Now and Forever by Diana Palmer Page B

her eyes lowered, but the color came into her cheeks despite her best efforts. “It…it was just a kiss, Lena, and the only time…”
    â€œYou don’t have to defend yourself to me, Tish,” she said gently. “But we both know Russell doesn’t play games. He’s my brother, and I love him, and I don’t thinkhe’d ever do anything to hurt you. But be careful just the same.”
    â€œHe said we’d forget it,” she said, still quietly smoldering when she remembered the cutting words, “because of Lisa. There isn’t anything to be careful about. Will you help me carry the coffee out?”
    â€œSure.” She picked up the tray.
    â€œDo I…do I look all right?” Tish asked.
    Eileen smiled. “It doesn’t show anymore.”
    â€œThen let’s forge ahead, shall we,” she said with a short laugh.
    Â 
    There were dark circles under her eyes the next morning, and there was a haunted look in their gray depths. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved blue print blouse and ran a comb through her hair. She didn’t bother with makeup. Somehow impressing Frank wasn’t important anymore. And he —he’d have gone to the fields by now, she was sure.
    But when she got to the dining room, Russell was sitting at the table with Frank, lingering over a cup of coffee. Her heart began to run away just at the sight of him, the paleblue denim shirt straining against the muscles of his chest, his crisp dark hair burning black in the filtered light from the window.
    â€œOh, there you are,” Frank said, rising with a smile as she joined them and looking relieved. “I’m going up to get Belle, if I can roll her out of bed. Russell’s taking us all riding. Be back in a minute, sweetheart.”
    He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the mouth, as if setting his seal of possession on her in front of Russell, and winked as he left. She sat stiffly in her chair, wondering where the devil Eileen was, trying not to be affected by the heat of Russell’s intense gaze.
    â€œWhat the hell was that all about?” he asked curtly. “To remind me that you’re his property?”
    She swallowed hard. “Where’s Eileen?” she asked instead of giving him an answer.
    â€œShe left early for school.”
    â€œOh.”
    Mattie brought in the coffee, and with a murmur of thanks, Lutecia started loading it with sugar and cream.
    â€œYou didn’t sleep,” Russell said quietly.
    â€œI…I slept very well, thanks.”
    â€œLook at me, Tish.”
    She obeyed the deep caress in his voice, her heart skipping a beat when she met the patient darkness in his eyes.
    â€œWhy are you afraid of me?” he asked softly.
    Her lips trembled, and she dragged her eyes back down to her cup. Infuriatingly, her fingers trembled as she gripped the hot ceramic in her cold hands.
    â€œYou’re so very young, little one,” he said quietly. “A child-woman, like a blossom just beginning to open. I was too rough and far too intimate with you last night. I told you once I wasn’t used to limits. All that silky innocence threw me.”
    She darted a look at him and found a slow, tender smile on his chiseled lips. “I…I was afraid to come down this morning,” she admitted hesitantly. “Oh, Russell, what’s happening? I don’t want it like this, I don’t want to always be fighting you, I want things to be like they used to be when we were best friends…” she said in a burst of emotion.
    â€œTurn the clock back, you mean?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “After the way we kissed last night, Tish?”
    She blushed to the roots of her hair. “You said…we’d forget it,” she reminded him with downcast eyes.
    â€œHow can I when my blood burns every time I look at you?” he growled. “I want to tell you about Lisa. I want you to