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Carol escorted hiry kiss revealed all his pent-up frustration

"You’re sure?" he asked one last ti her a round-eyed look that would put a puppy to shame

"No…I’m not the least bit sure," she adhed aloud at the excitement that flared to life so readily "I don’t like this any better than you do," she told hiht we’ll know it"

He shut his eyes and nodded "I was afraid of that"

Chapter Seventeen

Carol woke before seven Saturdaythe baby’s bedroom She dressed in a old pair of summer shorts with a wide elastic band and a Seahawk T-shirt that had once been Steve’s A western bandana knotted at the base of her skull covered her blond hair She looked like so

Oh, well, she wouldn’t be seeing Steve She regretted turning down his offer of help now, but it was too late for second thoughts She hadn’t seen hione to the movies, nor had he phoned That concerned her a little, but she tried not to let it bother her

He was probably angry about her not letting hiht Well, for his information, she’d been just as frustrated as he was She’d honestly wanted him to stay – in fact, she’d tossed and turned in bed for a good hour after he’d left her, ht one, but it didn’t take away this ache of loneliness, or ease her own sexual frustration

For six years the only real co past ti a solid foundation of love and trust Those qualities were basic to a lifeti them

By nine, Carol had the bedroom floor carpeted with a layer of newspapers The ere taped and she was prepared to do the cutting in around the corners and ceiling

She carried the stepladder to the far side of the roo on the pale pink paint

"What are you doing on that ladder?"

The voice startled her so much that she nearly toppled from her precarious perch "Steve Kyle," she cried, violently expelling her breath "You scared

"What are you doing here?"

"I… I thought you could use so you, you probably forgot to eat breakfast I brought you soht about it, Carol realized she hadn’t had anything to eat

"Thanks," she said grinning, grateful to see hi down the stepladder, she set aside the paint and brush and reached for the sack "Milk," she said taking out a s and cheese" She smiled up at him and brushed herover a cardboard box as a e juice and coffee on the way over here" Hands on his hips, he surveyed her efforts "Good grief, woman, you must have been at this for hours"

"Since seven," she said between bites "It’s going to be a scorcher today, and I wanted to get an early start"

He nodded absently, then turned the cap he earing around so that the brim pointed toward his back Next, he picked up the paintbrush and coffee can she’d been using to hold paint "I don’t want you on that ladder, understand?"

"Aye, aye, Captain"

He responded to her light sarcas aze and nodded "I thought you ht when you wanted to stay and – "

"Carol, no," he objected iht I couldn’t call – I’ve had twenty-four-hour duty"

Almost immediately Carol’s spirits lifted and she placed the wrapper from her breakfast inside the paper sack "Did you htened at her question

"Co, she shook her head "No way, fellow I’d like my baby’s bedroom painted before she htened at the nancy and some of the happiness she’d experienced by his unexpected visit evaporated He’d told her he was trying to accept her child and she believed hi perilously thin After all, this child was his, too, and it was tih that the back of her neck ached She reached for another paintbrush, her shoulders stiff with frustration "I can do this myself, you know"

"I know," he returned

"It isn’t like I’m helpless"

"I know that, too"

Her voice trembled a little "It isn’t like you really want this baby"

An electric silence vibrated between the tension Steve reacted to it first by lowering his brush

"Carol, I’ to upset you My offer to help is sincere – I’d like to do what I can, if you’ll letoversensitive, I guess"

"No," he hurried to correct her, "the proble with it the best way I kno I need ti stoh his eyes, one so fleeting, so transient that for a second she was sure she wasin a deep breath "Are we going to paint or are we going to sit here and grumble at each other all day?"

"Paint," Steve answered, swiping the air with his brush, as if he arding off pirates