Sleepless Nights (The Donovans of the Delta) by Peggy Webb Page B

It’s just a risk that I’m not willing to take.” She jumped up and began to pace. “Somehow I’ve got to get Tanner out of my system.”
    “I hope you have friends in high places.”
    “Why?”
    “From the looks of you, I think that’s going to take an act of Congress.”
    A reply didn’t seem necessary. Besides, what could she say? Maybe Maxine was right. Maybe it would take an act of Congress to get Tanner out of her system. But she was going to try. By George, if it took till this time next year, she was determined to do it.
    She went to the back room and began sorting the petticoats she’d found at an auction in Vicksburg.
     o0o
    Tanner had the old surrey as far as Tudberry’s two blocks from Amanda’s shop when he realized he had to go back. There was something he needed to do—kiss her again. A gentleman always kissed a lady good-bye. He’d been a fool not to take advantage of that delightful custom.
    Whistling a perky tune, he turned the surrey around and headed back toward Amanda’s. He was halfway there before he became aware of the song he was whistling— Taking a Chance on Love . He stopped in mid-verse and swore to himself. Damn, he wasn’t going to fall in love with the woman again. He merely wanted to kiss her.
    Snapping the reins over the mule’s back, he urged her forward.
    He felt a keen sense of loss when he stepped into the antique shop. Amanda was nowhere in sight.
    Maxine made a beeline for him. “Hi there, good-looking. What can I get for you? As if I didn’t know.” She fluffed her hair and winked.
    Tanner chuckled. “Is clairvoyance one of your talents?”
    “I don’t have to be clairvoyant to know you’ve come back to see Amanda. Am I right, or what?”
    “You’re right. When I left her here earlier, there was something I forgot to do.”
    “She’s in the back room, but I’m not so sure she’ll be glad to see you. She’s trying to get you out of her system.”
    Tanner knew he should be happy about that news, but he wasn’t. Not by a long shot. As a matter of fact, he reacted the same way old Josephine would if she had a burr under her saddle. He got ornery as hell.
    “She is, is she? We’ll see about that.” He barely noticed Maxine’s smile of devilish glee as he settled his ten-gallon hat firmly on his head and stalked toward the back room.
    Amanda didn’t see him at first. She was leaning over a trunk, her slacks stretched across her backside in a way that would set angels to thinking about sin. Tanner leaned against the doorway and took it all in. He remembered every curve and hollow of those hips—and exactly how they felt. Satiny, smooth, and firm. His mouth went dry. Reaching up, he swiped his hand across his brow. Maybe he should have kept on going toward home.
    Amanda leaned deeper into the trunk, muttering to herself. Something about “damned puny buttons and froufrou.” Tanner wasn’t certain what she’d said. Nor did it matter. That last move had outlined her lingerie lines in clear relief. No panty line, merely the imprint of lace high up the side of her thigh. A teddy, he thought. Underneath those slacks she had on a teddy with French-cut sides. He wondered if it was black lace. Sweat beaded his upper lip, and he didn’t even bother to wipe it away.
    He remembered the first time he’d seen her in a black lace teddy. It had been the summer between their senior year and college, long, lazy days when love seemed their own invention, and the future merely a bright, indefinable light that beckoned to them.
    They’d gone down to Biloxi with a group of high-school friends, the sort of outing that marked good-bye to youth and initiation into adulthood. He and the rest of the boys had been deep-sea fishing that day while all the girls had gone shopping. That night, sunburned but still bursting with energy, they’d all gone dancing. Afterward Amanda had come to his room. It hadn’t been the first time they’d loved, but it turned out to be one of