"No, you're not," he said, setting her gently on the corner of her bed and leaning her against the bedpost. She did as he directed, her mind full of her problems, her eyes seeing only the disaster she was certain lay ahead.
"Everything was going so well," she sighed, wrapping one arm around the wooden post and leaning her head against it. "It was beautiful tonight. She loves us together. She loves you."
"Yes, I know." Ross glanced at her with a half smile.
He'd never known a woman to be so open about her feel ings, good or bad. He was so different. For him, feelings were something one hid in public and dealt with later. Sometimes in his life it had been so bad he wasn't sure he even had any emotions.
But feelings seemed to tumble to the surface with Charity, and his own stirred around her as they never had before. The funny thing was, he was en joying it. Shaking his head, he tugged his shirt up over his head and threw it on the chair, then reached for his belt.
Charity didn't notice what he was doing. Her gaze was far away, going over the evening.
"It was perfect," she mused sadly. "She was happy. And then-" her voice took on a note of tragedy. "-Faith! Mason had to call Faith, and Faith had to come running to help me out. Ooooh." Overcome, she fell back among her pillows with a moan.
"Don't worry." The belt landed atop the shirt, and his hands went for the zipper on his slacks. "Everything will turn out all right."
"Don't worry?" she cried, thrashing among the fluffy pillows. "How can I not worry? Did you see her face when she went off to go to sleep? She's all upset. She can't stand that Faith is the way she is."
The slacks were now residing on the chair as well. His thumbs slid under the elastic band on his briefs and pulled them down over his muscular hips. For just a moment he stood there holding them in one hand. The mellow lamp light played upon the sleek warmth of his nakedness. "But isn't that the whole problem?"
"What?" Charity asked, lying flat on the bed, com pletely unaware that Ross was naked.
"That Faith makes her cringe." He put down the briefs and reached for his pajama bottoms. "You're supposed to balance that. That's what they count on you for."
She frowned at the ceiling, her hands behind her head. "I'm not sure I know just what you mean."
The cotton bottoms slid on easily, and he began to pull together the tie that would hold them up. "Mason can go off and be playboy of the western world and Faith can wander around the desert like a crazy person, because they have you to stay home and be the normal one. The one who redeems them both."