The Longing (9 page)

She wet a fresh towel, wrung the excess into
her potted plant, which was the only living thing allowed to share
her tiny apartment with her, then returned to Kyle's side. After
folding the towel, she pressed it to his forehead.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice strained.

Amelia didn't answer for lack of an
appropriate response. No matter how many times she apologized, it
would not lessen the pain she’d caused him or the guilt she was
suffering for kicking him.

Minutes passed while Kyle sat stiff and
silent. Unable to offer comfort, Amelia knelt before him and
removed the cloth from his leg. She soaked it with cold water then
pinned it back in place. When she stood to freshen the towel on his
face, Kyle captured her wrist. Startled, she glanced down and found
herself gazing into a pair of hurting, earth-colored eyes.

“I'm sorry I acted like a jackass,” he said
quietly.

Amelia couldn't have been more shocked by his
apology if he’d said he would pay off her debts and marry her to
boot. “You're sorry? I kicked you, remember?”

“Vividly. But I prompted the action, and for
that, I apologize.”

It disconcerted her to stand so close while
he shrewdly assessed her from beneath those long, dark lashes. “Why
are you looking at me like that?”

“I'm waiting to see if you're going to faint
on me again.” Despite his obvious pain, his lips quirked and made
her heart ache.

“I thought you might do the same a moment
ago.” Her shoulders sagged. “Your leg looks awful. Shouldn't you
see the doctor again, just to make sure it's all right?”

“Is that concern from the lady who just
kicked me?”

Amelia lowered her lashes and leaned over to
change the cloth on his forehead. “I forgot about your shin.”

“I shouldn’t have grabbed you.” He gently
lifted her wrist to inspect it. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” Her eyes
met his. “And I’m sorry I offended you the day I said I wasn’t
interested in marriage. It wasn’t meant as a reflection on you,
Amelia.”

She flushed over his unexpected apology. “The
way I dress, I wouldn’t expect any man to be interested in me.”

He looked at her as if she were crazy. “You
could be dressed in rags and men would still be interested.”

Unable to speak past the thrilling sensation
in her chest, Amelia ducked her head. Her hair slipped forward over
her shoulder and she reached up to brush it back, but Kyle stopped
her hand. Their eyes met, his gaze intimate and heated as he drew
her forward and kissed her.

Kyle knew the
moment his lips touched Amelia's that he'd made a colossal mistake.
Every cell in his body exploded with unadulterated lust. He hadn’t
meant to kiss her, didn’t even know how or why it had happened.
He’d tried to warn himself of the disastrous results in that split
second before their lips met, but no force on earth could have kept
him from responding to the answering touch of Amelia’s tongue upon
his own.

Before he could force himself to break away,
she sank onto his lap and draped her arms around his neck, drawing
him deeper into the kiss. Kyle was lost. He lingered, savored,
floated in the euphoric thrill that shot through his body. Like the
one and only time he’d ever kissed Amelia, nothing existed but her.
Her mouth. The feel of her hands in his hair. As if the rest of his
world had gone black, Amelia became that pinpoint of light that
drew Kyle forward, that beckoned him to reach, to touch, to bask in
the warmth of her soft yellow glow.

He started to lay her back on the bed and
lose himself in her touch, but streaks of pain ripped up his leg
and made his fists clench. Reluctantly, he ended the kiss and
sucked in a mind-clearing gulp of air.

Amelia's eyes opened, lazy and dazed as she
stared up at him. Kyle struggled to control the combination of pain
and lust rampaging through his body. As the sharp ache in his leg
slowly abated, he stared at Amelia, wondering how the hell a
schoolteacher had learned to kiss a man like she’d been making love
with him for years.

Realizing their awkward situation, yet having
no idea how to gracefully extricate himself, Kyle discreetly eased
his hand off her hip. “My shin isn’t appreciating our
position.”

A quizzical expression crossed her face, then
her eyes widened with understanding. “Oh!” Her palms hit his chest
and she shoved herself off his lap. In a flurry of embarrassed
fumbling, she straightened her skirt and pushed her hair off her
red face. “I didn’t realize, I mean, I’m sorry.”

