Love Walked In (Stevens Book 7)

Chapter 6

Norah woke the next morning to a hand on her shoulder shaking her and when she opened her eyes it was to see Caleb leaning over her. She was still dreaming she thought as she reached out for him with a sleepy smile not really expecting him to be there, but when her hand touched a solid man she was jolted awake as everything from the night before came rushing back to her.

She sat up quickly looking at Caleb who looked as if he had already put in a full day's work. His jeans and work shirt were filthy and he smelled like horse.

"Breakfast will be in half an hour." He stepped back his expression blank.

Norah sat up and looked at the time, it was just eight o'clock.

He moved into the bathroom and when she heard the shower going she quickly jumped out of bed and stripped. Pulling her clothes out of her duffel, she had just finished hooking her bra when she heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and she spun around to see Caleb standing in only his boxers looking at her.  She swallowed hard at the sight of him, he was beautiful.

"Turn around Norah." His voice was hoarse.  Norah was holding her shirt to her, trying to hide behind what little protection it gave.

"No," she said looking away.  He had never seen her scars.  She had done her best to keep them from him by either keeping the room dark or always facing him when they had made love.

Caleb moved too quickly for her to evade him and he grabbed her by the shoulder spinning her around.  He traced his finger down the scar that ran the length of her spine.  Her back arched away from his touch as she tried to keep from trembling.

His touch moved to the back of her left shoulder and top half of her left arm, then his finger moved down to touch the scar on her left hip. When she couldn't take anymore she jumped away from him and quickly pulled on her shirt then reached for her jeans before turning to look at him, and found him staring at her as if he had never seen her before.

"When did that happen?" His eyes searched hers.

She started shoving her pajamas into her bag.  "When I was sixteen, it was a car accident."

She took a deep breath and turned to look at him, meeting his eyes, hoping he couldn't see the shame in hers. She hated her scars, not because of how they looked but because of what they reminded her of.

"How did I not know... we were married for God's sake?"

Norah noted that he had used the past tense when speaking about their marriage and that alone answered so many of her questions. "I was careful to keep you from seeing me."

"I thought you were just shy."

"I was partly, you know I had never been intimate with a man, but when you have been poked and prodded by as many doctors as I have you get adept at covering up what you don't want seen." Norah crossed her arms in front of her.  "Shouldn't you get in the shower? I'm hungry and I don't want to miss breakfast."

Norah picked up her sketchbook and left the room abruptly.   Scarlett was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her and she gave her a pat on the head then, after taking care of her, she wandered over to Caleb's drafting board.

He was drawing a bridge and she was fascinated by the lines.  It was very apparent that he had some artistic talent of his own.

She looked up at the diplomas on the wall above her.  There was one in structural engineering and another in architecture. The one in engineering was from Oxford University and the architecture degree was from the University of Texas.

Norah moved to look at the pictures on the bookshelves beside her.  There were pictures of dams and bridges all in different countries, there was a bridge in the jungle and a dam in another country with terrain she had never seen before.  She was so engrossed in the pictures that she didn't hear Caleb on the stairs behind her.