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rescue me from myself."
"And so nature will take its course. What's wrong with that?"
"We don't love each other."
"But we can enjoy each other without the complication of love. I want you, Ruth."
"And when the passion fades and you no longer want me, what then? Will you send me packing so you
can make room for a new nanny in your bed?"
"I have never had a relationship with any of Annie's nannies," Matt said. "That's not what I do. But
with us it's different. It's good. It's right."
"No, it's not right. I don't want passion without love, or sex without marriage. It's that simple. Now,
please go. I'd be mortified if someone found us together like this."
"Okay, I'll go. But we will talk about this later.
"No, we won't, because there's nothing more to say."
"There's a hell of a lot more to say. And we will talk, you can count on that." Matt left the room as
quietly as he'd come in, pulling the door closed behind him.
Ruth punched her pillow. Whatever it took, they would not talk about this... ever. Nor, would they
pick up where they'd left off at the swimming hole. The memory of it would soon fade, along with her
bizarre sexual desire for Matt Kincaid.
But for tonight, she wanted him more than ever.
***
Matt paced the living room floor, restless with pent up energy and frustrated that Ruth had managed to
outmaneuver him, avoiding him for yet another week. She'd planned outings with Annie whenever he
was scheduled to be working in the vicinity of the ranch house, and she'd taken care of her duties with
Annie at the house while he was out branding, or mending fences, or rounding up strays. But their
separation had given him time to think. And time to mull things over. Something about Ruth had been
niggling him, like trying to remember an elusive dream that would emerge from the subconscious only
to slip away again.
She'd lost a daughter. Odd that the daughter would be Annie's age now. Not odd.
Coincidental. Too coincidental? Had she taken the job as nanny to a little girl who would be the same
age as her dead child, just to fill the void? The catch was, in his ad, he'd never mentioned Annie's
age, or sex. The ad. Another paradox. Ruth never saw his ad. She'd claimed she heard about the
position from a woman from Cedar Grove while traveling on a bus. She'd never said who the woman
was, and he'd never asked. For that matter, she'd never mentioned why she'd been on a bus from
Cedar Grove. Now, the whole bus thing seemed suspicious.
He crossed the floor again. What had he said to Ruth just before her sprint into the water?
Until then, she'd made plain her thoughts about swimming with him in the raw. Then impulsively, she
jumped up and dashed for the river. And her stance at the water's edge clearly invited him to join her.
A distraction? Had she opted for an erotic romp in the water with him, one that would without doubt
end in hot, heavy sex, rather than following the direction their conversation had been heading?
Wherever that was. And that's what was niggling him. He'd been so distracted by the sight of her
near-naked body and his own strong need that the gist of their conversation became blurred at the
time, and now it had totally escaped him...
The sound of a vehicle drew his eyes to the window. To his alarm, he saw that a sheriff s car had
pulled up out front. He met the sheriff at the door. What s the problem, Les?
These are for you." Les Willcuts held out a thick envelope.
Matt noted that the packet came from the office of Jody s attorney. Flipping open his pocket knife, he
sliced the envelope and slipped out the bundle of legal papers, reaffirming what he already suspected.
Well, Jody s true to her word," he said under his breath. "She s petitioning the court for joint
custody.
Les s brows gathered in surprise. Joint custody of Annie? Why would she want to do that?
Last I heard she hadn t been around here in years.
She was here last week," Matt said. "When I wouldn t let her see Annie " he waved the papers in
front of Les " she threatened to do this. I didn t think she d go through with it though.
I suspect her attorney already had the papers drawn up, ready to serve me as soon as I denied Jody
access to Annie, which Jody knew I'd do.
But, why would Jody want Annie after all this time?
Who knows? Guilt? Maybe to impress her new husband? You tell me, Les. You knew Jody before I
did.
Les shifted, uneasily. Yeah, well, I didn t know her that way. He crooked his thumbs in his pockets
and added, Maybe her biological clock s ticking and she s starting to feel it, and with that body of
hers, she s not likely to want to stretch it all out of shape being pregnant. Annie takes care of both
problems. But what do you intend to do? You ll have to respond to this.
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