Thoroughly flustered, Amelia backed against
the table and steadied herself against its solid bulk. Her legs
trembled and she felt flushed from her ears to her ankles as she
stared at Kyle. Even with a few feet separating them, she felt
overwhelmed by his presence. His dark gaze beckoned her back into
his arms, but she wasn’t going near him. Despite the thrill of his
touch, losing control of her mind and body had scared the life out
of her. That had never happened with Richard.

Kyle leaned forward and braced his elbows on
his knees. “We’ve got to figure out what to do about the
lumberyard.”

The what? She’d just experienced an emotional
earthquake and Kyle was thinking about money? Amelia gripped the
table for support. If she had the strength, she would cross the
floor and kick him in the shin again. Had he felt nothing at all
during the kiss?

The abrupt clearing of a throat yanked
Amelia’s attention toward the connecting door of the schoolroom
where, to her horror, Eva and Phil Bentley stood with Judith Morton
and Clara Bortwick. “I’m afraid that discussion will have to wait,
Mr. Grayson. We have a board meeting scheduled that Miss Drake has
apparently forgotten about.” The reddish hue of Eva’s face clearly
expressed the depth of her outrage. Judith Morton and Clara
Bortwick glanced at each other with such stricken expressions,
Amelia thought their hearts had stopped beating. But it was the
suspicion in Kyle’s eyes, as if he knew Amelia had purposely
trapped him, that made her heart jolt.

Her stomach slammed into her ribs and her
knees gave out. She leaned against the edge of the table and braced
her hand on the smooth maple surface. There wasn’t a single
suitable excuse that would explain Kyle’s presence in her
apartment, nor could she convince Kyle that she hadn’t planned
this, because in the back of her mind, she had considered this very
thing the instant she had pulled him into her apartment.

Kyle lunged to his feet and grabbed at the
bedpost to steady himself. He dwarfed the room as he faced the
gawking board members. “This isn’t what you’re thinking.”

“Then what is it, exactly?” Eva’s accusing
gaze told Amelia her time as a teacher was over.

Fearing the repercussions from both Kyle and
the board, Amelia struggled to speak, to correct their
misinterpretation of the liaison they thought they were witnessing,
but not a word of explanation would squeak from her tight throat.
Spurts of panic raced through her body, making her legs quake and
her heart pound. She couldn’t fix this.

Mortified by her own disheveled appearance,
Amelia scooped her loose hair behind her shoulders with trembling
hands.

“Phil, are you aware that I just bought Tom’s
lumberyard?” Kyle asked.

Phil nodded, his forehead creased as though
trying to figure out what that had to do with Kyle lounging on
Amelia’s bed.

“I came by to discuss a problem we’re having
there, but I barked my shin on that stool.” He pointed to a hard
wooden chair sitting cockeyed beside the table. “If you remember
what my leg looked like at the funeral, then you’ll know I couldn’t
have walked back out that door to save my life. I was resting my
leg and trying to get my breath back when you arrived.”

Eva glanced at the rumpled bed and their
disheveled clothing and raised a censuring eyebrow. “I hardly
believe it matters what circumstances caused you to be in Miss
Drake’s bed. The fact is, you were.” With a pointed stare at
Amelia’s unbound hair, she said, “You are well aware of what is
considered respectable behavior and why we must enforce the rules
with unbiased diligence. Two weeks ago we made an exception in
light of your father’s passing. We will not bend our rules a second
time to accommodate your behavior, especially after that incident
at the bank this afternoon.”

“This is ludicrous!” Kyle said, his hard
voice demanding their attention.

Eva straightened as if Kyle had spit in her
face. Amelia clutched her stomach and feared her supper would soon
be on the floor.

“I understand that you all have a
responsibility to enforce proper protocol for this teaching
position,” Kyle said, “and I respect that, but your unwarranted
suspicions are humiliating Miss Drake and insulting my
reputation.”

“Unwarranted!” Eva pressed her palm to the
scarred wood doorframe as she thrust out her jaw. “This young woman
rode off with you in the night without a chaperone not two weeks
ago! Now we find you in her apartment lounging on her bed! I would
say our concern is warranted, Mr. Grayson.”

“Amelia’s virtue has not been
compromised.”

“I beg to differ with you.”

Amelia had to agree with Mrs. Bentley. She
would be ruined when the gossips got hold of this.

Kyle faced the board members, and one by one
they looked away from his quelling stare. “Phil, do you have reason
to doubt my integrity?”

