Free Seaspun Magic by Christine Hella Cott

to sleep, as well as the children; it was insinuating itself into her bloodstream and easing out all kinds of little knots throughout her body. The deep huskiness seemed to be sliding up and down her spine just as if—she blinked rapidly, giving her head a little shake.
    How nice of him to stay up and help! She was amazed and grateful, for without him it would have taken a great deal longer to settle the children. Lucy was ready to go back in her crib, finally, and Arianne tucked the blanket around the small chubby shape. As she stroked the baby's head for a moment more, to be sure she stayed asleep, Leo's voice trailed away.
    Arianne looked over at him. Then her hps parted in shock, for he was gazing raptly at her, and for the first time she became fully conscious of just how little she really had on. Her short nightgown didn't conceal much, and the skimpy panties below were more provocative than practical.
    Instantly Leo veiled his expression. The heat in his green eyes became a shimmer of ice again, but that split second had left an indelible effect. She couldn't have been more vitally aware of her curvaceous figure or of the fact that he was practically undressed, too. The breadth of bare shoulders, the blond mat smoothed over a tanned expanse of sleek muscled power.. .she couldn't stop staring.
    A band of excitement tightened around her chest, shortening her breath and making her feel light-headed. Her throat felt dry, and her tongue edged out to moisten her lips. It was the hardest thing imaginable to pretend nothing had happened, and it was almost impossible to keep from dashing in a panic for her robe.
    But that would be admitting to her madly thudding heart, and there was no way she was going to do that. It was the first time in what seemed like years and years that she had felt like a woman, not just a mother. A beautiful, endlessly desirable woman, too; how intoxicating to think he felt that way about her! What a delicious surprise! She knew her body was what Jill liked to call "luscious" and that her schedule, diet and exercise program made it easy to keep that way, but she had no idea Leo felt such a deep attraction to her. Her discipline had paid off! And she'd always thought she did those push-ups only for herself....
    While she tucked Erin into one bed, he put Rae in the other. And when they both straightened up they found themselves hemmed in in the aisle between the two beds and much too close together.
    Slowly she looked up, to find his gaze fastened on her shadowy cleavage disappearing beneath an edge of sheer peach fabric. He didn't hurry to meet her eyes but looked a little farther down before drifting up the white throat, pausing on her mouth. And at last, by which time she felt ready to faint, he met her eyes.
    The possibilities between them shot the air with sweet sparkling tension. In her filmy attire she shivered, stung by the intensity between them, striving to fight against the heat wave flushing her from the inside out.
    Rae's west windows rattled from a buffet off the ocean. Her eyes wandered there but soon sought Leo's again. As the wind soughed through the firs below and found sounding places in the old house, she realized she was yearning to feel a man's strong arms around her, and she wanted his. She was aching for this particular man who was smiling ever so faintly at her at three-thirty on a dark and stormy winter morning.
    But she merely raised an impudent eyebrow, and when, after a telling hesitation he stood aside, she sailed past him. "Good night, Leo," she said, sounding cheerful.
    She didn't stop until she closed her bedroom door behind her, and then she sagged against it, running a hand over her forehead. She had resisted the greatest temptation of her whole life. She hadn't been sure, but she thought she might have hated herself in the morning. After all, she didn't know how long he would be staying. What if his travelogue was finished, his convention center land found and the