Winning the Right Brother(25)

Holly was sorry when Alex disappeared, because his voice had been comforting, a warm, low baritone that somehow made it seem as if everything was going to be all right. She and Will looked around the small bedroom, which was a little bare, with a wrought-iron bedstead and a big oak dresser and not much else. But the bed looked comfortable, and the antique quilt on it was lovely, and Holly felt content to think of her son sleeping here tonight.

After a minute Alex was back with an armful of things for Will, which he set down on the bed. “Do you need anything else?” he asked. “Something to drink?”

Will shook his head. “Mrs. Hanneman gave me water at her place. I’m fine. I think I’m just going to shower and go to bed, if that’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay. You’re not going to school tomorrow, so sleep in as late as you want.”

“Hey,” Holly protested. “We Stantons are tough. A little thing like the total destruction of everything we own doesn’t stop us from going to school and work on Monday morning.”

Alex ignored her. “Wake up when you wake up,” he said to the teenager, who nodded gratefully.

“Good night, Mom. Good night, Coach,” he said, stifling a yawn.

“Good night, Will,” Alex said, steering Holly out of the room.

“Well, I guess it’s all right for Will to take a day off,” Holly grumbled, “but not me. You got that, Alex McKenna?” she asked as he led her down the hall and into another bedroom. “I am going to get up at 7:00 a.m. like I always do and will you look at that bed!” she exclaimed when she saw it, a beautiful queen-size four-poster, with a scalloped headboard and a crocheted canopy.

“I thought you might like it,” said Alex, sounding pleased.

“It’s gorgeous,” Holly said, running a caressing hand over the carving on one of the bedposts. “I always wanted a bed like this, but I couldn’t justify spending the money.”

“Well,” Alex said. “I aim to please. You even have your very own bathroom, right through that door. I’ll go get you some towels and things.”

Alex disappeared and Holly wandered over to check out the bathroom. It was painted white and looked reasonably clean, if a little dilapidated. The bathtub, on the other hand, was absolutely incredible. A real Victorian style claw-foot tub that looked big enough to swim laps in.

Alex found her in the bathroom when he returned.

“What do you think?” he asked as he hung fresh towels over the bar behind the door and took a new toothbrush out of its box, placing it carefully in the holder on the sink.

“I would really love to take a bath in that thing,” Holly said, gazing wistfully at the tub.

“Well, then, why don’t you?”

Holly sighed. “It just seems too complicated right now. I’m so tired, Alex… I’ve never been this exhausted in my entire life. I think I’ll just go to bed and take a bath in the morning.”

He looked at her with one eyebrow up. “No offense, Holly, but you reek of smoke, and you look like a war refugee with all the dried blood. Don’t you think you might sleep better if you were clean? Especially when you add in the health factor of washing those scratches and getting antiseptic on them.”

Holly made a face. “You run me a bath then, since you’re so picky.” She rested her back against the bathroom wall and slid slowly down until she came to a sitting position. “I’ll just wait here so I don’t get your furniture all dirty.”



Alex looked down at her for a moment. She looked small and forlorn in her dirty nightgown with her red hair wild around her pale smudged face, and she still had more attitude in her little finger than any woman he’d ever met. “Fine,” he said, shaking his head.

This was all he needed, he thought, as he turned on the water and it thundered into the tub in a cloud of steam. It was bad enough she’d be sleeping under his roof, now he was running her a bath she’d be getting into soon, where she’d be naked and wet and…

“There’s no soap in here,” he said, not looking at Holly. “Just let the tub fill while I get some.”

When he came back Holly’s head was resting against the wall and her eyes were closed. Alex checked the water level, turning off the faucet and testing the temperature with his hand. Hot but not too hot. Nice and deep, too. This tub was huge.

A worrisome thought occurred and he asked, “You’re not going to fall asleep in there, are you? It would be pretty pathetic if you escaped a fire only to drown in my bathtub.”

Holly opened her eyes and shook her head solemnly. “Nope, I won’t drown. At least I don’t think I will. Thank you for running the bath, Alex.” She sat there, blinking up at him, and Alex held out a hand to pull her to her feet.