Beatrice and Douglas Read Online Free

think.”
    Douglas grimaced, as she paced and rubbed her chin in a
sarcastic parody of thought.  In a minute, he was going to get up and find
a large bucket of aspirin and a shower, but right now, he had to deal with his
missing skull and a banshee. 
    “What were you doing in my room?  Hmm, how about making
a complete ass of yourself, you lush.”  She had stopped and was standing
by the side of the bed and glaring at him as if her blue eyes alone could fry
him on the spot.  “Now get out of my bed and out of my room, and pray God,
out of my life.”
    Looking up at her, he suddenly had a flash of her in a white
robe and dripping hair.  Then it occurred to him that he knew what her
skin tasted like just there, where her collarbone met her neck.  His blood
shot eyes narrowed further as he seemed to remember her beneath him, saying his
name on a moan.  Her breast against his mouth, under his tongue. 
Another of the countless guilty fantasies that had been plaguing him for
years? 
    “What the hell happened last night?”
    She ignored the question even as she felt the worried knot
in her belly loosen.  He didn’t remember. 
    “Nothing much, you showed up drunk and stupid, though I
guess there really is nothing you can do about the stupid part, so I’ll make
allowances, then you passed out in my bed.  Now, for the last time, get
out!”
    Douglas grabbed his head and was surprised to find it still
on his shoulders.  It pulsed with each word out of her mouth.
    “Please, no yelling.”
    “You think this is yelling?  If you are not out of here
in ten seconds, I will yell down the hotel and then when people have come
running, I will order breakfast just for you.  How about poached eggs and
liver, mm-mm, doesn’t that sound tasty, all those juices running?”
    Douglas moved faster than he thought possible leaving the
room.  He made the bathroom down the hall just in time.  He winced as
the door of Beatrice’s room slammed with a mighty force, then he was too sick
to think of anything for a long while.
    ***
    As a result of his incapacitation, he was late getting to
the job site that morning.  When he finally pulled up in his beat up Ford,
it was to the loud sounds of construction under way.
    “Hey Doug, good of you to drop in.” 
    The gravel of the drive bit under his boot satisfactorily as
he prowled past the burly Irishman hefting two by fours.
    “Bite me, Dodger.”
    “No sir, I’ll leave that to the boss lady.  She’s in
rare form and looking hungry.”
    “Funny.  Very funny.”
    When he entered the house, the sounds of sawing and
hammering got louder.  Each step he took up the stairs caused a spike of
mild pressure inside his head that built the closer he got to his
destination.  But it was what he saw when he got there that really shot
the blood to his brain. 
    Beatrice was perched on a stepladder on the top floor. 
That would not have necessarily been a bad thing, except that she was perched
over the balcony straining to get to a light fixture, nothing between her and a
broken neck but 15 feet of air.  Up on her tiptoes, she strained to turn
the screw. 
    “What in holy hell do you think you’re doing?”  His
harsh voice was so unexpected that Beatrice lost her balance on the short
ladder and almost took a header over the ledge.  Instead, she found
herself lifted up into strong arms and cradled against a sturdy chest. 
Then she was looking deep into green eyes, very angry blood shot green eyes.
    “Are you trying to kill yourself?”  His voice was harsh
and snapped her out of the momentary freeze suddenly finding herself back in
his arms had caused.
    “Me?  I was just fine until you snuck up behind me and
started braying like an ass.”  She kicked her legs trying to get out of
his arms, but he didn’t budge.  “Put me down.”
    Why Douglas was suddenly smiling despite a massive hangover,
he couldn’t say.  There must be something very wrong with a man who found
a woman her