for the duration.”
He wished he didn’t admire her integrity, as it would make things a lot easier, but he did. “Fair enough. For now.” He allowed his smile to spread when she arched a brow. “I’ll have to figure out the time difference between here and Japan, and check his schedule before I bother my uncle, but we’ll get it all sorted out. Unless you have a pre-planned time to communicate?”
She regarded him silently for a moment, then shook her head. “But I have contact information, so I certainly could, if I chose to,” she added, clearly still wary of his presence.
Smart woman.
He stepped back and turned, sweeping his hand out in front of him. “Why don’t we go downstairs? I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry, and I’m sure the beasts are ready for their supper.”
A stricken look flashed across her face as she darted a quick glance at her watch. “It’s not—wait a minute.” She looked back up, slightly accusatory. “It’s almost ten o’clock at night. They don’t get fed until the morning.”
“Treats then,” he said, completely unrepentant. It was nice to know she could be rattled, at least a little. And that she did, truly, seem to take her job seriously. He waved her forward. “Come on. The dogs might be on a strict dietary regimen, but that doesn’t mean you and I can’t raid the fridge.”
She consulted her notebook again, but he wasn’t sure she was really looking at anything meaningful, given he was pretty sure she was lost anyway.
He stepped forward to take a peek and she all but slapped the book shut in his face. “Fine,” she said. “But you’re on your own in the kitchen.”
“Not much of a cook?”
She stepped around him. “I’m a great cook. But I’m not your cook.” She walked away.
Stalked might have been a more accurate term, he thought, grinning as he watched her staunch retreat. He’d been right, he noticed. Quite a nice swing on that back porch of hers.
“Right, then down the steps, then left,” he told her, when he caught up to her at the end of the hall in time to see her pondering which direction to take next.
“I can find my way,” she told him sharply, then seemed to realize she was being overly tense about the situation, and relented slightly. “But thank you for the assistance.” She started down the short hall, but paused at the top of the steps and looked back at him. “I’m going to settle the animals in for the night, then get my things and settle in as well. We can figure out how to handle…everything else in the morning.”
She turned to go, but he put a hand gently on her arm. “I know my visit isn’t in your little notebook, but I’m sure we can figure out how to stay under the same roof without all the tension. It’s a big house. It shouldn’t be too hard to stay out of each other’s way. If we want to, that is.”
Her gaze darted from his hand on her arm to his face. “Meaning what, exactly?”
He couldn’t help it. He smiled. He hadn’t meant that to sound as suggestive as it had. In fact, he wasn’t sure why he’d tacked that little part on. It was to his advantage to have her want to steer as far clear of him as she could during his, hopefully very brief, stay. In fact, as soon as she tucked herself in, he planned to resume his hunt. If his luck changed, he’d be gone as soon as the sun came up and he could get off the mountain.
He lifted his hand, palm out. “Just that we’re both here, we both have a right to be here, so we might as well make the best of it. Most people find me a relatively decent sort of chap, charming, even. So I just thought—”
“I’m here to take care of the animals’ needs, not—”
“I wasn’t asking for that. In any capacity.”
Pink bloomed on her cheeks then, and she ducked her chin. “I’m…I apologize. You’re right, it was silly to think—my mistake.”
“No worries,” he said, tilting his head just slightly as he continued to regard her. The sitter was turning out to be quite the puzzle. He already had one mystery to solve, however. No time to take on another.
When she didn’t turn to leave, he gestured to the stairs. “Ladies first.”
She jerked her gaze away, as if unaware she’d been staring. The pink still in her cheeks, she started down in front of him, then abruptly stopped on the next landing. She almost plowed into him when she suddenly swung around. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t know you were so close.”
It’s your hair, he could have told her. He’d had to curl his hands into his palms to keep from reaching out to touch it. Even now he found himself wondering what scent of shampoo she used. “What?” He cleared his throat. “What’s the problem?”
“No—no problem. But, can I see some identification? No insult, it’s just—”
“No, no,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. He smiled. “Lionel was smart to hire you. I’ll be glad to put in a good word for the thorough job you’re doing.” Not that Lionel would have any interest in his great nephew’s opinion, but she didn’t have to know that. “Make up for scaring ten years off your life up there in the hallway.”
“That’s all right,” she said, peering at the driver’s license he flashed at her. “Chapel Hill?” she said, looking up.
He nodded. “Went to college in North Carolina and stayed there. Go Tarheels.” He got the tiniest flicker of a smile from her then.
“You’re speaking to a Hokie, here, so don’t expect any enthusiasm on that score from me.”
He made the sign of the cross with two of his fingers. “An ACC rival. However will we survive under one roof?”
“As long as that roof isn’t the one covering Cassell Coliseum, you—and your Tarheels—are probably safe.”
The stubborn had been replaced by smug. It was a damn cute smug, too. He really had no business noticing. “Very amusing. It won’t be so funny when your boys are at the Dean Dome this weekend.”
Her smile went from smug to downright insouciant. “Big talk. Care to make a wager on that, Mr. Hamilton?”
He smiled, pleasantly surprised by the sudden shift to what could be described—almost—as easy banter between them. Amazing what college rivalries could do to lower defenses. Or at least distract them for a short time. “A betting woman, huh? And it’s Trevor. Please.”
“Okay, Trevor Please, I’ll wager twenty and spot you the spread.”
“Very generous. Why don’t we go double or nothing? Seeing as you’re so sure and all.”
“I’m a loyal alumni, but I’m also a new business owner, so—”
“Say no more. I understand the fiscal fears there.” She smiled, but her eyes said she didn’t believe for one second he understood what it was like to lose sleep, sweat bullets, and yank out your hair over the start-up of a new company. He was a Hamilton, after all. They had piles of money just lying around. Which, was not altogether untrue. He’d just never once happened to touch
