crimping the edges, but now she paused, giving him a long look from under golden lashes. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Sorry.’ He grinned. ‘It all gets a bit technical and I get carried away sometimes. Boat building tends to bring out the fanatic in me.’
Her mouth made a faint upward curve. ‘So I see.’ She placed a baking tray, loaded with empanadas, into the hot oven. ‘I’m not sure I understood quite what you were doing back there, hammering thick cotton wadding between the planks.’ She rubbed her hands on a clean towel and lifted the mug of coffee to her lips, taking a satisfying swallow. Then she arched her spine and rubbed at a knot of tension in the small of her back. It had been a long day.
He watched her, his gaze moving languorously over her, stroking her feminine curves, a flicker of interest darting in the blue depths of his eyes.
Lacey straightened. She knew that entirely male look, and she was suddenly all too conscious of her actions. The last thing she needed was to have him pay her that much attention. She was through with men, at least relationship-wise. They complicated things, promised the earth and a lifetime of love and then let you down when things didn’t go their way.
Jake smiled. ‘They call it caulking.’
She frowned. ‘Caulking?’ For a second or two, she had completely lost the drift of their conversation. The plain truth was the male of the species was a liability. You never knew where you were with them. And this man was probably no exception. He was only here in her kitchen because he had set her on a path of investigation.
‘Think of it as padding,’ he said helpfully, and she struggled to bring her thoughts under control once more. ‘The material fills in the wedge between the planks and makes sure that they don’t move…they swell, of course, or shrink, depending on different levels of moisture. You need a boat to be watertight as well as mechanically sound, so I’ll apply a coat of epoxy resin, and then I’ll paint it.’
‘Oh, I see.’ At least, she thought she did. Whatever procedures he was following, he was building a good-looking boat back there in his barn. ‘You already have a couple of boats moored alongside the dock, as far as I could see. Do you collect them? What’s this one for?’
‘Lobster fishing. As to the others, they were inherited from my father and my grandfather. I guess you could say that boats and the sea are part of my heritage.’ He gave her a crooked smile, and for some reason she had the idea that it was an ironic kind of smile, as though he was holding something back. Perhaps Rob had been right when he’d said that Jake was not quite like other men. There was a hidden side to him, Rob had said, a part of him that you couldn’t quite fathom.
The scent of hot cheese and bacon filled the kitchen, and she pulled herself together and went to check the oven.
‘These are done,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to mind that you don’t burn your tongue. We don’t want you being injured for a second time today, do we?’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that…you make a very lovely medic.’ He gave her a wickedly sexy glance that immediately set her temperature rising. ‘You can tend to my injuries any day.’
‘I wouldn’t count on that, if I were you,’ she said dryly, ‘or on anything else, for that matter. I can see when I’m being strung a line.’ She figured it was better to cut him down at the first pass, rather than leave things to roll on and get out of hand. She slid golden pasties onto a plate and passed them to him.
‘That’s a great shame,’ he said, affecting to appear dismayed but finding it difficult to prevent a grin from breaking out. He gave a false sigh. ‘I dare say I’ll have to console myself with the empanadas instead.’
Chapter Two
LACEY picked her way carefully along the rocky shoreline, deep in thought, her gaze sweeping along the line of coral reef islands that made up the Keys. They made a glorious picture, strung out like a jewelled, emerald bracelet across the Florida Straits. To the west the sundappled waters of the Gulf of Mexico gave off a blue haze as the heat of the day began to rise.
She was content for the first time in a long while, and perhaps now she would find the wherewithal to cope with whatever lay before her. A couple of weeks had passed since that evening when she had first arrived here and met up with her new neighbour, but she still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. An hour or so in Jake’s company had been enough to make her realise that he was a definite threat to her peace of mind. And peace was what she wanted right now, above all.
There hadn’t been any contact between them since that first day, probably because she had been out and about, exploring the island and making the most of her newfound liberty. She was still licking her wounds after the disaster of her relationship with Nick. On top of that she’d had to cope with the upheaval of selling her parents’ house before the move out here. What she needed now was space, a chance to sort out her troubled thoughts. Jake was a distraction she could do without.
‘Hello, there…Lacey…wait up…’
She half turned. It was almost as though thinking about Jake had conjured him up. He was heading towards her, emerging from the woods that covered the land behind both houses.
She slowed down and he came alongside her. ‘So, I’ve found you at last,’ he said, his deep voice vibrant, echoing his energetic presence. ‘I’ve been looking for you these last few days. Then, just now, as I was on my way to the boathouse I spotted you down here.’ He fell into step beside her, sending her an oblique glance that took in her loose cotton top and the white shorts that showed off a golden expanse of long, shapely legs. ‘You’re looking good…’ he murmured. ‘All sun kissed and glowing with health. This part of the world must agree with you.’
‘The climate’s certainly better than it is back home,’ she agreed. ‘It’s tempted me to get out and about while I have the chance.’
‘Hmm.’ His eyes took on a faint gleam. ‘So much so that you’re hardly ever at home. I was beginning to get the idea that you might be trying to avoid me.’
Her mouth made a wry shape. He really wasn’t far wrong in thinking that way. ‘As I said, I’ve been spending time getting to know the place all over again. It’s all so different out here. I feel as though I’m being given a glimpse of paradise.’
As she spoke, a black cormorant, standing some three feet high, paused by the water’s edge, where it had been searching for food, and spread its wings to dry. He lifted his orange-tinted throat towards the sun, as though he was stretching and taking joy in the day.
Jake followed her glance. ‘You see a lot of them around the coastal area. You’ll often catch sight of white heron, too, wading in the shallows, but they’re shy and will fly off if you disturb them.’
‘I know. I’ll take good care not to do that,’ she murmured. ‘Herons are such graceful, beautiful birds, aren’t they?’ She glanced at him. He was casually dressed, in cargo pants and a navy T-shirt, and looked completely at ease with life in general.
He inclined his head, tilting it a little so that he could study her. ‘You seem to be very interested in all that the Keys have to offer, especially the natural environment…but there are other ways to enjoy life around here, you know?’ His voice softened. ‘In fact, I’m going to be hosting a get-together at my place tomorrow evening. It’d be great if you could come along. Any time from seven-thirty onwards.’
Her
