Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

ensued. "You don't?" Was she ditching him? He couldn't believe it. Jamie wouldn't do that.

"You're the English guy, Professor, and this is a meeting for the National English Honor Society. I figure you're just the person to hit up for ideas."

Kyle tried. He really did. But all he could think about was hauling Jamie into his arms and kissing

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her until she remembered, in complete detail, how close they'd once been.

"We could do a fashion show," she finally said, frowning.

A fashion show. Kyle blinked. He wasn't sure how impressed the dean would be with designer fashions taking the stage at an honor society meeting.

"There are groups who specialize in period costuming," she explained while he was trying to figure out a way to tell her he didn't much want a fashion show at his reception.

' 'We could have male and female models dressed as characters from some of the novels," she said, coming closer as she grew more excited about her idea. "You know," she said, "Scarlett O'Hara could appear in one of her famous gowns."

More in love with her enthusiasm than the idea, Kyle gave it some thought. ' 'They actually have an authentic dress somewhere like the ones she would've worn?"

"Absolutely." Jamie perched on the edge of the couch beside him. "If not authentic, it'll be a perfect replica." She smiled. "They'll even go so far as to model the dressing process, showing the various stages of undergarments and how they're put on."

Kyle liked that idea a lot. As long as Jamie was the model and he was the only other person in the room. But with the dean there?

"I don't know…"

"They're completely decent, Kyle." Jamie laughed, patting his arm reassuringly. "These are

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educational shows that are entertaining, not entertainment shows with little or no education. Really." Her eyes met his, connected.

He didn't know whether it was Jamie's reassurances or her proximity, but suddenly the idea didn't sound half-bad. At any rate, it was better than a bunch of boring speeches, which was all he'd have been able to come up with.

"Can we have Rhett, too?"

"Of course." Jamie laughed and jumped up from the couch, reaching into a side table for paper and pencil. "We can write some kind of script, setting the scenes that anyone who's read the novels will immediately recognize. You know—Cathy and Heathcliff on the moors, Scarlett and Rhett at Tara, and so on."

He liked the sound of that. Live literature. Yeah. He liked it a lot.

"Tell me the characters you want and I'll see what we can do." She was sitting beside him again. For the first time in his life, Kyle had to force himself to think about the work he loved.

' 'As soon as I find out which of these costumes are available, I'll let you know," Jamie said twenty minutes later. Somehow they'd come up with an entire list. "I'll need you to write a script."

"That I can do." Finally, something about this get-together he could feel confident about.

"Mommy?" The voice was faint, sleepy-sounding, coming from somewhere down the hall.

Jerking upright, Jamie called out, "I'll be there in

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a second!" The change in her was immediate, and a little confusing in its intensity.

"I, uh…" She looked from the hallway to Kyle.

"Go ahead. I'll be here when you get back." Not sure what was causing her so much distress, Kyle tried to be comforting.

"Well, I…"

"Mommy!" The voice was stronger, tearful now.

With one last worried glance at Kyle, Jamie ran.

"I'm here, baby…" Kyle heard the soft words, a door close, then nothing more.

But he thought plenty. And by the time she returned, more than fifteen minutes later, he figured he'd drawn some pretty logical conclusions.

"She okay?" he asked, standing as Jamie came slowly back into the room.

"Fine. She just needed a drink." She moved to the fireplace, not a relaxed muscle in her body.

' 'It makes you uncomfortable, my knowing about your daughter, doesn't it?"

"No!" She was lying, and she knew he knew it. "Why should it?"

"Because what we shared that night was pretty incredible… Wait," he said, holding her off as she would have argued with him. "And now, having met each other again, we've discovered that some of what we shared is still there."

"How can you be so sure?" she whispered, her beautiful face marked with something akin to fear.

Kyle spread his arms. "Can you deny it?"

She couldn't. He knew she couldn't. Even if she wouldn't say so.

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"What does any of this have to do with Ashley?" she asked defensively.

"Only that it's a little awkward, perhaps, to find these feelings again with another man's child between us."

The explanation must have been more on target than he'd guessed, based on the rapid way her brow softened, her eyes cleared.

Kyle moved slowly, until he was standing in front of her. He reached out a hand, drawing it softly down the side of her cheek. "It doesn't matter, Jamie." His finger stopped at her lips, tracing them. "She's a part of you and that makes her special. The rest just doesn't matter."

And then he bent his head, tasting those lips for the first time in more than five years.

"Mmm," Jamie whimpered against him, her lips warm, soft—and welcoming.

Desire raged through him, but Kyle promised himself he wasn't going to blow this chance. He'd hurt Jamie once. He wasn't going to hurt her again.

Shocked at the instant response racing through her body, Jamie opened her lips to Kyle almost before she knew what she was doing. The power of his kiss controlled her, taking her back to that one night of ecstasy, back to the only fairy tale she'd ever lived. Her tongue met his eagerly, understanding exactly how to respond. She'd known him this way only once, for a very few hours, and yet his taste was as familiar as if she'd spent the past five years loving him. As familiar. And as welcome.

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Her arms stole around his neck, her body sliding into