The Silent Killer

Chapter Fourteen

Part 3

The bedroom was quiet, except for the sounds of their breathing and his fingers playing through the silky strands of her dark hair. It was these moments that Lee treasured, the quiet aftermath of their lovemaking, when all seemed right with the world and within his soul.

A time when he had Amanda all to himself and could, quite selfishly, refuse to share her with anyone. Sometimes, in these quiet moments, they talked and shared the private worries that they refused to acknowledge at any other time of the day.

Other times, they would just be, doing nothing, saying nothing, just lying close to one another. Tonight, it would seem, they were both in a state of nothing.

Well, almost nothing.

Amanda was doing her best to try and hide her sniffling and throat clearing from him. Lee Stetson however, had been trained by the best. There was not much that could be pulled over the Scarecrow and his wife was certainly not accomplishing it now.

"Do you want me to get you anything?" he asked her, his voice filled with concern.

"No," she croaked. "I'm fine."

"Amanda Stetson, you are coming down with a cold."

She coughed in response.

"Scratch that. You have a cold, you definitely have a cold."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you worry too much?"

Lee laughed.

"It's my patriotic duty."

Amanda's reply was to pull out of his embrace and then sit up, pulling the sheet up with her in a half-hearted attempt at modesty.

Lee sat up with her and waited for her to clear her throat, yet again.

"I think I'm going to make a cup of tea, that should help clear my throat," she told him.

"No, you stay in bed. Let me fix it for you," Lee told her.

"Would you," she smiled at him.

Lee leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"For you, my beautiful wife, I would move mountains."

"Egotistical," Amanda whispered.

"Figure of speech," he told her as he shimmied back into his jeans. "You want sugar?"

"Just a little. There's some lemon in the refrigerator. Would you squeeze some of that in it for me?"

Lee smiled at her.

"And I'll even squeeze lemons for you," he chuckled.

Amanda waited till he left the room and then slid out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. Once glance in the mirror and she groaned.

Her dark eyes were showing signs of redness and dark circles had become evident under her eyes. And her hair, well, her hair was in its usual shape of distress after their lovemaking.

She smiled at the thought.

She may be miserable and she might be congested but she'd just experienced the best lovemaking of her life.

Another fit of coughing overtook her and this time, when it subsided, she frowned. That had not felt very good, she thought.

"Oh, do not settle in my chest," she mumbled. "That's the last thing I need. Lee will put me under house arrest and I'll be saying goodbye to my career."

She blew her nose and then went back to the bed, to await her husband, her tea and morning's light.

As much as Amanda Stetson had learned, over the past few months and much to her husband's great amusement, to despise physicians, she was more than willing to concede with him that by morning she would, indeed, need to be making a stop in Kelford's office.