Chapter 51
S ome husband, Maureen thought as she unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. It dropped like a puddle around her bare feet.
James, still fully clothed, was sleeping atop the bed. His eyelids slid open, and he stretched his arms. Unlike Maureen, he had always been able to hold his liquor. His vision landed on her face. “I must have dozed off.” His gaze explored her curves. “This is not a complaint, but have you put on weight?”
“Too many desserts.” Clad in her slip, Maureen’s hands slid across her waistline, which had indeed grown rounder.
“Time to go on a diet so your suitors don’t lose interest.”
Her jaw tightened. “How dare you?”
“Hey, I saw how you and Gordon looked at each other.”
“Gordon can look at me all day. I assure you nothing happened.” Thank goodness. And thank goodness they’d located Amanda hiding behind a booth. Their daughter was sleeping with Lydia.
He put out his arms. “Come on in, baby. I’ll warm you up.”
She could never resist him. “Only if you promise to be faithful.”
“Me?” He pushed himself to a sitting position, leaned against the headrest. “How about you?”
Maureen tried to look indignant but couldn’t contain a smile. She stepped into her silk pajama bottoms and then buttoned up the top.
James patted the bed. “Come and keep daddy warm.”
She hesitated.
“Have a better offer elsewhere?” he asked.
“No.” She tried to recall the last time she and James had been together as man and wife. She hadn’t bothered to use birth control because she was too old to get pregnant. Wasn’t she? Her hands explored her round tummy as she did the math. After that hideous Christmas party. She would be only a couple of months along. And yet...
“Denny needs our help.” Maureen decided to change the subject. His eyebrows raised. “You’re worried about your little sister at a moment like this?”
“She needs money to keep her bookstore open. And to buy a puppy from Gordon.”
“So I was right. What were you hoping to gain from getting into bed with him?”
“I’m not getting into bed with anyone but you.” She stepped closer and snuggled into his outstretched arms.
“Do you even love me?” She was afraid of his answer.
“More than ever, Maureen.”
“But Amanda told me—”
“You’d believe a teenage girl over your husband? She has a wild imagination.”
He was right. Amanda had an overly active imagination. But Maureen needed to think clearly. Could she really be pregnant? Her job might be history anyway. But she did have a husband to love. Darn it all, she still adored James no matter what he’d done.
“Well, will you help Denny?” She stood akimbo.
“Anything you want.” His mouth widened into a grin. “If you ask me, she needs more than money and a dog.”
Maureen stiffened. “Please listen and take me seriously, just this once.”
“I am listening, dearest darling. And I am taking you seriously. But I’m your husband and will not have my wife cavorting with another man, be he the owner of this hotel or not.”
“Since when were you this concern about me?” she asked.
“Listen, it was no easy feat getting here through the snow, and I see no show of gratitude.” His voice turned gruff. “Are you happy to see me or not?”
“Yes, absolutely.” The enormity of her situation smacked Maureen like a tsunami. If they split up could she raise a child on her own? Would Amanda help her? Lydia had hinted she needed to get back home, but Maureen could hire another Amish nanny or be a stay-at-home mom while she wrote her new book.
As she pondered her future, she moved into her husband’s outstretched arms. She could feel his warmth.
A severe rapping on the door brought Maureen out of her contemplation. As she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood James moaned, but Maureen ignored him. She wanted to see if Amanda, who’d hitchhiked back to the hotel earlier, needed anything. Maureen moved to the door and asked, “Who’s there?”
“Me.” Maureen recognized Denny’s voice.
“Just a minute.” Maureen slipped into a bathrobe, then opened the door.
“Okay for me to come in?” Denny seemed in distress.
“Of course.” Maureen ignored James’s groan emanating from the bed.
Once inside, Denny leaned against the door to close it. “Alec and Molly said they’re definitely not getting married. But they are moving to the States together.” Her statement hung in the air. “Now what should I do?”
“Do about what?” Maureen moved closer to her little sister. “How can I help?”
Denny spat out her statement. “I don’t want your help, unless you can find a way to stop them from leaving together.”
“Because?” Maureen took in Denny’s tortured features and reality dawned. Maureen’s sister had fallen hard for Alec.
“I don’t get it,” James said.
Maureen turned to him and said, “She doesn’t want them to live together in any capacity.”
“Then what do you want?” he asked.
Denny visibly shrank. Her face contorted and melted like a wax mask. She let out a sob, then wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. “Never mind.”
“Pay no attention to him,” Maureen said. “You know how dense men can be.”
“Hey, I didn’t come all this way to be insulted,” James said.
“Sorry, dearest husband. That was not my intent.”
Denny marveled at Maureen’s finesse. She could wrap James around her little finger. When she wanted to.
“You’ve fallen in love with Alec, haven’t you?” Maureen asked.
Denny bobbed her head.
“What on earth for?” James sounded perplexed. “Get real. I doubt he has any money.”
“What does money matter in affairs of the heart?” Maureen cinched the waist of her bathrobe. “That’s not why I love you.” There, she’d said it. She loved James but knew he took advantage of that fact.
The corner of his mouth tugged up into a partial smile. “You have a strange way of showing that you love me. You’re gone all the time, working at the studio. You’re always too busy for me.”
“I didn’t think you noticed.” Her face radiant, Maureen pivoted toward the bed and then sank into the covers next to him.
Denny turned away. “Guess I’d better give you two lovebirds your privacy back.” Then she hastened out the door.