shared confessions and attempted to ignore them. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or affronted.
“The stage is coming in this afternoon,” he said at last, keeping his voice carefully neutral. “I’m expecting new guests who might not appreciate decor that includes bullet holes.”
“They might not appreciate those curtains, either,” Katlyn said.
Striding over to the window, she tugged at the heavy plum-colored velvet, wrinkling her nose when dust puffed up from the folds of the worn fabric. “These must be relics from some great-aunt’s attic. They make the whole room look depressing.”
“Miss McLain—”
She spun around to face him again. “Will you quit calling me that? The way you say it makes me feel like a great-aunt. My name is Katlyn.”
“I think I’ve just been insulted,” Case said. He looked straight into her eyes, watching a warm pink glow blush her face. He suspected the color came from temper rather than embarrassment at her impulsive words. “Are you insinuating I’m stuffy?”
“As these curtains,” Katlyn returned smartly, spurred by the sardonic amusement in his eyes and voice. “Although the curtains I can remedy.”
Without asking his permission, she flung off her shawl, dragged a chair over to the windows, stepped up on it and yanked off one side of the curtains.
Her energetic tug released a cloud of dust that set her coughing. Trying to cover her mouth, she lost her grip on the heavy velvet and the material fell, tangling at her feet.
“Is this your idea of an improvement?” Case asked, close behind her.
Katlyn jumped, hearing him so near. She lost her balance on the chair and teetered precariously. Before she could grasp a handhold, Case’s hands came around her tiny waist, steadying her.
“Careful,” he murmured close to her ear, “this redecorating can be dangerous business.”
For a moment Katlyn froze. In all her life she couldn’t remember being so aware of a man. His hands felt warm and strong against her, his breath made her skin tingle as it brushed her ear. And the scent of him, a mingling of tobacco and something clean and sharp and male, seemed to her as heady as any spirits she’d tasted.
If she made the slightest move backward, she would be in his arms. The impulse to do just that tempted her and at the same time frightened her with its intensity.
Case realized he’d made a mistake the moment he touched her. His body responded to her even as his common sense warned him to walk away. Except his mind didn’t seem to be listening to sense any more than the rest of him.
Katlyn shifted, turning within his hold to look at him. Her eyes, like the violet blue of a sunset sky, searched his.
He waited, expecting someone like Penelope Rose to respond with enticement, boldness even.
Instead she did nothing except look uncertainly at him, as if she had no idea of how to respond. The color had fled her face, leaving her pale.
Katlyn floundered. No man had ever made her feel so foolish and shy. Why was her confidence abandoning her now?
Case reached up one hand and touched her tousled hair. The coppery curls slid like silken fire through his fingers. He felt her tremble. Something inside him jerked, as if prodded sharply.
“Maybe I underestimated your talent,” he said softly. “This is an improvement.”
“Yes…Well, I mean it’s much warmer. The velvet kept out the sunlight and…and…” Katlyn stumbled over her words and finally stopped. She tried to draw a calming breath and instead it came out a shaky sigh.
What was she doing, letting Case Durham turn her inside out like this? She was supposed to be Penelope Rose, used to men and their attentions. Her mother never would have stood this close to a man like Case and alternated between gaping at him and babbling about curtains. Her mother would have smiled, let her fingers graze his shoulder, and made some coy remark.
But Katlyn couldn’t take her charade that far. Not with Case Durham. Not even for her mother. Looking away from him, she turned in the chair again, deliberately staring up at the remaining curtains. “I’ll get the rest of these down, then the windows and woodwork need to be washed and—”
“Come down from there before you break a leg.” Without waiting for her to obey and ignoring the squeal of protest she made, Case lifted her off the chair to the floor. “I’ve invested too much money in you to have you laid up for weeks. I didn’t hire you to climb chairs and scrub windows.”
Case deliberately made his voice and manner brusque and was rewarded when the flush came back to her face and the fire to her eyes.
He hadn’t been prepared for her pale and trembling at his touch. Looking at her like that, he had lowered his guard and for a moment she’d slipped under it. She’d shaken his defenses and he determined she would never do it again.
Katlyn recognized the wall Case put up and almost welcomed it. At least it was familiar. “You hired me to rescue your hotel,” she said. “Consider this a bonus to my singing.”
She made to get up on the chair again but Case stepped in front of it, stopping her. “If you’re so determined to tear apart my foyer, I’ll help you. Maybe I can keep you from pulling down the entire window.”
“Be my guest, but you aren’t going to talk me out of washing this glass.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re hardheaded?” Case asked as he pulled the ladder over to the window and started to climb the rungs.
“Practically everyone I meet,” Katlyn said, smiling sweetly up at him. “So you’d better get used to it.”
Three hours later Katlyn stood at Case’s side and surveyed the work they’d finished with satisfaction.
He’d grumbled a good deal about her giving orders to him and his staff, and about her making good on her promise to scrub both the windows and woodwork. But even he couldn’t argue with the results.
The wood and glass, from windows to walls, gleamed after Katlyn’s attack with soap, vinegar and beeswax. Case had moved all the furniture so the rugs could be taken outside and beaten, and then after everything had been thoroughly cleaned, Katlyn guided where to place things, rearranging everything to better suit the space. She’d also insisted the curtains from her suite be hung in the foyer. The light fabric in shades of rose and ivory perfectly complimented the room and let enough sunlight in to gild everything in mellow tones of gold.
Katlyn shot Case a triumphant smile. “I knew this would be better.”
“I’m beginning to wonder who’s in charge around here,” Case muttered. But he couldn’t help smiling at her sudden scowl. With her hair escaping its rough braid, her face smudged with dirt, and her dress dusty, she looked more real to him than she ever had carefully primped and painted. Seeing her now, he marveled at how she could transform herself to be at home on a stage.
“All right, it’s better,” he said. “You win. This time.”
Cocking a brow at him, Katlyn put a hand
