Hallie's Destiny (The Donovans of the Delta) by Peggy Webb Page B

watched her intently as she talked. He could almost see her unfolding her guardian angel wings. It was the one thing he wouldn’t allow.
    “Hallie . . .”
    Caught up in her plans, she paid him no mind. “There are many different ways to help people. Maybe…”
    “Hallie!”
    “What is it, Josh?” She had her chin tilted at such a stubborn angle he almost laughed. The sobering thought was that his dysfunctional family was certainly no laughing matter.
    He cupped her face. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, sweet.” His thumbs caressed her chin. “It’s not your concern. I won’t let you be involved.”
    She stood very still. What he was telling her, she thought, was that there were lines she couldn’t cross. Lovers had boundaries. Their only common ground was the bedroom. Everything else was separate, divided into territories—hers and his. She’d grown up in a family where there were almost no boundaries. Everybody, including the in-laws and the cousins, would do almost anything, make almost any sacrifice, to help a family member. That Josh didn’t have that saddened her almost beyond enduring.
    “I understand, Josh.” She reached up and covered his hands with hers. “Truly, I do.”

 
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
    Josh stayed the weekend.
    Sunday afternoon while she did some work on her long-neglected thesis, he disappeared on a mysterious errand. He had a paper bag in his hand when he came back, and he was grinning.
    She greeted him with an enormous hug, crushing the bag between them. “Hmmm, it feels as if you’ve been gone for years.”
    He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Same here.”
    She leaned back and looked up at him. “What’s in the bag?”
    “A present.”
    “Is it big as a bread box or small as a thimble?”
    “You’ll have to wait and see, Hallie.”
    “I love presents. How long do I have to wait? Not ‘til Christmas, I hope.”
    He laughed. “You remind me of a child.”
    With a wicked gleam in her eye, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him in a most adult fashion. “I do, do I?”
    “Only sometimes. Other times . . .” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Give me five minutes.” He started toward the bedroom.”
    “Josh. . .”
    “I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
    It was one of the longest five minutes of her life. She’d always loved presents, but she’d always been impatient to get them. Her brothers used to say that if they wanted to know what Santa was bringing, all they had to do was follow her around the week before Christmas. She’d sleuthed out every hiding place her parents could think of. She’d become an expert at guessing what was inside by the way a package rattled.
    She paced up and down the room, glancing at her watch every five seconds. After two minutes, she sat down and tried to work on her thesis, but it was useless. Finally, heaving a big sigh, she sat on the edge of the sofa, propped her hands on her knees and waited.
    Josh stuck his head around the bedroom door.”I’m ready, Hallie.”
    She hurried to the door. “Where is it?”
    For an answer, he took her arm, pulled her inside and shut the door. He’d undressed and was wearing his robe. Slowly, he began unbuttoning her blouse.
    “We had a conversation once. In a tree.” He tossed the blouse to a nearby chair and reached around her to unhook her bra. “Do you remember?”
    “I remember almost everything you’ve ever said to me.”
    He smiled. “And?”
    “You said if you wanted me, nothing could keep you away.”
    Still smiling, he unsnapped her jeans and pulled them down her hips. “True.” He tossed the jeans aside. “I also told you I was a man of many talents.” His voice became thick as he reached for her panties. “And you said—”
    Suddenly Hallie grinned. “You didn’t!”
    “I did.”
    She untied his belt and opened the robe. His talents were wrapped in gold foil and tied with a big floppy red Christmas bow.
    “How did you. . .”
    “. . . With great care and lots of