Cupid's Confederates Read Online Free Page B

your mother here for a long time now, haven’t you? But you were afraid to say anything. We’ve both gotten used to a very private lifestyle and neither of us really wants an intruder—and I should have figured out months ago that you needed me to make the offer, Bett. So if it’s tough going, it’s tough going. Families are still the only people you can count on in time of trouble. I ought to know; I hadn’t had any family for a long time until I met you. And I refuse to let you worry about Liz long-distance any longer.” Zach paused, a wry grin on his lips. “Am I the only one having this conversation?”
    “No.” Bett smiled, trying to relax. It was so typical of Zach to take the bull by the horns. And it was typical of him to give willingly of himself to please her. Tiny knots were forming in the pit of her stomach at the thought of having her mother here, day in, day out, but she ignored them, a wave of love for Zach overtaking any lesser emotions.
    She smiled again, slid her arms around his waist and hugged him. Zach smelled like sun and wind, an earthy, primitive scent that she loved. He rocked her close to him, his lips brushing her forehead.
    “You weren’t really afraid I’d nix the idea of inviting her here?” he murmured against her ear. “Lord, Bett, you didn’t think I’d say no, just because we’d be a little inconvenienced for a time?”
    “It wasn’t you, Zach.” Bett hesitated, staring at the hollow of his throat. “First, I felt…the thing is, Mom is still young; fifty-four is hardly ancient. I want to help her, yes, but she’s always depended on other people, Zach, and I felt she needed to…” Bett groped for the words “…get her life in order. For her sake. I was hoping that in time she’d make new friends on her own, come to some decisions, develop new interests. Her whole life’s been devoted to taking care of people, and I…”
    Zach nudged her chin up, a small surprised frown on his forehead. “So she depends on us for a while. That’s not so terrible.”
    Bett took a breath. “No,” she agreed hesitantly.
    “Don’t tell me you really don’t want her here? That doesn’t sound like you, two bits.”
    How could she be so ungenerous of spirit, when Zach was so very generous? What kind of inhuman, insensitive daughter wouldn’t do anything to help her mother through a bad time? “Of course I want her here,” Bett said vibrantly, and meant it. “Zach, it was so good of you to ask her…”
    Zach drew back and kissed her on the nose. “Settled then?” he asked briskly.
    “Yes,” she agreed.
    “Come on.” He turned and pulled her toward the door. “We have a very serious problem on the back forty we need to take care of.”
    “Pardon?”
    ***
     
    Bett was still in a distracted mood until she realized where Zach was driving. The landscape around the pond disclosed no problem that she could see. Night had fallen on the farm like black silk. It was still tropically warm, but the hush of evening was soothing, a stillness one could almost breathe in. Crickets chirped in the cattails, and the fragrance of ripening peaches was a thick, sweet perfume that filled the air.
    Zach turned off the ignition and just looked at her, his face half in shadow, his eyes fathomless and dark. “There’s a blanket in back.” He gave her no chance to respond to that, reaching for her swiftly, tugging her close to him in that sweet darkness. His tongue slowly traced her lower lip, then her upper one. He dried the faint moisture with his fingertip. His touch was very gentle, very soft, very slow.
    Bett half closed her eyes, willing a dozen vague anxieties to disappear from her mind. She’d wanted to be with him, and she’d wanted him—like this—all day. Worries about her mother’s visit had sabotaged those feelings, yet the simple intimacy of just being held gradually melted that tension. When Zach’s mouth covered hers, a little more of that anxiety seemed to vanish. Zach,