eat all the desserts I make?”
“I can get you a first-class photographer and I sure can eat whatever you cook that’s got chocolate in it.”
“I can, too, Mr. Lightner,” Dudley said and went to stand beside Brock, who smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder. “I don’t think Mommie is happy, but I love chocolate.”
She tried to keep her eyes away from his long, muscular legs. Her eyes disobeyed her and roamed up his body until her gaze settled on his face.
His knowing expression did not match his words. “Why don’t you make this easy on yourself and get a decent stove.”
“Where? The general store carries two woodstoves. I need a gas stove.”
“Why don’t I take my SUV and drive us down to Lake George. You’ll definitely find one there.” She asked him how far it was and when he questioned her, he realized that she hadn’t left Indian Lake since she arrived there in late April. When she hesitated to accept his suggestion, he said, “All right, you go without me, but how are you going to bring the stove back in that Audi of yours?”
If she let him drive her and Dudley to a big town where she didn’t know her way around and could easily become confused, how much of a risk would she be taking? At her hesitation, his shrug said she could do as she pleased. Sorry for what may have appeared to him as her discourtesy, she put a hand on his bare arm and jerked it back when she felt the electricity emanating from their contact. He grabbed her hand.
“You and I had better get used to this,” he said. She looked beyond him to a safe object.
“Let’s go get in the SUV. I can sit in the back with Jack,” Dudley said.
Brock gazed steadily at her until his expression changed from accusing to awareness and bored into her like a hot dart. Without thinking, her right hand rubbed her breast and he took a step closer to her. She realized what she did and, embarrassed, she swung around, putting her back to him. For the first time, then, she felt his hands on her, strong and possessive, kneading her shoulders.
“Brock. Please!”
He released her at once. “I’m not sorry, Allison. I had to touch you. Shall we go to Lake George or not?”
“All right,” she said, hating to give in but wanting to accept his offer. “I’ll leave the Audi at my place.”
Later, as he strapped Dudley in the backseat, Jack jumped into the front passenger seat. “Look here, buddy,” Brock said to the dog, “You can’t deprive a guy of an opportunity to sit with the object of his affection.”
“I’ll be comfortable back here with Dudley,” Allison said.
“At least you acknowledge one fact,” he said, grinning at her. “Move over, Jack.” He motioned for the dog to move and he did.
“Come on and get in,” he said to Allison, holding the front passenger door open. “No way are you sitting back there behind me.”
During the one-hour trip to the city of Lake George, he noticed that she didn’t object to the occasional pressure of his leg against hers—he didn’t do it intentionally—but seemed comfortable with him. So he was taken aback when she asked him, “Why are you being so nice to me?”
If he had been a man to show his hand at every opportunity for one-upmanship, he wouldn’t have been so successful as a private detective, so he opted not to give her a straight answer. “Dudley couldn’t possibly love chocolate as much as I do and he can’t eat as much of it either.”
“Well, you’re certainly going to have to eat a lot of it. Half the recipes in my book use chocolate.” She didn’t pursue the question and he’d known she wouldn’t.
He let a grin float over his face. “How good a cook are you? My dad and my brother are certified chocaholics, so not to worry.”
“How big is your brother, Mr. Lightner? Can he come to play with me?”
As he’d thought, the boy was lonely. “I’m sorry, Dudley, but my brother is older than I am.”
“What does he do? Is he also a writer?” she asked.
“No. Jason’s a lawyer and a good one. Here we are,” he said as he passed the Lake George sign. “If you don’t find a stove here, we can drive up to Rutland tomorrow morning. It’s a bigger town.”
“Don’t spend so much of your time helping me out when you should be working,” she said with a note of concern in her voice.
He was still driving when she made the statement, so he had to settle for a reassuring glance at her. “Every minute I spend in your company is time well spent.” When he reached the shopping mall, she still hadn’t responded to his efforts to draw her out. He parked and turned to her. “I do not play games with women, children or animals, Allison. Life’s too short for that kind of nonsense.”
She looked him in the eye and said, “I’m glad to know it. It’s comforting to know that you’re a man of your word.”
“I see you know how to play hardball. Good. It’s my style as well.”
“All right, Brock. Let’s stop it before it gets out of hand.”
He wished she hadn’t backed down, but perhaps she was right. If they continued, they would definitely get into a fight, and even though he wanted to get a rise out of her, he didn’t want to annoy her.
“Sorry. I’ll take my cue from you.” He’d put his hand on the door, but now he withdrew it, turned and looked at her. “I mean that in every way. Stay there.” He got out, walked around to the passenger door and opened it. Jack looked at him for instruction and he let him out. “Sit, Jack.” He reached across Allison, unbuckled her seat belt—surprising her when he did it—and held out his hand to her. His jaw almost dropped when she took his hand without a word and got out of the car.
“Which store do you recommend?”
He told her, opened the back door, lifted Dudley from his car seat and walked along with her, holding Dudley’s hand and Jack’s leash.
“We’ll sit out here while you shop.”
“I…uh…I’d hoped you would go in with me.”
He was waiting to be asked. “Wait here.” He tied Jack to a canine hitching post, told the dog to sit and went back to Allison.
“I hope somebody at the general store will be able to hook up this stove,” she said as they headed back to Indian Lake. “If I touch it, I’ll probably blow up the house.”
He took that as a cue that she didn’t want to ask him to do it and he decided not to offer. He was getting fed up with their cat-and-mouse foolishness. But he wished she’d lighten up and accept that he would gladly do whatever he could to make her life easier.
He saw a fast-food restaurant off the highway and drove into its parking lot. “Will a scoop of ice cream ruin Dudley’s dinner?”
“Probably, but he seldom gets out…Why not? He’ll love it.”
He