“Of course not.”

Kyle looked at Eva. “Do you have personal
reservations about my character, Mrs. Bentley?”

Eva’s nostrils flared and she glared at him
without speaking.

“Would you mind answering my question?”

“Yes, I do mind! You are insinuating yourself
where you don’t belong, and I’m asking you to leave the school
grounds this instant.”

“I’m standing here because you are rudely
speculating about my character, which I’m entitled to defend.”

“Your integrity isn’t at issue, Mr.
Grayson.”

“The devil it isn’t!” Kyle banged his fist
down on the table with a crack that made everyone jerk back a step.
“Your concern for Miss Drake’s reputation may be valid, Mrs.
Bentley, but to imply I have damaged her after I gave you a logical
explanation for my visit is not only absurd it’s insulting.”

“There is no suitable explanation for you
being found on Miss Drake’s bed.” Mrs. Bentley pointed toward the
door. “Now, I’m asking you for the last time to leave.”

Kyle closed his eyes and pinched the bridge
of his nose. Amelia suspected he was fighting the urge to choke the
old bitch glaring at him and feared he was about to do something
drastic. Or worse yet, maybe he was considering walking out the
door and leaving Amelia’s job and her reputation in ruins.

“Wait a minute,” she blurted. Everyone turned
surprised expressions in her direction. Amelia’s heart pounded, but
she refused to let another man ruin her and walk away. “Kyle came
here to ask me to marry him.”

Kyle’s eyes widened. How he kept his jaw from
dropping she would never know, but he stared at her as if she’d
lost her mind.

Despite her churning stomach and quaking
legs, Amelia kept her chin high as she faced Eva’s glacial stare.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for her to go on, including Kyle.
“Kyle refused to leave without a positive answer.”

Judith Morton sighed as if she were reliving
the first time she’d ever fallen in love. Phil glanced at Kyle as
if to corroborate her story, but Kyle didn’t move a muscle.

Amelia looked at him and immediately wished
she hadn’t when she saw the storm brewing in his eyes. Evelyn had
said Kyle was hard-edged and too aggressive for his own good, and
Amelia believed it. But Evelyn had also said on several occasions
that Kyle was a good man deserving of a woman who could truly
appreciate him. He was the sort of man her father would have chosen
for her. He was the only man with the drive and intelligence to
resurrect her father’s business, and he’d wanted the lumberyard
enough to buy it. If Amelia let Kyle walk out, she would be ruined.
If he backed out on his agreement to buy the mill, her father’s
business would die and so would his memory. The bank would sell
everything
, including their house. Any physical reminder
of her beloved father would be carted off or left to rot. And she
would have no choice but to become Richard’s mistress until he
tired of her.

Despite Kyle’s aversion to marriage, the kiss
he’d just given her said he was attracted to her. Respect and
attraction would make a perfectly suitable foundation for marriage.
That would be enough to start with.

Amelia faced Kyle, her chin high despite her
churning emotions. “I accept your proposal.”

His jaw clenched.

Amelia silently beseeched him to understand
and forgive, but he stood like a mountain, hard and unyielding.
Kyle’s rigid sense of honor wouldn’t allow him to rebuff her. He
would marry her because his own actions had put her in this
predicament, but Amelia’s heart ached knowing he would never
forgive her for trapping him.

Eva turned to the trio behind her. “I believe
our board meeting is unnecessary.” She turned back to Amelia. “As
you are well aware, teachers are not allowed to marry while under
contract. Judith will take over your duties in the morning.”
Without a single word of well wishes or farewell, she led the board
members out of the schoolhouse.

Amelia bit her tongue to keep from pleading
with them not to leave her alone with Kyle. His dark eyes burned
with anger. His fists were clenched at his sides.

“Am I to assume that you knew about your
father’s debt?”

“Richard told me this afternoon. I was as
shocked as you are.”

“But you still used my draft to pay off your
mother’s mortgage?”

Shame filled Amelia, but she’d
had
to do it. “It was the only way I could guarantee that Mama would
have a place to live.” She laced her fingers in front of her to
keep her hands from shaking. “What would Mama and I have done with
the mill, Kyle? You’re experienced enough to save it. We aren’t. I
needed to protect Mama’s security and that was the only way I could
do it.”