Читать книгу: «The Firstborn», страница 3

“Hello?”

On the other end, someone inhaled sharply. Then a voice barked in her ear, “Who is this?”

Hayley recognized Eden’s nasal tone immediately. “This is Hayley, Eden.”

“What are you doing there?”

“Gee, Eden, the last I knew this was my home.”

Eden had worked as her father’s nurse since before Hayley was born. The woman had never been particularly friendly, but until Hayley’s mother had disappeared, she’d never been outwardly antagonistic, either.

“Put Mrs. Norwhich on,” Eden demanded.

“Who?”

“The new housekeeper.”

“Where are Mrs. Walsh and Kathy?”

Eden sniffed. “They quit. Is Mrs. Norwhich there or not?”

“When did they quit? Where did they go?”

“I don’t have time for this, Hayley. Put Mrs. Norwhich on.”

Hayley held on to her temper. “As far as I know, I’m the only one here.”

“Where’s your sister?”

“Leigh’s still in England.”

Eden sniffed again. “I gather the power is back on?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Marcus already went to bed. I’m not going to wake him. It was all I could do to convince him to stay at The Inn this evening as it was. There’s no telling how long the power will remain on this time. The electric company is having some sort of problem with a transformer or something. I didn’t pay attention to their excuses. We decided it would be best to come here, since The Inn has its own generators. I won’t have to worry about having warm water or hot coffee come morning. This has been very annoying, I can tell you. Odette must have decided to stay in town overnight, as well.”

“Who’s Odette?”

“Mrs. Norwhich,” Eden explained brusquely. “Your father and I will drive back after breakfast.”

“Wait! Is there anyone else staying here at the house?”

“No. It’s a nuisance, but until her lease is up, Mrs. Kerstairs only comes in to clean during the day. Of course, she hasn’t been able to do much this week. You can’t work without electricity.”

Eyeing the dust on the tabletop, Hayley thought Mrs. Kerstairs hadn’t been doing much in far longer than a week, but she kept that thought to herself.

“Oh. There’s also that man Marcus hired to put up the new gates. I don’t remember his name, but he’s camping out by the old barns.”

“Yes. I’ve met Mr. Myers.”

Eden sniffed again, this time in disapproval. “Well, if you don’t want to stay there by yourself tonight, you’ll need to drive out to the highway and find a motel. The Inn is completely booked. This annoying electrical problem has driven many of our neighbors from their homes. If Mrs. Norwhich returns, let her know we won’t be needing breakfast. I’ll tell your father you’re back.”

Eden disconnected.

“You just do that,” Hayley muttered into the dead telephone. She cradled the receiver, drumming her fingers against the hard plastic. Thoroughly annoyed, she looked up and found Bram silently watching her from across the room.

She’d forgotten about him, hard as that was to believe. Leaning back against the door frame with his legs crossed at the ankles, he looked too sexy to contemplate. Her stomach muscles tightened as her breathing quickened. How could she have forgotten him even for a second?

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Marcus and Eden went to The Inn for the night because the electricity keeps cutting out.”

He frowned, coming away from the doorjamb in a smooth motion that tripled her pulse rate. “Are you going to join them?”

Hayley couldn’t help it. She shuddered. “No.”

“I have a feeling I should be glad I’m not one of your father’s patients.”

Hayley managed a weak smile. “You’d have made medical history. He’s an OB-GYN.”

The smile started in his eyes before moving to his lips, but it was definitely a smile. A wicked, incredibly sexy smile that sent her pulses leaping.

“In that case, I’m definitely glad I wasn’t one of his patients. Come back with me while I secure the rest of my camp for the night, then we can pick out a bedroom.”

The invitation sounded deliberately provocative. Blood rushed to her cheeks. What would it be like to kiss him?

The question haunted Hayley as they walked back through the woods at a more sedate pace. Watching him check the forge and put away tools, she decided he did everything with a disconcerting deliberation. Would he make love the same way?

She had no business thinking like that. Her hormones had been acting up outrageously all night. If she wanted to wonder about Bram, she should concentrate on things like what had prompted him to have a dragon tattooed on his upper arm.

The question fascinated her—like the man himself. She wanted to know everything about him, but it had quickly become obvious over dinner that Bram didn’t talk about himself. He’d managed to divert every question so that she was the one doing all the talking. She knew almost nothing about him beyond the fact that he was too sexy for comfort and could work absolute magic with cold metal and a little heat.

