Just Between Friends (O'Rourke Family 4) by Julianna Morris Page B

be touched there, Dylan’s fingers and mouth flooding her with heat and anticipation. Yet even as she remembered, she thought about what he’d just called her.
    Sweetheart?
    The only time Dylan called her sweetheart was when he was playing his role as an adoring fiancé turned husband.
    Disappointment filled her at the same moment she heard Richard Carter discreetly clear his throat. “Mr. and Mrs. O’Rourke, how nice to see you.”
    “Mr. Carter, I didn’t realize you were a patron of the children’s hospital,” she said politely.
    “I have a variety of interests.”
    Yeah, and one of those interests was nosing into her marriage. Kate was tempted to point out that her grandmother’s will had only said she was to live with her husband on the Douglas estate for a year— sex wasn’t specified. Grandmother would never have been that vulgar. Boy, Nanna Jane must have been a real fun date. She’d probably considered the marriage bed to be a necessary, but unpleasant, duty.
    Still, the conditions in the will were an excuse to be affectionate with Dylan. It was the first time Kate had been able to touch him so freely, and she planned to take advantage of every opportunity.
    The three of them chatted for a few minutes, then Dylan’s arm tightened around her waist. “I’m sorry torush off, sir, but I’m anxious to get Kate home. She had an accident in the kitchen this morning and should get some rest.”
    Mr. Carter looked concerned. “Nothing serious, I hope.”
    “No,” Kate said quickly, then tipped her head up at her husband. “Really, I’m fine, Dylan.”
    “Then we’ll just…rest.”
    His suggestive tone was unmistakable and heat instantly rose in her face. If only she could believe he was sincere and that the sensual promise in his voice and eyes was real.
    But it wasn’t, and she knew she’d be spending the night alone.
    Again.
    Much later Dylan lay in bed, his body so primed he couldn’t sleep. He’d never been this way before. If there was a woman he couldn’t have, either because of circumstance or her own choice, then it was fine.
    So why was he going crazy over Kate?
    Maybe it was that forbidden fruit thing. They were living in cramped quarters and he’d promised not to kiss her again. Unfortunately she wasn’t held to the same promise. Her act as a loving bride was damned convincing…at least it was convincing his body.
    Stop, he ordered. Katydid was a sweetheart, but she wasn’t permanent.
    He raised his arm and tucked it beneath his head, staring at the ceiling. When he’d originally built the carriage house apartment, Kate had asked him to leave as much of the original structure intact as possible. Because ofthat, natural wood beams ran through the ceilings, and richly colored braided rugs were scattered across hard-wood floors more than a century old.
    At least he’d convinced her to enlarge the windows, styling them after the old ones.
    God, Dylan thought, the hours he’d spent on those windows, finding matching antique glass, working forever to get them just right. But it had been worth it when Kate smiled and flung her arms around him.
    “Stop,” he growled to the silent room.
    He was blowing it.
    Kate was a friend, not a lover. She’d asked him for help because she trusted him. Her defense of him to the Haviland woman had rung with sincerity and given him a great ego boost, but he couldn’t read too much into it.
    Dylan turned over in the bed for the hundredth time. Kate was in bed as well, less than thirty feet away. She’d taken off that expensive, seductive dress and was wearing one of those expensive, seductive nightshirts. Nightshirts that shouldn’t be seductive at all, but on her, they were.
    He groaned and punched his pillow a couple of times.
    His response to Kate’s public kisses was difficult to ignore, no matter how he tried to keep cool in private. Maybe he should spend an occasional night on the couch at the office, to calm things down. Besides, the way