Love With A Stranger by Janelle Taylor

dense bushes, he had been watching and waiting for a chance to sneak inside to see if Cassandra was there and if she was all right. He had noticed David Hines’s automobile in the driveway several times during the past few weeks, and he had been in a local drugstore yesterday morning when the housekeeper stopped in to pick up prescriptions for Cassandra. If she was out of town as he’d been told when he tried to visit her again, that incident didn’t make sense to him. Nor could he understand why Cassandra would still be refusing to see or speak with him. Besides, if there was anybody he mistrusted and disliked almost as much as he did Peter Grantham, it was David Hines. Suspecting what he did about the snooty physician, he couldn’t bear the thought of David’s hands being on her. Somehow he had a gut feeling something was wrong and he felt compelled to check out his hunch.

Chapter Five
    Jason had intended to peer in windows to see if he could catch a glimpse of Cassandra Grantham and convince her to see him, but the housekeeper’s departure gave him the perfect opportunity to make contact without any interference. He crept toward the back door, but it was locked. He checked the French doors to the patio to find one partially opened, perhaps to let in fresh air. The woman must have forgotten about it.
    Jason sneaked inside the house and listened for a minute, but heard nothing. He made his way to the kitchen and glanced inside; no one was there, but he noticed the medicine bottles and a tablet and pencil on the counter. He went upstairs and checked each room he passed until he located the master bedroom, where he saw Cass sleeping.
    Jason didn’t know how much time he had, so he rushed to her side and tried to awaken her. “Cass…Cassandra, it’s Jason Burkman. Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes? Cass, wake up.”
    He waited for a minute, then tried again, shaking her shoulders this time.
    Cass heard the masculine voice calling to her from far away and Jason’s image filled her dreamy mind. She struggled to rouse herself and look at him, but she was too tired and weak.
    “Cass, can you hear me?” Jason asked, shaking her again, that time more firmly.
    Cass moaned and moved, but couldn’t obey his summonings.
    “Open your eyes! I have to talk to you.”
    Cass sighed, grasped his hand, and snuggled it to her cheek as she rolled to her side.
    Jason eyed the beautiful woman. Her long hair was mussed and she wasn’t wearing makeup, but she was captivating nonetheless. He sat down and gazed at her. His fingers pushed aside strayed locks of dark-brown with hints of a lighter shade. He let them stroke her cheek, fulfilling a long-denied desire to touch her. Her skin was as smooth as glass and as soft as cotton. He allowed them to wander over her full lips and wished he could steal a kiss. He drifted them down the entreating column of her neck and over a creamy-colored bare shoulder. He was warmed by the way she nestled his other hand against her flesh. He wanted to pull her into his arms and embrace her. He wanted to hold her and comfort her. He hated seeing the once-vibrant woman in this sorry condition.
    Cassandra Grantham had made him feel again, desire again, after his bitter divorce which came less than fours years after losing his first and beloved wife to breast cancer. She had made him smile and made him realize he could love again. The perfect woman for him had entered his lonely world last October, but she had been taken; now, here she lay in a terrible state, though freed from the marital obstacle that had separated them.
    Maybe, Jason admitted, it was selfish and greedy of him to pursue Cass, so soon after her husband’s death; yet, he justified his actions because he didn’t want to risk losing her before he had a chance to win her Despite his desire for her, he would behave as nothing more than a friend until a proper mourning period passed and she was ready to love again. Until that dayarrived,