She watched him gather a few items and a change of clothing with economical movements, before leading the way back to the house with his powerful flashlight. As they reached the yard, Hayley came to an abrupt halt. The lights they’d left on were out once more.

“Another blackout?”

Bram studied the house. “Wait here while I check.”

She followed closely on his heels instead of waiting. If he thought she was afraid, he was right. Imaginary or not, she couldn’t shake off the sensation that something evil lurked nearby.

Bram flashed his light around the open foyer. Hayley found herself staring at the blackness guarding the top of the stairs. Unseen eyes seemed to peer down at them. When Bram touched her shoulder lightly, she started.

“Take it easy.”

He followed her gaze, shining the light into that dark maw. Empty. But she felt no relief.

“Look, those two couches in the library looked pretty comfortable to me. Do you really want to go exploring right now? We could give the couches a try tonight.”

Pride almost won out against common sense. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t afraid to go upstairs. Unfortunately, he would see right through that lie when her knees buckled on the first step.

“At the risk of sounding like a child afraid of the dark, I think the couches sound like a terrific idea. There’s a bathroom we can use down the hall past the library.”

She didn’t mention that there were two guest bedrooms beyond that bathroom. She could share a room with two couches, but she could hardly ask him to share a room with one bed.

“Mom always kept candles on the fireplace in the library,” she told him. “We could even build a fire if you think we’ll need more light.”

“Let’s skip the fire,” he said lightly. “Given the fact that it must be at least eighty-five outside tonight, we don’t want to lose what cool we have left in the house from your air-conditioning system.”

Hayley nodded. With help from his flashlight, she took down several thick, squat candles and holders to set on the coffee table between the two couches. She even found a fat, dripless candle for the bathroom. Her grandmother’s handmade afghans were inside one of the built-in cupboards, and while the temperature definitely didn’t call for blankets, it was somehow comforting to snuggle beneath the familiar material in a house that felt all wrong.

Hayley knew she wouldn’t sleep a wink. For one thing, she was entirely too aware of Bram’s large frame sprawled directly across from her. He used the afghan as a pillow. Irrationally, she was disappointed that he found it so easy to be a perfect gentleman.

She studied his features after he closed his eyes and began to relax. In the flickering candlelight, the harsh planes of his face softened. He was actually a strikingly good-looking man. She’d never experienced such a strong physical pull before.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax. She’d put in a lot of overtime recently getting ready for a showing, which was one reason she hadn’t gone to England with Leigh. The strain of that, plus the drive here and the past few hours had taken more of a toll than she’d realized. Once she allowed herself to relax, Bram’s image slowly faded as exhaustion claimed her.

THE URGENT WHISPER of voices raised her slowly from the depths of a deep, dreamless sleep. The room was in total darkness. It took her a minute to figure out why that was wrong. The comforting sputter of the candles had been extinguished.

Hayley lay motionless. Had those whispers been part of some dream? She didn’t hear anything now. It was several minutes before she realized the opposite couch was empty.

Bram was gone.

Tossing aside the afghan, Hayley sat up. Reaching out, she brushed a candle with her hand. Steadying it, she found the wax still warm and fluid. Bram must have just blown it out. Why would he do that?

Hayley heard the faint whispers resume. Someone was in her grandfather’s office, next to the library. She stood silently, straining to hear, but couldn’t make out the words. She couldn’t even tell if the whisperers were male or female. As quietly as possible, she groped her way to the office door. It had been closed when they’d lain down earlier.

The office was only slightly less dark than the rest of the house. Where was a nice bright moon when she needed one? The drapes on these windows were semisheer, and she might have been able to see something. The whispers stopped abruptly.

She was tempted to call out to Bram, but caution held her silent. Instinctively, she knew it would be better if the speakers didn’t realize she was awake. If Bram had blown out the candles, he didn’t want her to see who he was talking with. The sense of wrongness she’d felt earlier became a living weight in her chest.

Hayley stubbed her toe on the edge of her grandfather’s massive desk. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

Had they heard her?

She didn’t breathe. The absolute silence was more unnerving than the whispers had been. The sense of danger became so acute she wanted to run. Her heart began pounding loudly enough to be audible out in the hall.

Someone knew she was in here.

