What was it about Karina that had him prattling on so much? She didn’t need to know about his current situation. Nightmares excepted. She had enough of her own hassles to deal with.
Remember that next time your tongue starts getting away on you, Logan. Forget that at your peril.
Telling Karina the nitty-gritty of his life was allowing her too close—something neither of them needed.
So when he returned to the dining table with Mickey in hand he said something that would keep her at a distance. ‘Have you ever thought about where you might like to live if this place sells?’
‘Not once.’
‘I hear there are some new subdivisions going on, with big homes being planned.’
‘I’ve got a big home.’
Ice would have been warmer.
Logan deliberately dug a bigger hole. ‘A sprawling, ramshackle building that needs painting, insulating and refurbishing?’
‘Mickey, don’t put your knife in your mouth.’ Karina watched the boy with an eagle eye, and totally ignored Logan.
Jonty concentrated entirely on eating, shovelling his food in as though he didn’t know when he’d next eat.
Logan forked up a mouthful of chicken and mushroom and chewed thoughtfully. The problem with getting what he wanted was that it wouldn’t necessarily make him any happier. Less so in this instance. He had pushed Karina away, but now he desperately wanted her back on side, laughing with him, not looking at him as if he intended stealing the roof from over the head of the person she loved.
His belly soured. He knew with absolute certainty that he’d hurt Karina if he carried on with his plan before coming up with a better idea for her future—one that suited her. Even he finally understood that she meant it when she said she wasn’t leaving easily.
He had some serious thinking to do.
After dinner.
As a yawn opened his mouth he grimaced. Make that after a good night’s sleep.
At least with this level of tiredness he should manage to sleep right through and not have a nightmare.
But then Jonty joined in, first banging his knife and fork down on his now empty plate, then asking, ‘What are you up to, Pascale? Selling? Over my dead body, lad.’
Logan swallowed his mouthful. The day just kept on getting better and better.
CHAPTER SIX
‘GET AWAY FROM ME,’ Logan snarled.
The gun barrel was whipped across his back. Shafts of pain zapped through his body. No one believed in moderation around here. The only language these men used was violence.
‘I need the toilet. Get it? Moron...’ Logan muttered under his breath.
A large man shoved at his shoulder hard, so he stumbled against a tree. Pain grabbed his calf muscle, where a wound from a machete festered.
‘Don’t touch me!’ Logan spat at his assailant.
A hand gripped his forearm, shook him. ‘Logan.’
‘Ah! You’ve finally learned my name. Leave me alone.’
‘Logan.’
That pesky voice persisted.
‘Logan, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.’
What else could being used as a punch bag by these thugs be?
‘It’s me, Karina. You’re safe. You’re at James’s house. Wake up.’
The shaking at his forearm grew stronger, more insistent. He opened his eyes barely enough to see what was going on. Karina? A nightmare?
Reality slammed in. Another nightmare.
Slowly, slowly, the evil in his skull faded and he felt safe enough to open his eyes fully. Karina sat on a low stool beside his bed, her hand still holding his arm. Her lovely face oozed concern. In the half-light from the hall she appeared smaller, softer, less than the energy-packed woman she really was.
He shoved upwards to sit with his back against the pillow. Sweat rolled between his shoulder blades, poured from his brow into his eyes, the salt stinging.
‘I got you up again.’
Her smile was blinding because it was for him. ‘No, Mickey did that. He needed to go pee-pee. Too much water before he went to bed.’
‘Thanks for waking me.’
He’d deliberately sat up most of the previous night so he’d be so tired tonight he wouldn’t have a nightmare. Showed how much he knew.
‘Want a hot chocolate?’ asked the soft voice that banished the harsher ones in his head.
‘Love one.’
‘I’ll be right back.’
Karina leapt up and headed for the kitchen, taking the warmth with her.
Logan shivered, ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to heat his icy skin. When that didn’t work he scooped up his sweatshirt from the floor and pulled it on before finding his jeans. He was done with sleeping.
‘Why are you getting up?’ Karina asked from the doorway.
He glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘I always do when this happens.’
Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. Make that as she stared at his backside, if the direction of her startled gaze was anything to go by. So she’d got an eyeful? Didn’t look as if she thought the sight was too bad.
She lifted her head and locked on his eyes. Her cheeks heated up a cute shade of pink. ‘Um...that milk will be ready.’
She was gone, her feet slapping the carpet as she ran down the hall. She’d left the milk heating unwatched? That was unlike Karina.
He followed, stopping when he saw her making her tea, not his chocolate. That sat waiting, ready, on the bench. So she hadn’t left the milk where it could boil over.
The tension in his gut began backing off. He’d got under that smooth skin and tipped her world a little bit upside down. Cool. He liked that.
Whoa. No, he didn’t. What had happened to staying clear of all involvement? Hadn’t he talked himself through this earlier in the day? He could not afford to get close to Karina in any context of the word.
Pulling on an unemotional, uninvolved, just-a-friend kind of face, he picked up the mug of chocolate and watched as she dunked the teabag again and again.
‘That’s going to taste revolting if you keep mauling that bag.’
Flick. The teabag and the teaspoon landed in the sink. ‘You should go back to bed with your drink. It might relax you enough to fall asleep.’
Exactly. He wasn’t ready for another round with the guerrillas. ‘Think I’ll sit by the fire for a bit.’
Nodding, as if she’d expected him to say that, Karina headed for the big room. ‘I’ll throw some wood on the fire.’
Following slowly, he sipped his chocolate and watched the sway of her hips under that thick robe. He relaxed some more. She did that to him without even trying.
When she’d finished stoking the fire she turned to him with a smile and he said, ‘I like it when you smile.’ It warmed him and curled his toes. Not to mention tightened his groin.
The situation just kept getting more complex by the day. So he shouldn’t now be running his finger down one of those bewitching pink cheeks.
‘I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll smile more if you do. At least ten times a day.’
Putting his mug aside, he reached to cup her chin, tipped her head back further, all the better to see every expression flitting across her face. ‘I don’t smile enough?’
‘Nope.’ She’d stopped smiling. Instead she looked sad. For him?
He bent his head closer to that tantalising mouth, grazed his lips across hers. ‘I’ll try harder,’ he murmured.
Karina whispered something he didn’t catch as he touched her mouth with his, pressing harder this time. She obviously hadn’t said stop, because right at this moment she was pushing her warm body against his hungry one.
He responded by increasing the pressure of his kiss, and wh