Read Online Pillow Talk by Hailey North - Free Book Online
Authors: Hailey North
Tags: child
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naughty thoughts brewed bad body juices.
They'd wrinkle their noses and make gagging sounds and invariably end up laughing, which chased away the naughty thoughts, of course, and made them feel much better.
Her children.
Meg sighed.
Parker said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Would you like to get settled in your room now?"
Her room? The words caught her off guard and in a flash she might have been fourteen again and facing yet another new foster family. Strangers who might claim to want her. Strangers who'd never really tried to know her.
Meg found a brief smile for Parker and shook her head. She'd come here in the role of Jules's widow out of a sense of commitment to help ease the situation in any way she could before she left New Orleans.
Sense of commitment? Meg's conscience started giving her a talking to. You're here because you're guilty over the ten thousand dollars. Give it back and leave now. That's not your room Parker's talking about. It doesn't belong to you. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere.
Yet she did belong to the family she and Ted had created and it was for that family, for her children, she'd leapt into this abyss. And for them, she'd hang onto that ten thousand dollars if she could clear it with her conscience.
"Let's all sit down." From Grandfather Ponthier, the words sounded a lot more like an order than an invitation. He fingered the controls of his electric wheelchair. Suddenly it skewed to the right towards Meg.
In a flash, Parker clasped Meg's arm and pulled her to safety. She slid against him, her back brushing against his chest, rocklike and steady under his expensively tailored suit.
Her heart fluttered and she knew Parker's touch had far more to do with her reaction than the near-miss.
Safety? Parker's dangerous attraction held far greater peril than any runaway wheelchair.
"Dang stickshift," Grandfather said. "Excuse me."
Mathilde raised her eyeglass. "I see you're in your usual rare form, Augie." She settled onto a loveseat, patting the space beside her. Amelia Anne, seemingly ever faithful and obedient, joined her there.
"Well, at least I'm still alive, which is more than I can say for my wastrel grandson."
Parker's hold on Meg's arm tightened. She glanced up at him and saw again the same expression of pain that had etched his face when he'd first encountered her in the hotel suite. He truly grieved for his brother. Despite how Jules had told her the two of them were at odds and never got along, it seemed Parker had deep feelings for his older brother.
Meg patted the back of Parker's hand, instinctively comforting him. Unlike earlier in the hotel room when she'd touched him, he didn't jerk away, but very slowly released her. With a brief smile, he said, "Looks like you're safe now."
Right. Meg's heart skipped and it wasn't from the shock of the wheelchair just missing her size-eight feet. If she reacted that way to that man's touch, she wasn't safe. Far from it. Then she noticed Mathilde had raised her eyeglass again and fixed it on Meg's face. Choosing bark over bitter, Meg pulled a chair over next to where Grandfather Ponthier had parked his wheelchair.
Over by the bar, Teensy had completely collapsed against Dr. Prejean's chest. He now had both arms around the sobbing woman. Meg noticed no one else seemed particularly concerned over Teensy.
Mathilde was commenting to Amelia Anne that she didn't know what that man who called himself mayor would be up to next. Kinky had draped himself over the arm of the chair where Amelia Anne's daughter remained hunched over her book, oblivious to the rest of the gathering. With his fingertips, Kinky began drumming a beat on the girl's head and even then she didn't glance up.
Only Parker remained where he'd been, his inscrutable gaze fixed on Meg.
"Since Jules was going to introduce you to his family today"—Meg was pretty sure Grandfather stressed that word—"why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?" He
They'd wrinkle their noses and make gagging sounds and invariably end up laughing, which chased away the naughty thoughts, of course, and made them feel much better.
Her children.
Meg sighed.
Parker said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Would you like to get settled in your room now?"
Her room? The words caught her off guard and in a flash she might have been fourteen again and facing yet another new foster family. Strangers who might claim to want her. Strangers who'd never really tried to know her.
Meg found a brief smile for Parker and shook her head. She'd come here in the role of Jules's widow out of a sense of commitment to help ease the situation in any way she could before she left New Orleans.
Sense of commitment? Meg's conscience started giving her a talking to. You're here because you're guilty over the ten thousand dollars. Give it back and leave now. That's not your room Parker's talking about. It doesn't belong to you. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere.
Yet she did belong to the family she and Ted had created and it was for that family, for her children, she'd leapt into this abyss. And for them, she'd hang onto that ten thousand dollars if she could clear it with her conscience.
"Let's all sit down." From Grandfather Ponthier, the words sounded a lot more like an order than an invitation. He fingered the controls of his electric wheelchair. Suddenly it skewed to the right towards Meg.
In a flash, Parker clasped Meg's arm and pulled her to safety. She slid against him, her back brushing against his chest, rocklike and steady under his expensively tailored suit.
Her heart fluttered and she knew Parker's touch had far more to do with her reaction than the near-miss.
Safety? Parker's dangerous attraction held far greater peril than any runaway wheelchair.
"Dang stickshift," Grandfather said. "Excuse me."
Mathilde raised her eyeglass. "I see you're in your usual rare form, Augie." She settled onto a loveseat, patting the space beside her. Amelia Anne, seemingly ever faithful and obedient, joined her there.
"Well, at least I'm still alive, which is more than I can say for my wastrel grandson."
Parker's hold on Meg's arm tightened. She glanced up at him and saw again the same expression of pain that had etched his face when he'd first encountered her in the hotel suite. He truly grieved for his brother. Despite how Jules had told her the two of them were at odds and never got along, it seemed Parker had deep feelings for his older brother.
Meg patted the back of Parker's hand, instinctively comforting him. Unlike earlier in the hotel room when she'd touched him, he didn't jerk away, but very slowly released her. With a brief smile, he said, "Looks like you're safe now."
Right. Meg's heart skipped and it wasn't from the shock of the wheelchair just missing her size-eight feet. If she reacted that way to that man's touch, she wasn't safe. Far from it. Then she noticed Mathilde had raised her eyeglass again and fixed it on Meg's face. Choosing bark over bitter, Meg pulled a chair over next to where Grandfather Ponthier had parked his wheelchair.
Over by the bar, Teensy had completely collapsed against Dr. Prejean's chest. He now had both arms around the sobbing woman. Meg noticed no one else seemed particularly concerned over Teensy.
Mathilde was commenting to Amelia Anne that she didn't know what that man who called himself mayor would be up to next. Kinky had draped himself over the arm of the chair where Amelia Anne's daughter remained hunched over her book, oblivious to the rest of the gathering. With his fingertips, Kinky began drumming a beat on the girl's head and even then she didn't glance up.
Only Parker remained where he'd been, his inscrutable gaze fixed on Meg.
"Since Jules was going to introduce you to his family today"—Meg was pretty sure Grandfather stressed that word—"why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?" He
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