Her hand sought the edge of the desk to use as a guide. When her fingers didn’t find it, she told herself to stay calm. She knew this house. All she had to do was turn around and walk straight ahead. The opening to the library was right in front of her.

So was a large, dark shape.

Chapter Three

“What the devil are you doing wandering around in the dark like this?” Bram demanded as his powerful hands gripped her shoulders.

Relief gave way to a surge of adrenaline-fed fury. She punched his chest, shocked to feel firm, bare skin beneath her knuckles. Instantly, he released his hold.

“Stop sneaking up on me like that! That’s twice you’ve done that to me. It isn’t funny.”

“I wasn’t sneaking anywhere. I was looking for you. Why did you blow out the candles? This place is a tomb.”

His description was a little too close for comfort. “I didn’t blow out the candles! You did.”

“No. I didn’t.”

“I suppose they blew themselves out,” she scoffed. “Who were you talking to?”

She sensed his sudden caution. If only she could see his expression…

“I wasn’t talking to anyone, Hayley. You must have been dreaming. I went down the hall to use the bathroom.”

“Don’t tell me that. I heard you!”

“I don’t know what you thought you heard, but it wasn’t me.”

Goose bumps rose along her arms. Her teeth began to chatter because she realized she believed him.

“Then we aren’t alone in here. I distinctly heard two people whispering together. And I didn’t blow out the candles.”

Bram muttered something that sounded like a curse. “Let’s go. I need my flashlight.”

“Why don’t you have it with you?”

“Because it fell off the coffee table when I reached for it earlier, and I didn’t want to wake you looking for it. I didn’t figure I needed it just to go to the bathroom, but I didn’t know we were going to be roaming around in the dark like this. Come on, you can help me find it.”

Bram reached for her hand. His fingers closed over hers, making her intensely aware of his much larger, warmer hand. He seemed to have cat’s eyes as he led her back inside the library without a single misstep. No wonder he hadn’t needed the flashlight in the dark hall.

His touch was strangely reassuring. She was almost sorry when he released her again.

“I think it rolled under the table,” he told her.

She dropped to the carpeting beside the table while he did the same on the other side. Her hands swept over empty air. A second later, she heard his sound of satisfaction.

“Got it.”

A decidedly weaker beam bounced around the room, causing ominous shadows to sway against the walls.

“I don’t suppose you have fresh batteries anywhere?” he asked.

“There might be some in the kitchen.”

Bram set the flashlight on the table and relit the candles. “Wait here while I have a look around.”

“No! There’s someone else in here. What if they’re armed?”

“I don’t think that’s likely.”

His skeptical tone struck a nerve. “You don’t believe me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re thinking it. I can tell from your tone.”

“Hayley—”

“There were two voices,” she said firmly. “You were one of them, weren’t you? You must have been. Why are you lying to me? Who else is in here?”

“Calm down.”

Furious, Hayley came around the couch to ram a finger against his chest. “Don’t tell me to calm down! I want to know what’s going on.”

Bram lifted her hand from the rock-hard wall of his chest and reached for his shirt, which he’d draped across the back of the other couch.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I intend to find out.”

He didn’t raise his voice, but there was a reassuring core of steel in his tone. She watched him slip the shirt over his head.

“I’d offer to leave,” he said quietly, “but I can’t walk away under the circumstances.”

“I did hear voices,” she insisted.

Bram scraped a hand over the dark stubble on his jaw. “Hayley, have you ever had a dream where you knew you were dreaming, but couldn’t wake up? Then, when you did, the dream stayed with you like a fog, making you feel disoriented?”

“I was not dreaming!” She couldn’t have been. “If I was dreaming, how do you explain the candles going out? Do you think I blew them out in my dreams?”

Bram regarded her solemnly. “They were lit when I went down the hall. When I came out of the bathroom, I had to keep my hand on the wall to find my way back here. I heard you moving in the other room so I went to investigate.”

Hayley shivered. He sounded so sincere. Could she have dreamed the whispers?

A muffled sound from the hall stopped his words and her heart. Bram spun around. In a flow of motion almost too fast to follow, he glided into the foyer. The sounds of a struggle came almost immediately. Hayley snatched up the flashlight and tore after him. The weak beam trapped two figures locked together near the front door.

“Jacob?”

Bram had the younger man pinned against the wall. The dragon on Bram’s arm looked ready to breathe fire as it pressed against Jacob’s throat, holding him in place.

