richly paneled room lined with books.
“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