From the Heart

thinking of Jordan. How many do I have? Why do we insist on wearing them? She looked around again at the smooth, even lawn, the perfectly groomed trees and organized flowers. I have to get away from here, she thought again. I can’t stand the spotlessness much longer.
    “Kasey!”
    She turned to watch Alison dart toward her a few steps ahead of Jordan.
    And when I do go, she reflected, they’ll have each other. That much I can take with me.
    “We couldn’t find you.” Alison grabbed her hand and smiled up at her. “We wanted you to go swimming with us.”
    The simple request set off a chain of emotional reactions. They don’t belong to you, she reminded herself as her heart reached out for them. You’ve got to stop pretending they do. She kept her eyes on the child, unwilling to deal with one of Jordan’s intuitive looks.
    “Not today, love. I was just going for a run.”
    “Swimming uses more muscles,” Jordan commented. “And you don’t sweat.”
    Kasey lifted her eyes to his. She watched Jordan’s narrow immediately and recognized that he sensed something of her mood. She wasn’t willing to be seen so clearly.
    Smiling, she gave Alison’s hand a quick squeeze. “I still think I’d rather run.” She turned and streaked away.
    “Something’s wrong with Kasey.” Alison looked up at her uncle, but he was watching Kasey dash for the wall that bordered the estate. “Her eyes looked sad.”
    Jordan glanced down at Alison. Her words had mirrored his thoughts. “Yes, they did.”
    “Have we made her sad, Uncle Jordan?”
    The question struck him, and he looked up in time to see Kasey disappear through the side gate. Have we? Her capacity to feel was beyond anyone else’s he had known. Didn’t it follow that her capacity to hurt was just as great? Jordan shook his head. Perhaps he was reading something more into a simple mood.
    “Everyone has moods, Alison,” he murmured. “Even Kasey’s entitled to them.” When he glanced down at the child again, her eyes were still on the side gate. Jordan swung her up over his shoulder to hear her laugh.
    “Don’t throw me in!” She laughed and wiggled.
    “Throw you in?” Jordan countered as if the thought had never occurred to him. He mounted the steps to the pool. “What makes you think I’d do a thing like that?”
    “You did yesterday.”
    “Did I?” He glanced over his shoulder at the hedges and wall. Kasey was on the other side. It gave him an uncomfortable feeling. With an effort, he brought his attention back to Alison. “I hate to repeat myself,” he said and tossed her in.
    An hour later he found Kasey in the drawing room. The run hadn’t helped her mood. He watched as she paced from window to window. He felt her restlessness.
    “Thinking of making a break for it?”
    Kasey whirled around at his voice. “I didn’t hear you come in.” She searched for an ease she couldn’t find, then turned away again. “I’ve changed my mind,” she told him. “This place isn’t a museum, it’s a mausoleum.”
    Jordan lifted a brow, then took a seat on the sofa. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong, Kasey?”
    When she turned back, there was a flare of anger in her eyes. It was easier to feel anger than despair. “How can youstand it?” she threw out at him. “Doesn’t the everlasting sunshine ever get to you?”
    He studied her a moment, then leaned back against the cushions. “Are you telling me you’re upset about the weather?”
    “It isn’t weather,” she corrected. “Weather changes.” Kasey pushed her hair away from her face with both hands. She felt a dull, throbbing ache at the base of her neck.
    “Kasey.” Jordan’s voice was quiet and reasonable. “Sit down and talk to me.”
    She shook her head. She had no desire to be reasonable just yet. “It amazes me,” she continued, “absolutely amazes me that you can write the way you do when you’ve cut yourself off from everything.”
    His brow went up again. “Do you think that’s an accurate statement? I live in a favorable climate, so I’ve cut myself off?”
    “You’re so damn smug.” She spun back away as her hands balled inside her pockets. “You sit here in your sanitized little world without an idea as to how people struggle through life. You don’t have to worry if your refrigerator breaks down.”
    “Kasey.” Jordan struggled to keep his patience. “You’re veering off again.”
    She turned back and stared at him. Why couldn’t he