Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts

down?”
    â€œIf you think—” She broke off as she heard the front door slam like a gunshot, and then footsteps rushing up the stairs. “Too late.”
    Brenna got up and made it halfway across the room before Aidan came flying in. “She’s fine. Just a little expectant-mother spell. She’s—” Then she only sighed as Aidan dashed right past her.
    â€œAre you all right? Did you faint? Did someone call the doctor?”
    â€œWe’ll leave it to her to calm him down.” Giving Darcy a little wave, Brenna nudged her out of the room and shut the door.
    â€œAre you sure she’s all right? She looked so pale for a minute.”
    â€œShe’s fine, I promise you. And Aidan’ll likely keep her in bed the rest of the day no matter how she argues.”
    â€œBad enough a woman has to get fat as a cow with a baby. But add to that the hanging over the toilet every morning and fainting without a moment’s notice.” Darcy blew out a breath and ordered herself to calm down. “It’s a sorry state of affairs what a woman goes through. And you—” She stabbed a finger at Shawn as he walked down the hallway with a glass of water. “All the lot of you have to do is have your pleasure, whistle away nine months, then pass out smelly cigars.”
    â€œIt just goes to proving God’s a man,” he said with a weak smile.
    Darcy’s lips quirked at that, but she shook her head. “I’m going to make Jude some tea and toast.”
    She sauntered away, leaving Shawn staring at the bedroom door.
    â€œLet’s give them a bit of privacy.” Brenna took his arm and tugged him toward the stairs.
    â€œShouldn’t I take her the water?”
    â€œYou drink it.” Feeling kindly toward him, Brenna reached up and touched his cheek. “You’re white as a sheet.”
    â€œScared ten years off my life, she did.”
    â€œI can see that. But you acted fast and did just the right thing.” She slipped into the next room, picked up her measuring tape again. “She’s got all those changes going on inside her, and likely isn’t resting as much as she might. She’s all caught up in her plans,” she added, taking a measurement, writing it down in her little book. “So much new in her life in so short a time.”
    â€œI guess it’s easier for women to take such matters in stride.”
    â€œI suppose.” Brenna continued to measure and take notes. “You must remember when your mother was carrying Darcy.”
    â€œSome.” He sipped at the water, as his throat was still dry with nerves. Brenna was calm enough, he noted, moving gracefully around the room in those thick old boots, taking measurements, writing things down, making little pencil marks and noting numbers right on the wall.
    Some of her hair was falling out of her cap. Just a few long, spiraling red curls, loosened, he supposed, by her dash into the bedroom.
    â€œWhat do you remember best?”
    â€œHmm?” He’d lost the thread somewhere, and now shifted his gaze from the red curl that teased her shoulder back to her face.
    â€œAbout when your mother was pregnant with Darcy? What do you remember best?”
    â€œLaying my head against her belly, feeling all those kicks and movements. It was like Darcy was fretting to get outside and get on with things.”
    â€œThat’s a nice one.” Brenna put her tape and notebook away, lifted her toolbox. “I’m sorry I snapped and snarled at you before. I was in a bit of a mood today.”
    â€œYou’re in a bit of a mood most days.” But he smiled and tapped the bill of her cap down over her eyes. “I’m too used to your nips to mind much.”
    The problem was, she wanted to take a real nip—right there, just along his jaw. To see how it tasted. And if she tried it, she imagined he’d be the one to faint. “I won’t