The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

man," Gemma said. "You need to sleep the whole night through. You'll feel about a hundred times better in the morning."

Gemma closed the front door and turned the alarms back on. Loretta thought about arguing, but she knew she'd rest better if Rullin couldn't get inside. Assuming she rested at all.

"Then I'm going to bunk with you, Gemma," she said. "I'll just get my nightgown and things."

"Absolutely not," the older woman said. "If there's anything I've earned in a long life, it's the right to say who shares my bed. Especially on my last night in my own house." She smiled, jerking her chin toward the sofa. "He won't turn over until we wake him. That sleeping draught in a warm bowl of soup has never failed me yet. Rest well."

Before Loretta could say another word, Gemma closed her bedroom door. She didn't want to, but there was no way to avoid it. She turned to Karl.

He at least had the grace to blush.

"She believes she has everything neatly arranged, doesn't she?"

"Unless one of us wants to join Rullin or sleep in a chair," Loretta said, "she's right. We have a hard day ahead tomorrow. I doubt this would be the first time either of us slept in strange company. Give me five minutes to get ready?"

He inclined his head, then started clearing the kitchen table. None of them seemed eager to finish the interrupted meal.

Loretta eyed the bed while she got ready to get into it. It was fairly new and quite comfortable, one she'd bought and had delivered for her planned visits. She hadn't shared it with anyone. Tonight she was thankful she'd bought the largest one that would fit in the room. At least they wouldn't be on top of each other.

She caught her face in the mirror then, and smiled at how red her face was at the thought.

"He made it clear he wasn't interested last time you brought it up," she whispered. "So don't."

That wasn't quite true, though. Karl had said he was interested. Only that he didn't want to be some kind of compensation. Nothing about this evening seemed to fit that description. Loretta was in the decidedly uncomfortable position of wanting a man even more because he'd turned her down twice. Disliking it didn't change a thing.

She vowed to at least refuse to make the first move. She made sure her nightgown was as flattering as it could be but not too revealing. Loretta shook her head at such unusual shyness before she stepped into the living room. Karl already had his travel bag in hand.

"All yours," she said. "I'll wait out here. The water in the basin stays warm and clean. Another of Gemma's inventions."

Loretta sat watching Morgan sleep. The boy would probably be just fine, but she seethed with wanting to take his injuries out on Rullin. Bill might just have to learn how to let other people settle his problems from time to time. Just as she was painting quite the satisfying mental picture, Karl opened the door.

"May as well get this public sleepover started," he said. "Left or right side?"

"I'll take the left," Loretta said, unable to keep herself from smiling. "That gives me the best escape route."

"Good thinking."

Getting settled in took an unreasonable amount of time, surely longer than if they'd just gotten down to business and rutted. The bed seemed to be shrinking around them by the second. After much tossing and turning, they ended up in what had to be the most awkward possible arrangement: facing each other.

Loretta wished she'd already turned the light out. But then she wouldn't be able to see those lovely hazel eyes of his.

"Is this how you imagined finally getting me into bed?" Karl said, smiling.

"Not quite," she said. "Not with the crowd right outside the door."

"These things never happen at the best time, do they?" he said. "Your grandmother seems quite pleased with herself. I doubt she has any idea how long it's been since either of us was sleeping normally."

Loretta laughed. "She's quite pleased with her maneuvering. Gemma thinks I've been single long enough, and she likes you. I almost have to wonder if she paid Rullin to show up here tonight."

"Yeah," Karl said. "I've been hearing the same thing from my mother for a few years now. Listen, I know this is hardly going to...enhance the mood..."

"But that seems to be the way it goes for us."

Loretta was surprised to find the situation amusing rather than annoying. She'd never in all her life had such trouble getting a man to have sex with her. The opposite was far more often the case, especially when she still lived in a place like this.

"It does seem that way." Karl propped his head up on his hand. "I've been wondering about something Bill said. That first night on the ship, he said Rullin had never done anything like attacking a passenger before."

"And he said Rullin always settles down for a long time once Bill straightens him out. I've been thinking about that too. I'm sure Bill had a watch on him in the village. He had to sneak away. And what he did to Morgan can't be excused."

"No, I'm with you on that," Karl said. "Something got him stirred up. Then you told me Rhysto showed up out of the blue after you hadn't heard from him in years. Anything else strange happen lately?"

"Besides you tackling me in the middle of the night?" Loretta raised up on her own elbow to look into his eyes. She didn't like the direction her thoughts were taking, but she knew when fighting a thing like that wouldn't work. "My life had been pleasantly predictable for a long while before that. Except one thing, and it was the same day Rhysto showed up. I have a client, or I did have. Still might have. Anyway, this woman has been a regular for years now, one of my best. She’s always ready with a request for