Sandra Brown - Send No Flowers (Bed & Breakfast)

SEND NO FLOWERS

Sandra Brown
Contents:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Chapter 1
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It was probably the cutest tush he had ever seen.
Through the screen door he had an unrestricted view of it, a derrire roundly feminine,
but trim. Denim fringe, bleached and curled from years of laundering, clung to taut,
slender thighs.
She was on hands and knees, peering into and hesitatingly poking at the fuse box near
the baseboard. As she leaned down farther to investigate the intricacies of the switches,
the man smiled a slow, cat-with-mouse-trapped smile of masculine pleasure. It was the
smile of a gratified voyeur. He was a little ashamed of himself. But not ashamed enough to
stop looking.
The cabin was dark. Her flashlight gave off a meager glow. The only real illumination
came from fierce flashes of blue-white lightening.
The two boys watching her efforts were growing increasingly restless.
"I'm hungry. You said we'd eat as soon as we got here."
"Do you know how to turn the lights on, Mom? I bet you don't."
The man at the door saw her head fall forward between her shoulders in an attitude of
defeat. It lasted for only a moment. She raised her head determinedly as she drew in a
deep breath. "It's just a fuse box, David. When I find the breaker switch, the electricity
will come back on. It must have been tripped by the storm. And, Adam, we'll eat as soon
as I can get the lights on and unload the car."
"You said the cabin was gonna be great. I think it stinks," David complained. "We
should've used tents."
"Yeah, tents," the younger brother seconded.
"If you don't think I can turn on the breaker switch, what makes you think I could put
up a tent?"
The rising impatience in the young woman's voice was unmistakable and the man at the
door didn't blame her for it. But the two little boys looked so bedraggled that he couldn't
blame them for their complaining either. They were only kids and had apparently spent
hours traveling. Their arrival at the lake cabin had been inauspicious, to say the least.
He had seen the headlights of their car when they arrived. A few minutes later, he
decided to brave one of the most tumultuous thunderstorms in recent history and walk to
the cabin only a hundred yards from his. That hundred yards was through dense woods,
which guaranteed the owners of the cabins privacy. Walking through it in a thunderstorm
had been foolhardy, but he had become concerned for his neighbors. His electricity had
gone out about ten minutes before their arrival and God knew when it would come back
on.
Now as he listened to the whining of the boys and the near desperation in the young
woman's voice he was glad he had chanced the woods. She needed help and she was alone.
At least there was no husband and father in evidence.
"We should've stopped at the Burger Town. David and I wanted to eat there, didn't we,
David?"
"I knew this was gonna be a jerky camping trip. I wanted to use a tent and camp for
real, not stay in a dumb cabin."
The young woman rose up to sit on her heals, hands on hips. "Well, if you're such a
pioneer, you can go out in the rain and start hunting or fishing for our supper." The boys
felt silent. "I've had it with you two. Do you hear me? The cabin was graciously loaned to
us. Since we don't have a tent and know nothing about them, I thought it was best we
take up the offer to use it. I can't do anything about the storm. But I'm trying my best to
get the electricity back on. Not stop the complaining!" She matched her stern tone with an
intimidating glare and returned to her fanny-in-the-air position to futilely inspect the fuse
box.
Glumly the brothers looked at each other and shook their heads. They were convinced
their trip was doomed to disaster. "Do you think she can fix the 'lectricity?" the younger
asked the older in a loud whisper.
"No, do you?"
"No."
Now was the time to make his presence known. He had never been a window peeper
and was ashamed for having stood outside this long without letting them know he was
there. But he was enjoying them. They were in no immediate danger. Their tribulation
somehow endeared them to him. He found himself smiling at the comments of the two
boys and the parental frustration of the woman. Maybe watching their dilemma was
acting as a panacea for his own. Observing them had certainly taken his mind off his
problem. Albeit unfair, that was human nature.
It was also human nature for him to feel a shaft of desire spear through him each time
he gazed at the display of bare thighs and that incredibly delectable tush. That wasn't fair
either. It was downright lechery to lust after a wife as well as the mother of two young
boys. But could a man be held responsible for his thoughts?
"Mom, I have to go to the bathroom." It was Adam who spoke.
"Number one or number two?"
"Number one. Bad."
"Well, since we haven't located the bathroom yet, go outside."
"It's raining."
"I know that, Adam," she said with diminishing patience. "Stand on the porch under the
roof and aim out."
"Okay," he mumbled and turned toward the door. "Hey, Mom."
"Hmm?" She was dickering with one of the switches.
"There's a man out there."
The young woman spun around, toppled backward and gasped in alarm. "A man?"
Quickly, hoping not to frighten her, he switched on his high-beam flashlight and caught
in its paralyzing spotlight an impressive chest straining against a chambray workshirt tied
in a knot at her waist, a tumble of blond hair that had escaped a haphazard ponytail, and
wide blue eyes.
Alicia Russel gulped in air and held it, her heart pounding. A brilliant flash of lightening
silhouetted him where he stood just outside the screen door. Had she locked it behind
them? Would it matter? He looked huge and fearsome against the stormy sky. And he
was coming in!
He pulled the screen door open. It was ripped from his hand by the force of the wind
and crashed against the outside wall. She and the boys cowered. He rushed across the
room and dropped to his knees in front of where she lay sprawled. Her eyes were blinded
by his flashlight. She could no longer see him except as a looming hulk bending over her.
She opened her mouth to scream for her boys to run.
"Are you alright?" He switched off the light and for a moment everything was black. "I
didn't mean to scare you. Here, let me help you up."
Alicia recoiled and the hand extended to her was withdrawn.
"I'm f-fine," she stuttered. "Startled, and that's all." She pulled herself to her feet
without his assistance. Her first concern was for her sons, who were eyeing the stranger
curiously. "David, go help Adam uh do what he has to do on the porch." If she was
going to be raped and murdered, she didn't want her sons to witness it. God, where was
the telephone? Why didn't the lights come back on? Who was this man and where had he
come from? Her heart was banging against her ribs and pounding on the inside of her
eardrums.
"Hi," David chirped. Alicia cursed herself for teaching her children to be courteous and
friendly. "I'm David. This is Adam. I'm the oldest."
"Hello," the man said. Alicia thought he smiled, but it was so dark, she couldn't tell. Her
flashlight had flickered out and he had kept his turned on. "My name is Pierce."
"David" Alicia began, only to be interrupted by her eldest.
"We're gonna camp here for a week, but Mom can't turn the lights on. She's not too
good at things like that."
The stranger looked in her direction, then back down at the boys. "Few moms are. But
she couldn't have turned the lights on anyway. The power's off because of the storm."
"Da-vid," Alicia ground through gritted teeth.
"Why don't you take your brother outside," the stranger suggested, "while I see if I can