“You know him, Hayley?” Bram demanded softly.

“That’s Eden’s son, Jacob. Let him go, Bram.”

Bram gave the man a hard stare before stepping back. He looked perfectly ready to resume his attack at the least provocation. Jacob rubbed his throat, swallowing hard.

“Hayley?” he croaked, peering into the light.

She lowered the beam so it wasn’t shining directly in his eyes.

“What’s going on? Who is this guy?”

“Jacob Voxx, meet Bram Myers. Marcus hired him.”

“As what? An attack dog?” He gave Bram a resentful glare.

“Bram’s been creating and installing the wrought iron around the house.”

“Yeah? I noticed the gate. What was wrong with the lions?”

Hayley darted an I-told-you-so look in Bram’s direction, but his attention remained focused on Jacob. Bram reminded her of some large, fierce predator ready to spring. It was all too easy to envision Jacob as his rabbit of choice.

“Why were you sneaking in here at this hour of the morning?” Bram demanded softly.

“I live here. Or at least, my mother does.” Jacob appealed to Hayley. “What’s going on? Where is everyone? What happened to the lights?”

Quickly, Hayley explained.

“You weren’t expected,” Bram said.

“Uh, no. I wanted to surprise everyone.” Jacob looked from Bram to Hayley. “Surprise?”

“Oh, Jacob, I’m sorry. It’s just that we’ve had a scare. I think someone is hiding in the house.”

“You’re kidding!”

It annoyed her when he looked to Bram for confirmation.

“Hayley heard voices,” Bram said neutrally.

“Did you call the cops?”

“No,” Hayley told him.

“Big place to search in the dark,” Bram added, rocking back on his heels. His gaze never left the younger man.

“Well, yeah, but the cops have powerful flashlights. I mean, if someone’s in here, we ought to call them, right?”

“Up to Hayley,” Bram told him.

Thoroughly annoyed, she glared at both of them. “There isn’t much point calling them for help. You know that, Jacob.”

“Uh, look, Hayley, I know you don’t like the local cops, but if someone’s in here, we should do something.”

She sensed Bram’s interest, but she wasn’t about to start explaining her relationship with the local police right now.

“We are going to do something. We’re going back to the library and to wait for the power to come back on or daylight, whichever comes first,” Hayley said firmly. “With all this commotion, any sane burglar is long gone by now.”

Jacob looked at Bram, who shrugged. “You heard the lady.”

Hayley wanted to stamp her foot in frustration. Instead, she pivoted and returned to the library. Plopping down on the couch, she fumed until Bram came in and sank down beside her, so close their legs brushed. His action was as deliberately challenging as the look he directed at Jacob.

Jacob stared from one to the other. “Uh, do you two know each other?”

“Not really.”

“Yes,” Bram said firmly at the same time. “We were spending a quiet evening together when all hell broke loose.”

“Oh.” Jacob seemed to have no idea what do to with the conflicting information. “Where, uh, where’s your sister?”

Hayley tried to shift positions but found herself sandwiched between the arm of the couch and Bram’s hard body. “Leigh’s in England visiting friends,” she managed to reply. And if her voice sounded breathless, neither man seemed to notice.

“Oh, yeah. I remember Mom mentioning something about that. A final fling before she starts her new job, right?” Jacob sank down on the couch across from them and yawned. He looked tired and at the same time unconcerned. “Lucky her. Say, have you met Mom’s newest staff yet?”

“No.” Hayley tried to nudge Bram. He didn’t budge a millimeter. Obviously, he wasn’t nearly as pliable as the rigid metal he worked with. “Jacob, what happened to Mrs. Walsh and Kathy?”

“Beats me. They’ve been gone for a long time now. I thought you knew.”

“Not until a couple of hours ago, when I spoke with your mother on the phone. She said they had a better offer.”

Jacob’s shoulders rose and fell. “Mom said they quit when you and Leigh stopped coming home. She’s had trouble finding live-in help ever since. I think this is the fifth or sixth housekeeper she’s hired. Mrs. Norwhich is sort of built like Bram, here. A little older, and she lacks the tattoo, but she’s a force to be reckoned with. Sort of weird, but nothing compared with the new maid. Wait’ll you meet her. Say, maybe it was Mrs. Norwhich and Paula Kerstairs you heard.”

