home?”
“No, I’ll be home as soon as he shows up.”
“But we’ve already eaten—”
“I can take care of myself, Mom. I’ll see you in a little while.”
RICK HAD INTENDED to cut his day a little shorter because he’d promised himself he’d give some time to cleaning the house tonight. Faith had asked if she and Megan could come out today to start moving in and he’d reluctantly agreed, telling her the house would be unlocked.
He should’ve cleaned on Sunday, but even Sundays sometimes required work. It was calving season. And today had been particularly busy. He was filthy and tired.
Next week, after his marriage, he would come home to a clean house and a hot meal. That idea brought a smile to his weary lips.
He parked his pickup near the backdoor and struggled out, ready to drag himself up the steps. He came to an abrupt halt, however, when he discovered a frowning Megan standing at the backdoor.
“Something wrong?” he asked, speeding up his walk.
“Where have you been?” she asked, instead of answering his question.
“Delivering calves.”
“You mean you were actually working?”
Her utter surprise irritated him. “Naw, I was sun-bathing by the pond in the back pasture.” He regretted his sarcasm as her cheeks flushed. “Why are you still here? Is there a problem?”
“No. I waited to take the casserole out when it finished cooking. Then, I thought it would be rude to leave, so I waited, thinking you’d be here any minute.”
He picked out the key word. “Casserole? You fixed dinner?”
“Not me. One of the ladies who helped us today.”
“Well, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
He started to move past her and saw her nose wrinkle in distaste. “Uh, I’ll grab a quick shower first,” he promised even as his stomach protested the wait.
She followed him into the house. “You go ahead. I’ll set out the food and then leave.”
“You’re not staying to eat?”
“No. I need to go to the apartment and help Mom put the kids to bed.” She didn’t meet his gaze, which made him wonder if she was lying, but he was too hungry to care.
“Okay.”
He was halfway across the kitchen when his surroundings pierced his fog of hunger and weariness. The room gleamed in the fading light and smelled great. “What happened?”
“To what?”
“The kitchen. Man, you must’ve worked all day to get it to look like this. Nice job, Megan.” He turned to smile at her, but she was still frowning.
“We had a lot of help. Mom’s friends, the ones who recommended you, came to help.”
“Ah, the matchmakers.”
“The matchmakers?”
“That’s what everyone calls them now, since they had a contest to marry off their sons. You know, Mac, Tuck, Spence and Cal.”
“They were just being helpful to me,” she muttered and turned her back on him. “Hurry and clean up before your dinner gets too cold.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and bounded up the stairs, spurred on by his hunger.
The hot shower refreshed him, even though it was a quick one. He stepped out and grabbed a towel, doing a quick rubdown. Then, wrapping the towel around his waist, even though Megan was supposed to be gone, he hurried into his bedroom for clean jeans and T-shirt.
And found nothing.
His bedroom was spotless. And the chest of drawers was empty. He opened the closet. Empty. Obviously, the ladies today had taken over the entire house. Now that he thought about it, the bath was immaculate, too. Or it was until he’d showered.
Maybe they moved his things to the downstairs bedroom. He came down the stairs, reaching the bottom as the kitchen door swung open. Megan ran smack into him, her hands coming to rest on his bare chest.
“Oh!”
“Megan! I thought you were leaving.”
She backed away and he grabbed for his towel, afraid his modesty was about to disappear.
MEGAN TRIED TO look anywhere but at him, but her gaze kept returning to that magnificent expanse of chest. The muscles were big and brawny and coated with dark hair that tapered down to the white terry cloth towel.
“Are…are you eating without any clothes on?”
“No! At least, I hadn’t planned on it. But all my things are missing from the bedroom.”
“Sorry, I should’ve told you. We moved you to the downstairs bedroom. You said—”
“That’s fine. I just hadn’t realized the extent of your efforts. The house looks great, by the way.”
She couldn’t look him in the eye. She was acting like a teenage girl who’d never seen a man’s body before. She was a nurse, for heaven’s sake. “You’d better get dressed.”
“Okay. Did you decide to stay and eat with me?”
“No, my car won’t start. I wondered if you could look at it.” She hated asking, but she’d called the one mechanic in town, and he couldn’t come out until morning. Her mother had the children already in bed, and Megan had decided the only practical thing to do was ask Rick for help.
“Before I eat?” he asked, his voice filled with despair.
“No. No, I’ll eat with you, if you don’t mind. Could you look at it after?”
“Sure. Be glad to. Now that I don’t have to do any cleaning tonight, I have lots of time,” he agreed, giving her a smile that sped up her breathing.
“Okay,” she agreed, turning her back on him. “Dinner will be ready when you’re dressed.” She had to get away from the near naked man before she reached out to touch that warm flesh again.
He reappeared only a couple of minutes later, taking a deep breath as he came through the door. “That smells like enchiladas.”
“One of the ladies made it after I mentioned you liked enchiladas. It’s some kind of enchilada casserole.”
Megan was surprised when Rick held her chair for her. She hurriedly slid into the seat, then he took the chair across from her.
He offered no conversation until after he’d eaten at least half of his helping of the casserole. Megan remained silent also. He’d put in more than a twelve-hour day and
