Edge of Time (Langston Brothers Series) (32 page)

Edge of Time
230

“Full house. Read ‘em and weep!” Marissa laughed gleefully, spreading three jacks and two kings across the table in their lavishly decorated parlor.

“How do you win every time?” Craig shook his head and tossed his shirt across the table. He’d already lost his shoes, socks, jacket and belt to her and he was fairly certain she was cheating. She must be cheating, but after groveling on bended knee
—
literally
—
to persuade her to spend the day with him, he wasn’t about to point it out. Winning never failed to put her in a good mood.

If it killed him this would be a pleasant afternoon.

Marissa
blatantly ogled his shirtless form and her heated gaze burned across his flesh. “I must say, Craig, I have never seen a sexier man.”

He quirked a curious brow. “Sexy. Is that one of your future words?”

“Yes.”

“I gather the meaning is much as the word sounds.”

Marissa winked in response, toying with the cards.

“You
are driving me mad,” Craig growled
, and wondered at the sly smile on her face as he watched her shuffle and whip the cards in front of him. He wa
s dying for a winning hand
. Starving to see
something.
Lifting the five slippery cards he, scanned them. Aha! Aces and eights. This
should be a winning hand!

“I fold.” Marissa grinned devilishly and slapped her hand down on the table.

“No!” Craig feigned outrage “You can’t do that!”

“Sure I can. I just did,” she said with a sassy flip of her hair, and a finger pointed at his chest. “You, sir, are a terrible poker player.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t bluff. I saw in your face you must have a pretty good hand.”

“Really.” Craig leapt from his chair tried to grab her. Feinting to the right, he was ready when she dashed to the le
ft. He swept her into his arms. S
he wrapped hers around his neck,
and together t
he
y
laughed. “Do you still think I can’t bluff?” he asked.

Marissa splayed a gentle hand across his bare chest and turned dark eyes to him with a warm glow of expectation he’d almost forgotten. She tilted her face up until her warm breath mingled with his own. She coasted caressing finger-tips up his arms and across his shoulders. Parting her lips, she ran the tip of her tongue over them
.

W
ith a grow
l
, Craig swept her off the floor, bounding up the stairs. He wasn’t entirely sure how he managed to reach the bedchamber, as their lips never parted, but they made it. It took him far less time than a poker hand to divest her of her clothing.

She was so beautiful and willing and he needed her as he’d never needed anyone or anything. He had to know, to feel, that there was hope for them, for their marriage. It had been so long since he’d kissed her this way, and oh how he wanted her.

He lowered her back onto the bed clothes, settling over her soft frame.
She wrapped her legs around him
, wriggling into position without preamble. God, she must want this as much as he.

Bang! Bang! Bang!
A
meaty fist pounded their front door.

Craig sagged against her. “Can we just ignore it?” He pressed a hungry kiss upon her neck, fully intending to do just that.

“Dr. Langston!” an urgent voice called. “Doc! You’re needed!”

Marissa groaned. “I guess that’s a no.” She pulled him to her for a last kiss before he quickly donned a shirt and galloped down the stairs.

Craig yanked the door open. A short balding man with a dusty hat clutched in his hands danced nervously from foot to foot. Craig nodded in greeting. “How can I be of service, Mr. Walters?”

“Doc, it’s an emergency! There’s been an accident out at my place, and my boy… his arm is hurt awful bad.”

Craig nodded, beating back the frustration he’d have to cut his afternoon with Marissa short. “Give me a moment to gather my bag and I’ll come with you.”

A moment later he returned
the bedroom. Marissa lay expectantly upon the sheet
.
“You have to leave?”

“
Yes.
Horace Walters has an emergency he needs me to attend to. If I know Mr. Walters, it’s not much of an emergency and I should be home within the hour.” Pausing to sit on the bed, he gathered her onto his lap and bestowed a loving caress upon her lips. “Wait for me, love?” Craig hated to leave his wife, so willing and pliant in his arms. The strain of the last few weeks seemed but a distant memory at the moment and he was anxious to begin mending the rift between them.

“I’ll be here.” Marissa’s eyes sparkled with such promise that his heart lurche
d. She sat up on the bed and he
took one more moment to run his hands through her waist length silken hair.

“I wish I could come with you
,
” she said. “I miss working.”