Hayley shook her head. “I don’t think so. Your mother thought Mrs. Norwhich was staying in town tonight. Besides, wouldn’t she have woken me if she came home and found a stranger sleeping on the couch?”

“You’d think so.”

“Maybe she tried,” Bram offered. “You’re a pretty sound sleeper, you know. You didn’t even stir when I got up.”

Bram’s words and tone implied an intimacy that made her squirm. He made it sound as if they’d been sharing a couch. Before she could correct that impression, Jacob yawned hugely.

“Sorry. I’ve been sitting on the Jersey Turnpike for hours thanks to a multicar accident. I think I’m too tired to worry about prowlers or weirdo housekeepers tonight. As far as I’m concerned, they can do whatever they want as long as they let me sleep. Would you mind if I go upstairs and sack out?”

“Take the couch,” Bram said firmly. “Hayley would prefer us to stay together.”

“But there’re only two couches in here.”

“That’s all right. Hayley and I don’t mind sharing. Right, Hayley?”

A protest leaped to her lips, but a warning in Bram’s expression made her hesitate. She did want them to stay together. Jacob shouldn’t go off on his own until they knew what was happening around here. The men might not believe her, but she knew someone else was inside the house.

“Go ahead and take the couch, Jacob. I’m not tired anymore, and Bram’s going to sit here and tell me all the fascinating details of his life, including how he got that tattoo. Right, Bram?” she asked with mock sweetness.

Bram settled back. He had to hand it to Hayley, the woman had a knack for turning the tables. Too bad for her that he’d had years more experience at it than she had.

“I wouldn’t bore anyone with my life story, but I’m sure we can find something more interesting to talk about,” he said suggestively. “We can start with all the things we have in common. Don’t worry, Jacob. We’ll keep our voices down.”

“Uh, sure. Okay.” But he stared at them, obviously perplexed by the exchange.

Bram was relieved when Hayley settled for glaring at him as Jacob stretched out on the couch self-consciously. The man’s arrival seemed entirely too well timed to be a coincidence. If Hayley really had heard people inside the house, Bram suspected Jacob had been one of them.

“If, uh, anything else happens, just wake me,” Jacob told him.

“Count on it.”

Hayley shifted restlessly. Bram ignored her none-too-subtle hint to move over. He was enjoying the feel of her body pressed against his more than he should. And if there was another incident tonight, he wanted to make sure the only way to reach her was to go through him first.

“Tell me more about the place you work,” he encouraged.

“I’d rather hear about you.”

“I’m flattered.”

“Don’t be. I’m making conversation here. Where did you get the dragon tattoo?”

“Thinking of getting one yourself?”

“You’re being deliberately impossible.”

“Years of practice,” he agreed.

“Is it some big secret? Some gang tattoo or something?”

“Interesting opinion you have of me.” But the set of her jaw told him she intended to be stubborn on this issue. “If you must know, I woke up after drinking all night and there it was.”

He knew his words sounded clipped, but he hated thinking about that period of his life. Not that he could remember much of it, including how and where he’d gotten the tattoo, much less why. He’d been drinking heavily in those days.

“Oh.”

She traced a finger over one dragon wing. Her touch was featherlight, yet it activated every nerve cell in his body. Desperately, he tried to think of a safe topic, but looking into those wide, innocent eyes seemed to be robbing him of coherency. He should not be noticing how soft and kissable her lips looked.

“You, uh, said your father and uncle were both blacksmiths. Is that how you got your start?” she asked, fidgeting.

That wouldn’t have been his conversational choice, either, but if it helped divert his current thoughts, he was all for a discussion of his work.

“Yes. My uncle used to work with real iron, like they did back before car manufacturers discovered they needed a metal with a more uniform strength.”

He droned on in his best lecture mode, conjuring up nearly forgotten facts on the subject that he remembered from his youth. As a boy he’d watched his father and uncle work the forge for hours, absorbing their tales.

Hayley surprised him by actually listening. Even after she closed her eyes and her head began to nod, she’d throw out a sleepy question to indicate she was paying attention. He was running out of things to say when he realized her breathing had slowed and deepened. Her head slumped against his shoulder.

Unable to resist, he stroked the fall of hair running over his chest. He’d been right, it was as soft as a river of raw silk. Inhaling the light scent of her shampoo, he was pleased to note she didn’t favor heavy perfumes. There were far too many things he liked about Hayley.

