Sleepless Nights:The Donovans of the Delta 2(10)

“I always thought so.” Tanner moved in close and put his hand on Amanda’s shoulder. To the innocent bystander the gesture was completely harmless. Only she knew that he had his thigh pressing against the back of her choir robe. Nor did she miss the double meaning of his words. She’d lay bets that he wasn’t talking about singing.

Over her shoulder she shot him a look that would have made a lesser man quail. Tanner winked at her.

Maxine’s next words only encouraged him. “The two of you should perform together more often.”

“Those are my intentions,” Tanner said.

“Over my dead body.” Amanda considered murder with a hymnal right there in the church.

Maxine was in her element. She loved controversy, especially when she was right in the middle of it. “I have the most wonderful idea. Wilford and I always go to Jimmy’s for coffee after church. Why don’t you two join us?”

“Great, we’d love to. Jimmy’s is one of our favorite places,” Tanner said.

“No, thank you,” Amanda said at the same time, but nobody paid any attention.

“Good. Then it’s settled. We’ll wait for you to shuck the robes, and we’ll all go in my car. It’s more fun being together, don’t you think?”

Wilford finally managed to get a word in edgewise. “Maxine is such a wonderful manager.”

Amanda decided she would wait until tomorrow to tell Maxine what she was—a dyed-in-the-wool mischief maker.

“Amanda and I will be right back.” Tanner took her arm and steered her toward the choir room. “Are you ready to get undressed, darling?”

She saw that she was trapped. Being cornered always brought out her fighting spirit. She could play the game as well as he. “Certainly. And I do enjoy an audience.”

“Have you ever lacked for one?”

So, she thought, the bold and brash Tanner Donovan wasn’t without feelings. That question smacked of jealousy if she’d ever heard it. She decided to add fuel to the fire.

“Never. I’ve lost count since Claude.”

She saw the fleeting look of rage on his face before he recovered. “Good for you. I love an experienced woman.”

“I thought love didn’t enter into this.”

“It doesn’t. That was a general statement.”

“Good. I’d hate to think you were having second thoughts about this game, just when I’m starting to enjoy it.”

As she pushed open the door and entered the empty choir room, she began to have second thoughts about her own game tactics. Tanner in a crowd was one thing; Tanner alone was quite another. But he was right behind her; it was too late to back out now. She walked quickly across the room, putting as much space between them as possible.

She heard the metallic click of a zipper. Although she knew it was only his choir robe, she had visions of other times when she’d heard that same sound. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered the times she’d turned to find Tanner standing beside her, magnificent in his nakedness.

There was no going back, she reminded herself. All she could do was move ahead. The faster, the better. She needed to put Tanner out of her life. Now was no time for cowardice.

“I always seem to have trouble with zippers.” She turned and walked boldly toward him. “If I remember correctly, you’re an expert with these.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” He put his hands on her shoulders and gently brought her closer.

“So I’ve read.” Now it was her turn to hurt. She didn’t like to think of him with other women. She didn’t want any reminders that the hands grasping her so tenderly had done the same thing countless times over the years—but to someone else. She just wouldn’t think about that, she decided. Such thoughts were dangerous.

His hands felt so good. Whenever he had touched her, she had experienced an immediate sense of well-being, as if nothing in the world could harm her as long as Tanner was there. And now, standing in the choir room, that old feeling threatened to overwhelm her again.

In a flash of hindsight she realized that coming here with him had been a mistake, one that she would remedy quickly. She pushed his hands away and stepped back. “I won’t be added to your long list of conquests.”

“I thought you loved an audience.”

“Not this audience.”

“I’m devastated. Perhaps I should get my minister to send you a letter of recommendation.”

“I doubt that a man of your reputation has more than a nodding acquaintance with men of the cloth.”

Tanner laughed. It was a full-bodied, deep-throated sound of pure delight. “Don’t let Paul hear you say that. He’s worked for ten years to tame the hellion in me.”