Craig sighed and stood again, before temptation overcame him. “It will get better, Marissa. I promise.” He stroked her
cheek
. “Just be patient. I’m sure cooler heads will soon prevail and you’ll be working with me again before you know it. I’ll have you so busy you’ll regret ever wanting to work!”

Smiling, she pulled the coverlet over her naked form. “You’d better get going. Mr. Walters’s emergency may be more serious than you think.”

*
             
*
             
*

Marissa listened to his booted feet
thump down the stairs and
the slam of the door behind him. She
sighed
, disappointed he’d been called away, but
happiness than she’d felt in weeks, thinking of the time she and Craig had spent together that day.

Bored, Marissa dressed and wandered into the kitchen. Craig had given his household servants the day off so she was completely alone in the house. She opened a few cupboards, wanting to make cookies, but baking supplies were scarce with the Union blockade of the coast. Instead she pumped water fr
om the pump out back,
set the water to boil in a large pot and plunked a chicken
into the pot. Stew was one of the few dishes she could make on her own. She sliced a few vegetables—carrots, potatoes and leeks, and then cleaned up after herself.

Craig’s hour stretched into two.

Dropping
o
nto a chair,
Marissa
crossed her arms, longing for some other sort of diversion. She reflected on the ways she’d found to pass time in her earlier life.

“I miss watching Law and Order in the afternoon,” she grumbled,
lifting
a book
from the end table and leafing through it. Nothing but pictures and descriptions of birds. She couldn’t watch television, or listen to the radio, or waste time on the computer. That left reading. When was the last time she’d read anything purely for pleasure? Wandering to the bookcase she perused the titles, absently lifting a copy of Pride and Prejudice from the shelf. The movie had been one of her favorites and now it was oddly comforting to find something familiar between the pages of a book. With a sigh she flopped onto the sofa and waited impatiently for Craig to return.

Presently, another knock at the door sounded. In her good mood Marissa never thought to peek through the window. Expecting Genie or Carolyn, she opened the door with a smile and grimaced as Kirsten Jamison’s violet gaze met her own.

With clenched teeth Marissa let go all pretense of civili
ty.
“What do you want, Miss Jamison?”

As if pleased to see the Marissa so rankled Kirsten smiled sweetly. “Is Craig at home? I’m afraid he wasn’t at the hospital this afternoon when I stopped by for our
usual
visit, and he hadn’t mentioned that he would be away. As you know we still have much to discuss.”

The desire to throttle Kirsten was so strong Marissa had to clasp her shaking hands behind her back. Fighting to maintain her composure, she said, “
My husband
was spending the day at home with me, but he was called away for an emergency.”

Kirsten shrugged her shoulders. “Then it’s safe to assume he’ll return in the next few hours? That being the case, I’ll stop by later. Tell him to expect me around five o’clock. Oh, and Marissa, I would appreciate it if you weren’t present for the discussion.”

Seething, Marissa enunciated each word of her reply in a slow, strained tone, “You will not be welcome in my home later today or at any other time. If you wish to speak with my husband somewhere else, I will be present during any communication between you
.”

Kirsten narrowed her eyes menacingly. “Just tell Craig I’ll be by later.”

Stepping back Marissa clipped, “Good day,” before heaving the door in Kirsten’s face.

Shaking with outrage, Marissa hurled the book into the
wall
.
“That little bitch!”

*     *     *

A chuckle of amusement escaped Craig as he stepped off the porch of Mr. Walters’s house. The “emergency” had been little more than a
sprained wrist and by the time he’d
arrived the boy afflicted with the injury had been bounding happily about the yard, clearly not in need of medical attention.
Just the same he
evaluated and wrapped the child’
s wrist.

“No more climbing trees, Timmy.” Craig knelt to the boy’s eye level. “You’re lucky you didn’t break that arm.”

Timmy gave him a sheepish grin. “Yes, sir.”

“All right then.” Craig ruffled the lad’s dark mop of hair and stood. “Run along then. Your mama is waiting.”

Striding
back
through the city on his way home, Craig was in better spirits than he’d
been for quite some time. A half hour
later, he enter
ed his home and founds Marissa
rampaging through the house, wrestling with
a chair
too large for her to handle. Perplexed, he asked, “Why are you rearranging the furniture again?”

She whirled, startled, snatching
up the cards they’d been using before and flung them at his feet. “Have you ever played fifty-two
card
pick-up?” Before he could reply, she kicked at the scattered deck, strewi
ng the cards farther and glared
daggers at him.