Emmett (13 page)
Authors: Diana Palmer
“I know that. I don't mind. Just as long as you know that I'm not helpless all the time.” She rolled over and kissed his chest, feeling his breath catch as her lips pressed through the thick hair to the hard, warm flesh beneath it. “Of course,” she whispered, “there are times when I really enjoy being helpless.”
“Is this one of them?” he murmured, coaxing her mouth closer.
“I think so.”
“Good. Let's be helpless together⦔
He rolled her over and very quickly, the friendly banter turned to something much more serious and intense.
Â
Randy and a very pregnant Adell came to visit two months later. The children accepted her condition without comment, and there were no problems.
By the time Emmett and his family drove Adell and Randy back to the airport, they were friends. Randy, who looked so much like his sister, was obviously the end of Adell's rainbow.
“Nice to see them so happy,” Emmett remarked as he and Melody watched the other couple walk off toward the loading ramp, arms close around each other.
“Yes, isn't it?” Melody asked with a sigh. “Emmett, I'm so happy I could burst.”
“So am I.” He bent to kiss her, very softly. “And the kids were so good, weren't they? I could hardly believe they were the same bunch that put on their Thanksgiving Indian costumes and attacked that car of Florida tourists that got lost on the place last week. We really are going to have to start enforcing some new codes of behavior.”
“Oh, maybe not,” Melody said. “They've been so good today⦔
“Excuse me?”
A uniformed security guard with a grim expression tapped on Emmett's shoulder.
“Yes?” Emmett asked politely.
“Someone said those might be your kidsâ¦?”
He gestured toward the concourse. Emmett noticed three things. An empty pet carrier. A screaming, running woman. Three laughing children holding equal parts of an enormous, friendly python. It looked almost identical to a Far Side® cartoon by Gary Larson that the twins had just been looking at in the book he'd bought them earlierâ¦
Emmett didn't dare do what he felt like doing. Hysterical laughter was not going to help him. He looked at the security guard. He put his hand over his heart. “Officer,” he said pleasantly, “I have never seen those kids before in my lifeâ¦.”
Melody gave him a glare that was good for two headaches and a lonely night, and went running down the concourse after the children.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0004-3
EMMETT
Copyright © 1993 by Diana Palmer
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada, M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at [email protected].
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
