Heart and Home(25)

To make matters worse, Adam had come to his feet and fastened his pants  as if it didn't bother him at all to do so in front of her. She started  for the door, but he caught her arm. "Better use the back door," he  said.

She turned toward his kitchen, but he didn't let her go. He drew her  into his arms instead and planted a slow, devastating kiss on her lips.  By the time he was through she had to rely on him to point her in the  right direction. She looked back once to see him watching her with what  could only be described as a satisfied grin on his face.

She hurried across the dark yards and crept into her kitchen. She went  from elated to mortified and back at least three times before she closed  the kitchen door behind her. What had gotten into her? At the same time  she wondered how she could have resisted. In truth she had wanted this  to happen, had dreamed of it, for weeks.

Oh, Grams would have been so upset with her! In all her twenty-two years  she had never seriously questioned anything her grandmother had told  her. Until now.

How could what had happened between her and Adam be so terribly wrong?  Adam wasn't like her father or her grandfather. He wasn't going to  abandon the woman he loved.

But hadn't he loved Doreena until recently?

Jane tried to shove the thought aside. Doreena was different, she told  herself. Doreena didn't want to be part of Adam's life. She had rejected  his love.

And he had sought solace in someone else's arms.

Not liking the way her thoughts kept turning, Jane decided to put Adam  out of her mind, at least as much as possible. She had the dishes from  last night's buffet to clear away, then she would prepare a special  breakfast. She wanted everything to be perfect. George and Adam, too,  would realize that she could provide for a little child.

But first, she needed to run to her bedroom and change into a fresh dress, not to mention pantalets.





Adam stood smiling long after Jane left his house. What a treasure he  had almost missed. What if Doreena had married him when he'd asked her  to? What he had felt for her could hardly be compared to what he felt  for Jane.

Maybe fate had played a hand. Or maybe Doreena was more perceptive than  he was. Either way, he felt as if he had just missed stepping off a  cliff.                       
       
           



       

With a light heart he gathered up his scattered clothes, found all but  one of his collar buttons and folded Jane's blankets. He noticed she had  left the tray sitting on his desk. He could return it when he went for  breakfast. There was no evidence that Jane had shared the meal with him.

The blankets could raise a few eyebrows, however. Besides, he might need  them tonight. With any luck, he would again be sharing them with Jane.

Once his front room was tidy, he went to the kitchen to warm some water  to shave. When he was finished, he went quietly up the stairs. He hadn't  heard a sound from that direction and assumed Peggy was still sleeping.

At first he thought the little girl was hidden under the tangle of  blankets. As he approached the bed, however, he realized that it was  empty.

"Peggy?" Adam called softly.

The room was quiet.

"Oh, please, be up here somewhere," he muttered. He knew she liked to  hide. He hoped to God she didn't like to run away. Might as well start  with the obvious. He tossed the covers that were dragging on the floor  back onto the bed and looked underneath. Nothing but a little dust.

None of the other furniture in the bedroom left space either under or  behind for a little child to hide. Adam covered the area thoroughly and  sprinted down the stairs. The image of the little girl wandering around  town in the dark, half-dressed, spurred him to search faster. He headed  for his desk next, thinking she might have returned there while he and  Jane were sleeping. His search of that room and his examination room  proved fruitless.

All that was left was the kitchen, and he had been in there only a few  minutes before. Still, he hadn't been looking for a little girl.

He was reviewing possible hiding places as he entered the room, and went  straight to the pantry. There he found Peggy, curled up on the floor,  his chunk of cheese wrapped in her arm like a doll. His tin of crackers  sat open at her knees.

"How often in your life have you been fed, little one?" he whispered. He  knelt beside her and eased the cheese out of her grasp. He wrapped it  back in its cloth and set it on a shelf, noting a few telltale tooth  marks.

Peggy awoke when he put the lid back on the cracker tin. She seemed  frightened for a second, then simply curious. "You hide, but you're not  afraid of me," he said.

She didn't answer.

"I'm glad you're not afraid of me. Did you get hungry in the night?"

He didn't expect an answer and didn't get one.

"Let's go upstairs and get dressed. We get to go have breakfast with  Jane. You like her, don't you?" He stood as he spoke and lifted Peggy  under her arms. Half a dozen crackers scattered onto the floor. They had  evidently been rolled in her petticoats.

Peggy watched them with alarm. Adam, once Peggy was balanced on his hip,  reached down and retrieved one of the crackers. "I don't see how one  more can ruin your breakfast," he said as Peggy took the cracker.

She didn't eat it, though, just held it firmly in her hand as he helped  her into a clean dress and ran a comb through her fine brown hair. He  sat her on the bed and put her shoes on her swinging feet.

"Can you sit right here while I put on a clean shirt?"

Peggy just looked at him.

"If I keep talking to you, will you stay put?"

She swung her feet against the side of the bed, making a rhythmic thumping sound.

"That's good. Just keep that up." He was fighting with his collar when  the thumping stopped. He spun around to face the bed and watched Peggy  slide to the floor. She walked carefully across the room, her  leather-soled shoes making almost no sound on the wood floor. She headed  for the chair that held her suitcase. Adam watched as she tugged at the  little apron that Jane had laid across the opened lid.

The apron fell to the floor at Peggy's feet. Adam worked another button  through the collar as he watched her try to put the apron on. She might  have managed it but for the cracker.

"Want some help?"

She glanced at him but continued to try to pull the apron over her head  with one hand. Adam knelt behind her and helped her finish, tying the  bow at her waist. As he stood, he saw her slip the cracker into the  pocket.
                       
       
           



       
Or what was left of the cracker. There were quite a few crumbs sprinkling the floor at her feet.

"Now I know why you like the apron," he said, turning to find his  necktie. He turned back a moment later and she was gone. "Peggy?"

How could she move so fast and so quietly? Surely she hadn't had time to  go downstairs. He scanned the room and almost missed her. She was  crouched on the floor under a window, half-hidden by a bookshelf.

He decided to leave her. If he tried to coax her out, she'd just find  another place to hide. He finished getting dressed, glancing often  toward the little girl. Finally he joined her in the corner.

"Are you hiding from me?"

She stared at him.

He smiled and got a smile in return. "Let me show you something," he  said, moving from her to the window. He turned the latch and raised the  casement. "Come help me guess what Jane's fixed for breakfast. Smell  that? Bacon, I think. Biscuits? What else?"

Peggy moved toward him, evidently smelling the food, too.

"Shall we go see?"

If he hadn't caught her, she would have tried to go out the window. "Let's take the stairs, all right?"

Downstairs, he remembered the tray. He wondered how he was going to  carry the tray and keep ahold of Peggy. As soon as he set her down, she  headed for the kitchen. He grabbed the tray and followed. Once he had  turned the doorknob for her, Peggy headed straight for Jane's kitchen  door.





Chapter Ten


Jane must have heard Peggy rattling the door because she opened it  before Adam had caught up with the little girl. Peggy took in Jane's  warm greeting and stepped across the threshold. Jane opened the door a  little wider to admit Adam.

"I forgot all about that," she said, taking the tray.

"Now why would you do that?" he murmured.

She turned her back to dispose of the tray, but not before he saw two  pink spots brighten her cheeks. He would have loved to pursue the  subject further, but Peggy had disappeared.

"Peggy?"

"She went in the dining room," Jane said, obviously unconcerned.

"She's probably stuffing her pocket full of scrambled eggs," he said as he went after her.

Peggy had climbed up on a chair and was eyeing the array of food with  wonder. As far as Adam could tell, she hadn't touched anything yet.