LITMIR.BIZ

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glad you liked it, Cole.” She rose to clear the rest of the table, but he was already reaching for their iced tea glasses. “I’m sure you’re tired from working on the barn all day. I can take care of cleaning up.”

      He shook his head as he put their glasses into the dishwasher. “You cooked a great dinner. The least I can do is help with the dishes.”

      As she watched Cole finish collecting the dishes to load into the dishwasher, she couldn’t help but note one more contrast between him and Craig. Her late husband had never voluntarily helped her with anything around the house and she’d gotten the distinct impression that he considered anything domestic to be “woman’s work” and beneath him.

      “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to call it a night,” Cole said as she finished wiping off the kitchen island. “The crew will be here around dawn.”

      “How many men will there be?” she asked, turning out the light as they left the kitchen.

      “Seven, counting me. Why?”

      “Tell them not to worry about bringing their lunch after tomorrow,” she said as they walked down the hall toward the stairs. “I’ll have something ready for them every day they work until the job is finished.”

      “That’s very generous of you.” Cole placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her as they started up the steps. “But you don’t have to do that.”

      “I know I don’t.” She barely managed a smile. “I want to do it.” His hand at her back was only meant to steady her. But the heat from his wide palm seemed to sear her skin through her clothing and made it difficult to draw her next breath.

      “We’ll appreciate it,” he said when they reached the top of the stairs. “But don’t go to any extra trouble.”

      Stepping away from him at the door to his room, she nodded. “I’ll be sure to keep it simple.”

      They stared at each other a few moments longer before Cole opened his bedroom door. “I’ll try to be quiet in case you want to sleep in tomorrow morning.”

      “Sleep well,” she said as she turned to enter her room across the hall.

      Closing the door, Paige leaned back against it and took a deep breath. Why did she feel as if she was still that starry-eyed sophomore girl talking to the cutest senior boy in Royal High School whenever she was around Cole? And why had he broken his promise to ask her out when she graduated?

      She shook her head at her own foolishness as she pushed away from the door and got ready for bed. She might have had a huge crush on him when she was younger, but that was ancient history. He had made his choice not to ask her out. Besides, some questions in life were just better left unanswered.

      * * *

      The following afternoon, Cole kept a close eye on the clouds in the Southwestern sky. They had been gathering since right after lunch, and unless he missed his guess, they were in for one of the legendary Texas gully washers. Hopefully the rain would hold off until they finished framing the barn, but he wasn’t going to bet money on it. There was more than a fair chance he’d lose.

      Twenty minutes later, the first crack of thunder rumbled overhead and he knew their workday had come to an end. He motioned for his men working on the rafters to climb down the ladders.

      “Go ahead and start putting away the tools,” he said when they were all safely on the ground. “We’re going to call it a day. There’s no sense in risking one of you being struck by lightning.”

      “See you in the mornin’, boss,” they all called as they hurriedly loaded their tools into the company trucks.

      When fat raindrops began to fall, raising tiny puffs of west Texas dust as they hit the bare ground, Cole grabbed the blueprints for the barn from the tailgate of his truck, threw them into the front seat to keep them from getting ruined and slammed the door. Waving to his men as they drove away, he jogged across the ranch yard to the back porch. He’d no sooner sprinted up the steps than the sky seemed to open up and pour.

      Staring at the curtain of rain just beyond the shelter of the porch roof, he clenched his jaw so tight he could’ve cracked a couple of teeth as he struggled to keep from cussing a blue streak. It was only mid-afternoon, and just the thought of being confined to the house for the rest of the day and night with Paige had him tied up into a tight knot. How the hell was he supposed to do what was honorable and right when it seemed the universe was throwing every obstacle it could in his way?

      Considering the attraction he still had for her, he knew beyond a shadow of doubt the hell he was going to go through being alone with her. The urge to take her into his arms had been almost overwhelming, and if he hadn’t realized that before, he did after she threw her arms around him for that tight hug last night in the kitchen. He had known it was her excitement over turning his brother’s office into an art studio that had caused her impulsiveness, but that did little to prevent his body from feeling as if he’d been treated to the business end of a cattle prod. Then, when they’d walked upstairs together and he had discovered she was sleeping just across the hall from him, he’d lain awake half the night wondering what she wore to bed or if she wore anything at all. The other half had been spent speculating about why she wasn’t sleeping in the master suite. Was the thought of lying in bed without Craig beside her more than she could bear?

      “Cole, is everything all right?” Paige asked from behind him. “Why don’t you come in?”

      Turning, he found her standing just inside the open back door. “Everything’s fine. I was just watching it rain,” he said, knowing that his excuse for not going inside the house sounded pretty lame.

      “You might be out here awhile,” she advised with a slight smile. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon.”

      Resigned, he took a deep breath and followed her into the house. “That’s why I told the work crew to knock off for the rest of the day.”

      “That was probably a good idea.” She walked over to open the oven door and check on something inside. “I heard on the news this morning that the weather is supposed to be this way for the next week or so.”

      Why did she have to look so damned good to him? And why was he having such a hard time keeping things in perspective?

      His heart thudded against his ribs when her words suddenly sank in. “The rainy season doesn’t normally set in for another couple of weeks.”

      “I guess it’s coming early this year.” She closed the oven door and shrugged one slender shoulder. “But you know how it is around here in the spring. We’ll probably have nice, sunny mornings and a pop-up thunderstorm just about every afternoon or evening.”

      It was all Cole could do to keep from groaning aloud. Due to the unpredictable Texas weather, this two-week job had every chance of becoming a month-long ordeal. At least for him. His work crew would reap the benefits in travel pay and overtime when the weather did let up. But he was going to face a lot of long hours confined to the house with the most alluring woman he’d ever known. His only consolation was once his men got the roof put on the barn, there was a little work they could do on the inside—rain or shine.

      He supposed he could make a trip into town to see how Aaron and his crew were progressing on the hospital wing. Or he might stop by the TCC clubhouse to have a beer with one of his friends. But checking on the hospital rebuild would only take up an afternoon, and he’d never been one to start drinking in the middle of the day. What he needed was another project to keep him and the crew busy for several days—maybe even a week or two.

      “We might be able to work around the rain,” he said as a plan came to mind.

      She looked skeptical. “How?”

      “We could work on the barn and outbuildings when the weather permits and on your studio when it’s raining,” he said, hoping it would reduce the amount of time they’d spend alone.

      “That

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