Free The Thawing of Mara by Janet Dailey Page A

uncombed, its thickness in attractive disarray. Lines of sleep had softened the harsh carving of his features, but his eyes were alert as he took in the look of shock on Mara's face.
    "Good morning." His greeting sounded so natural that it made her wonder if she had got her days mixed up. Was it Friday or Saturday? No, it definitely was Friday.
    "What are you doing here?" She recovered enough to demand, then remembered, "I didn't see your car outside."
    "You didn't look. My car is there, parked alongside of the cottage," Sin informed her, his steel-blue eyes regarding her with lazy interest.
    Alongside the cottage—that explained it, Mara realized. Since she had walked instead of driving, her angle of approach to the cottage hadn't given her a glimpse of the far side where his car was.
    "Then you're the one who turned the thermostat up and made coffee," she concluded, relieved that it hadn't been an oversight on her part.
    "I must be," he agreed, "unless there's a ghost haunting the cottage that you didn't tell me about." His mouth curved into a half grin. "Did you think you were going mad?"
    "I…I had a lot of things on my mind," Mara faltered in her own defense. "Adam has been sick with a cold all week. He's better now. But it was possible I might have overlooked a few things Monday."
    "Not you," he taunted. "You're Miss Perfect."
    "Why are you here?" His biting comment brought a chill to her voice. "It isn't Saturday."
    "I decided at the last minute to come up a day early. Is that all right?" Sin asked, knowing that he didn't require her permission. "I don't recall reading any restriction in the lease that said I didn't have the use of the cottage seven days a week."
    "Of course there wasn't," Mara retorted impatiently. "But you could have let me know you were changing your routine."
    "I told you it was a last-minute decision. I didn't think you would appreciate a telephone-call in the middle of the night." His explanation held a hint of challenge.
    "The middle of the night," she unconsciously repeated his phrase.
    "Yes, it was after midnight before I decided to drive up here a day early," Sin elaborated on his previous explanation.
    At that hour of the night, Mara doubted that he was alone. That thought prompted another that maybe he hadn't made the journey alone. She glanced beyond Sin to the bedroom where a corner of the sleep rumpled brown satin sheets could be seen.
    Sin followed the direction of her look and her thoughts. "There's no one with me, if that's what you're wondering." Amusement edged the hard corners of his mouth when her dark gaze flew back to him.
    "You've been spending more and more of your weekends alone lately," Mara observed. "Aren't you worried that you might get bored without anyone to entertain you?"
    "It's possible," he conceded dryly. "But if it gets too dull around here, I have the consolation of being able to sharpen my wits with you."
    Why had she ever got involved in a conversation with him in the first place, Mara wondered angrily. He took malicious delight in laughing at her, finding something to poke cynical fun at no matter what she said or did. She turned away and began taking out her displeasure at the situation on the items in the grocery bag.
    "I've had a long week, Mr. Buchanan. I'm too tired from taking care of Adam to engage in a battle of words with you," she issued tightly.
    His astute gaze investigated her profile, noticing the strain etched in her features but unable to guess that he was the cause of most of it. Her eyes were large black smudges against the ivory cream of her complexion. The line of her finely drawn mouth was tense, her expression rigidly contained to be without emotion.
    Sin walked to where the coffeepot was plugged in only a few feet from her. Opening the cupboard door above it, he took out two cups and set them on the counter.
    "Why don't you take a break for a few minutes, Mara, and have a cup of coffee with me?" he suggested. "It's fresh and hot. The