Jacob snored lightly across from them. Reaching for the afghan, Bram spread it over Hayley and surrendered to the urge to make her more comfortable. He snugged her tightly to his side.

Instead of waking, she nestled against him as if she’d been doing it all her life. Her head fit almost perfectly in the crook of his arm, while her long hair drifted whisper soft against his bare skin.

Something inside Bram tightened—not just with desire, but with a remembered longing. He’d forgotten how good it could be to simply hold a woman like this. While he didn’t welcome this protective feeling swelling inside him, he didn’t know how to turn it off, either. But he couldn’t afford to get involved here. That road led to a pain he had no desire to repeat.

Hayley stirred without waking. Carefully, Bram slid his arm around her, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. She was young. He had to keep reminding himself that he was too old and too jaded for the sort of thoughts he was trying not to have about her.

His father had told him that he’d never really be free until he faced the ghosts that haunted his soul. Funny, he couldn’t help thinking that perhaps the time had finally come.

DUST MOTES DANCED amid the sunlit rays filling the room when Hayley woke. She lay on the couch, covered in the familiar afghan. The house no longer felt empty—but the library was.

Where was Bram? Had she really fallen asleep in his arms? She’d felt his lips brushing hers as he’d stretched her out on the couch. Memory? Or a dream-induced fantasy?

Glancing around, she realized her overnight case was no longer on the floor nearby. Jacob must have seen it and carried it upstairs for her. Bram wouldn’t even know where her room was.

The thought of him seeing her bedroom was unsettling. She folded and replaced the afghans before stepping into the main hall.

The first thing she noticed was the door to the former parlor still standing open. She needed to use the bathroom, yet she was drawn across the hall by something she couldn’t explain. Even in daylight, the room’s atmosphere was depressing.

“Looking for something?”

Bram’s voice sent her spinning around. Her heart gave a leap at the sight of him. Last night, shadows had dimmed his features, but this morning there was nothing to soften the impact of that firm jaw and those dark brown eyes that seemed capable of reading her innermost thoughts.

He was powerful rather than handsome. Now that she was feeling more objective, it was easy to see why Jacob had looked to him for guidance. There was an aura of leashed power, a sense of confidence, that made Bram a natural leader.

He’d changed into clean jeans and a fresh T-shirt and had even shaved. He looked younger than he had last night, despite the tiny lines at the corners of his mouth and eyes. His hair was freshly combed and still damp, the ends curling, darkly wet against his neck. He must have just come from a shower. He looked perfectly at home and incredibly sexy.

Abruptly, she realized several seconds had passed. Flustered to be caught staring at him, she gestured at the room in general. “I, uh, wanted to see this room in the light.” She stepped forward briskly, though it was the last place she wanted to be.

A row of formal chairs gathered dust beneath the drape-shrouded windows that lined the outside wall. The Danish-modern receptionist’s desk looked ridiculously out of place in the formal room, but it did serve to restrict access to the heavy double doors that had once led to the old ballroom and now opened onto Marcus’s exam rooms. She had sensed the unseen watcher standing there last night.

“Hitchcock would have loved this place,” Bram muttered at her back.

Hayley couldn’t argue. Even in daylight there was a disturbing wrongness about the room. Moving around the desk, she reached for the door handle. Locked, just as Bram had told her last night. Hayley felt inexplicably cold.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. Searching for proof that I wasn’t imagining things last night?”

Bram touched her shoulder, causing her heart to flutter foolishly. “Do you think you were imagining things?”

“No.”

He nodded without expression. What was he thinking? That she was a foolish, emotional young woman?

“I carried your bag upstairs for you.”

“You did?”

“Mrs. Norwhich told me which room was yours.”

He’d seen her bedroom, still decorated with posters from her high school days. “You’ve met Mrs. Norwhich then?” she asked, to keep from wondering what he’d thought about her room.

“Uh-huh. She came in around six this morning. Didn’t seem at all bothered or surprised to find unexpected company in the house. She told me to help myself to a shower, and offered to fix me some breakfast.”

“How did she know which room was mine? I’ve never even met the woman.”

“Beats me. I put them in the third bedroom down, on the right-hand side.”

“That’s my room,” she acknowledged. “Where’s Jacob?”

“He went out—after suggesting to Mrs. Norwhich that she should count the silver.” His lips curved faintly. “I don’t think your friend Jacob likes me very much.”