean, not a lot of people do that, do they?”

      “More than you’d think.”

      He nodded. “Still seems strange. I guess I’ll be going, unless you need something else while I’m here.”

      “I’d like to pay you for your time and trouble,” she said, expecting him to say no.

      “Whatever.”

      She walked to the kitchen and retrieved her wallet. “Is ten dollars enough?”

      “Whatever.”

      She handed him a five and a ten and walked him to the door. He had Fenelda’s coloring, but the deep-set eyes and sunken cheeks must have come from his dad. She barely remembered the man, but she was sure she’d met him a time or two over the years. She’d met Leroy, too, but he was much thinner than she’d remembered, with a kind of raunchy look about him that she hadn’t expected in Fenelda’s son. She wasn’t sure how old he was, near thirty, she’d guess.

      Still, he’d done what she asked and she’d rest better for it tonight. She felt a little foolish, but at this point in time, damaged pride was much better than lost sleep.

      But she was going to have to get a grip on herself and not let a tall, dark and sexy stranger destroy the level of safety she’d always enjoyed at Pelican’s Roost. It was the hormones, she told herself again. What else could it be? She was probably in the safest place in the world.

      December 8

      MEGAN HUGGED her jacket around her as she strolled along the beach. The day had been warm, but the air had turned cold as the sun set, and now the wind had picked up. It whipped her hair around her face and sent the waves crashing against the sand. But the sky was clear, and the stars seemed so near she felt she could reach up and grab a few to save for a time when she knew what to wish for.

      Fortunately there had been no sign of the man she’d come to think of as her dark stranger since he’d joined her for lunch three days ago, though she found herself looking for him everywhere she went. At times, she even felt as if someone was watching her and she always imagined it was him.

      One night she’d even dreamed about him, a nightmare that had turned erotic. That was what happened to a woman who hadn’t had sex in so long she’d almost forgotten what it felt like. Desire had returned full force in the dream, and after she’d wakened, she’d lain awake for over an hour, imagining what it would be like to make love with the rugged stranger, her body reacting as if his hands were actually on her, caressing and touching her most intimate parts.

      There was no accounting for dreams, but in reality, her life in Orange Beach settled into a comfortable routine. A walk in the morning, lunch in some out-of-the-way restaurant, an afternoon spent relaxing and reading, and sunset on the beach.

      “The wind’s picking up, little one. We’ll have howling and whining to entertain us tonight while we sleep. Old fishermen crying about the ones that got away. That’s what Grandma used to tell me when I’d complain of the noise.”

      Standing at the edge of the water, she took a few steps out, stepping into a low wave. She slipped her hand under her loose blouse and stroked her stomach. She was growing larger every day.

      Her first appointment with Dr. Brown would be tomorrow, but he already had her records from her doctor in New Orleans. “I guess we better start back, little one. I’m getting hungry.”

      A bowl of hot

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