out on the couch with her."
"I don't come here to sleep."
"You were sleeping."
"Just for a minute."
"You need more than a minute."
"No, I don't. It's just that things got complicated today, and my brain
got tired."
It almost amused him. He stopped in the kitchen, still holding her, and
looked into her eyes. "Your brain got tired?"
"Yeah." It nearly shut off entirely now. "I needed to rest my mind a
minute, that's all. Put me down, Ethan."
He wasn't ready to, not quite yet. "I saw your car about a mile down the
road from here."
"I called Dave and told him. He's going to get to it as soon as he can."
"You walked from there to here, carting Aubrey?"
"No, my chauffeur drove us in. Put me down, Ethan." Before she exploded.
"Well, you can give your chauffeur the rest of the day off. I'll drive
you home when Aubrey wakes up."
"I can get myself home. I've barely started on the house. Now I need to
get back to it."
"You're not walking two and a half miles."
"I'll call Julie. She'll run down and pick us up. You must have work to
do yourself. I'ma behind schedule," she said, desperately now. "I
can't catch up if you don't put me down."
He considered her. "There's not much to you."
The shimmer of need wavered into annoyance. "If you're going to tell me
I'm skinny--"
"I wouldn't say skinny. You've got fine bones, that's all." And smooth,
soft flesh to cover them. He set her on her feet before he forgot he
intended to look after her. "You don't have to worry with the house
today."
"I do. I need to do my job." Her nerves were a jittery mess. The way he
was looking at her made her want to take one flying leap back into his
arms and also made her want to hightail it out the back door like a
rabbit. She'd never experienced such a dramatic tug-of-war on her
system, and could only stand her ground. "I can do it quicker if you
aren't underfoot."
"I'll get out of your way as soon as you call Julie and see if she'll
come by and get you." He reached up and brushed some dandelion fluff out
of her hair.
"Okay." She turned, punched in numbers on the kitchen phone. Maybe it
would be best, she thought wildly as the phone started to ring, if Anna
didn't want her around after she got home. It seemed she couldn't be
with Ethan for ten minutes anymore without getting jumpy. If it kept up,
she was bound to do something to embarrass them both.
Chapter Six
ethan didn't mind putting in long hours on the boat at night. Especially
when he could work alone. It hadn't taken much persuasion for him to