Honor

lips had an unhealthy bluish tint. She looked as if she might keel over into his arms.
“My God,” he murmured, pulling her inside. “Did you decide to go for a swim?”
Her teeth chattered as she tried to answer.
Fury evaporated as he focused on her needs. There would be time enough for recriminations later. “Never mind,” he said. “Let’s get you out of these clothes and into a warm tub.”
He reached for her jacket, but she pushed his hands away. “To-o-o c-c-old,” she murmured.
“Well, this soggy mess won’t do much to change that. Come on, Lacey, take it off. I’ll go get you a blanket and you can sit in front of the fire while I run the bath water.”
Teeth still chattering, she nodded finally and began working at the buttons. Satisfied that she was going to follow instructions, Kevin went into the bedroom and pulled the quilt off his bed. When he got back to the kitchen with it, he halted in the doorway, his expression stunned.
Lacey had stripped down to her underwear—scraps of lace that hid nothing, including the fact that her nipples had peaked into hard buds from the chill air. He drew in a ragged breath and forced himself to sacrifice his need to study every inch of her lovely, fragile body that had changed so little through the years. He wrapped her in the quilt and held her close until the violent shivering stopped.
With his chin resting on the quilt draped over her shoulders, he asked, “Better?”
“Much,” she said, her voice finally steady.
“Then go sit in front of the fire, okay?”
Lacey nodded, then turned to meet his gaze. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For not telling me what a fool I am.”
He grinned. “I’m saving that for later.”
After an instant’s pause she managed a wobbly grin of her own. “I should have known.”
When the bath water had been drawn and the tub was filled with her favorite fragrant bubbles, he called her into the bathroom. She drew in a deep breath of the steamy air.
“Heaven,” she declared.
“I’ll warm up some soup for you. Don’t stay too long,” he said, wishing he dared to linger, wishing she would invite him to join her in that oversized tub as she had so often in the past. Imagining her skin slick and sensitized beneath his touch made his body grow taut.
Her gaze rose to meet his, and he could tell from the smoldering look in her eyes that she remembered, too, and that she could see exactly what the memories were doing to him. “I won’t be long,” she promised.
Reluctantly Kevin closed the door, then leaned against it, suddenly weak with longing. Oh, how he ached for her. How badly he wanted to hold her, to caress her, to claim her once more as his own. The longing spread through him, a slow flame that warmed and lured. If he knew anything at all about his wife, she too was burning. She too was filled with a sweet, aching need that nothing short of tender caresses and uninhibited passion would satisfy.
He forced himself to go back into the kitchen, to throw Lacey’s soggy clothes into the washer, to pour a healthy serving of soup into the saucepan on the stove. The routine got him through the worst of the wanting. He was even able to have a perfectly rational discussion with himself about the dangers of rushing things.
Not that it meant a hill of beans when Lacey walked back into the kitchen with her blond hair curling damply around her face, her skin glowing from the fragrant steam. His body told him exactly what he could do with all of his rationalizations.
The only thing that saved him from making an absolute fool of himself was the way his wife pounced on the soup as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Only when she’d finished the entire bowl, sighed and leaned back to sip a cup of tea did he dare to speak.
“Where did you go this morning?” He was proud of the casual tone.
“For a walk on the beach.”
“In the pouring rain? Were you that furious with me?”
She shrugged. “I was furious, but the truth of the matter is that it wasn’t raining when I left. I was a couple of miles up the beach before it got really bad. I started to head back, but by then the tide had come in and I couldn’t get around the point. When I realized it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon, I climbed the cliff.”
Kevin’s eyes widened. “You’re terrified of heights.”
“I’m not so thrilled with the idea of catching pneumonia, either. I figured climbing was the lesser of two evils. I only panicked once when I made the mistake of looking down. It wasn’t all that far, but it looked damned treacherous and slippery.”
“It is treacherous and slippery. You could have broken your neck.”
“But I didn’t,” she said, looking pleased with herself.
He hesitated, then finally said, “Should we talk about what happened this morning?”
Her smile faded. “Not now. I’m exhausted.”
Though he was reluctant to put the discussion off any longer, he nodded. “Go on and take a nap then. I’ll clean up here.”
She shook her head. “I think I’ll go sit in front of the fire instead.”
She stood up and started for the door, then turned back. “Kevin?”
He stopped halfway between the table and the sink. “Yes?”
“Will you come join me when you’re finished?”
Irritated that even this small overture aroused him to a state of aching desire, he nearly refused. Then he caught the wistfulness in her eyes and realized that to deny them both a moment’s pleasure was absurd.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” he promised.
* * *
Lacey wasn’t entirely sure what impulse had made her ask Kevin to join her in the living room. Goodness knew the man had infuriated her earlier with the suggestion that she was behaving immaturely just because she wanted her husband healthy and happy again. Of course, she’d only added proof to his claim by running