Page 78 of The Redemption of Remy St. Claire

The adult male and the young girl seemed oblivious to their surroundings as they spoke from their active mounts.

“That’s Max Crawford and one of his patients.”

Remy spun to see Kennedy had come up behind them. “Thank you for inviting us.”

Another wide-and-open smile. “My pleasure. Rusty, why don’t you join Rainbow with the girls? She’ll introduce them to Sienna.” She pointed to Remy. “We’re just going to have a quick chat.”

Remy wanted to beg him to stay, but she was a grown-up and needed to own this. When he nodded and headed out, she took a deep breath, facing the psychologist.

“You needn’t look so panicked—I was just going to ask about Calleigh.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Remy offered a tremulous smile. “As Rusty pointed out to me, she hasn’t had a nightmare since we got married. You don’t think that’s connected, do you?”

“Do you feel safer knowing he’s around permanently?”

The answer was swift and uncompromising. “Yes.”

“Maybe your sister feels the same way.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

“Sometimes we spend so much time anticipating problems when we’re facing upheaval, we forget to look at all the good things that might happen.”

Remy thought she’d prepared herself for the good things. Security and stability were good in theory, but they were becoming real to her as well as, apparently, to Calleigh. As an independent woman, she’d once bristled at the thought of needing someone in her life. Flying solo and being self-reliant had been staples of her existence for so long that she couldn’t imagine her life any other way. Yet, in six short weeks, she’d come to rely on another person. To trust another person.

Or maybe she’d been relying on him and trusting him from the moment she opened her door. Because engendering trust came as naturally to Rusty as breathing did to the rest of the world.

She took a deep breath. “Other things…uh…might be improving as well.”

“Okay.” Soft. Encouraging.

“We’ve kissed. A lot.” She closed her eyes in embarrassment. “Actually, a lot of kissing.”

“Kissing is good. How does it make you feel?”

“I like it, Kennedy. I mean, I feel something, but it scares me.”

“That you won’t feel anything or that you might feel too much?”

Remy shrugged with a nonchalance she didn’t feel. Here was her chance.Go for it.“He gave me a massage last night. And then I got cold and he…he warmed me.”

“It is almost winter.” Kennedy pointed to the trees that’d mostly lost their leaves. “Warming someone is a good thing.”

“The thought of more terrifies me.”

The psychologist looked at her with knowing and kind eyes. “Try to see it from a different perspective. Let’s say you met for the first time seven weeks ago.”

“We did.”

“But what if you were just dating? What if you hadn’t gotten married?”

“I’m confused.”

“Let’s try another tack. Did you have a boyfriend in high school?”

Kennedy stepped toward the ring and Remy followed. She shook her head, because no, she hadn’t had a boyfriend in high school.

“University?”

---