Page 3 of Riding the Pine

Needing to do something, she squatted down and started ripping out the weeds. There weren’t many. She guessed Kramer hadn’t gotten to this garden or there wouldn’t be any.

The metal closing mechanism on the garden gate rattled off to her right side. She looked up to see Harris step inside the fenced-in area. He stood there among the flowers, wearing jeans and a V-neck sweater with a white T-shirt underneath it. She had no idea how he could make such a simple outfit look so tempting. It took all her restraint not to tear it off him.

Blame the extra adrenaline or the stress, but she kept thinking about him. Not as an appraiser or as someone in league with her uncle. No, when it came to Harris she saw a man. A willing, charming, sexy man. And for once, she wanted to take something for herself.

Her gaze traveled from his beat-up sneakers, up those long legs to his face. One of his eyebrows lifted as he watched her conduct the visual tour. She ignored it. If he could gawk, so could she.

He had to be accustomed to people looking at him. The perfect posture, the confidence that rolled off him... that face. No wonder her common sense sputtered out when she saw him.

None of that explained why she kept opening her mouth and dumping too personal information on him, yammering on about things she never talked about. He brought that out in her. This need to confide, to share the load.

One reason for her heightened interest level seemed obvious to her. Unlike so many people who had strolled through her life, he actually listened. At least he acted like he did. He watched her with a marked intensity as she talked. Asked questions. Replayed bits and pieces of earlier talks. That level of connectedness was damn sexy.

Problem was she couldn’t trust him as far as she could dropkick him, and she sure had been tempted to kick him once or twice since they’d met.

He stood over her now, blocking the sun and casting a shadow over his face. “Are we going to talk about it?”

With someone else, at any other time, she might pretend ignorance, but she knew what he was talking about. It was hard not to since he’d caught her sneaking around last night and then confronted her about it. “Nope.”

He put his hands on his hips. “You have to help me here. Is that what mature people do? Ignore issues?”

Oh, really?“Mature people don’t pretend to be asleep.”

“Innocent people don’t sneak around in the dark,” he shot back.

She shielded her eyes with her hand and took a long look at him. “That didn’t take long.”

“What?”

“For you to flip sides.” She stood up, dropping the forgotten weeds and wiping her dirty palms on her pants. “Uncle Stephen will be pleased.”

They stood only a few inches apart now. Tension pulsed between them. She could have sworn she saw it blow back and forth with the breeze. But he didn’t move. Didn’t say a thing, didn’t need to because the questioning frown he threw her way said enough.

She was about to walk away, find somewhere else to burn off the extra energy buzzing through her. He dropped his hands to his sides and continued to stare.

Yeah, that’s enough of that. She’d reached her end with people watching her every move. She didn’t need him, the guy who haunted her dreams last night, to be a part of that list.

She moved to pivot around him when he spoke up. “I believe you.”

“Sure you do.” But she stopped. Froze there with her shoulder even with his, right at the second before their bodies would have passed each other.

“Tell me the truth so I can help you.”

Which truth? She didn’t even know which lie he was talking about. They’d piled up until she could barely see over the top of them.

“I needed a little space.” She took a few steps and reached out for the latch to the gate.

“You dug a stone out of the wall.” His deep voice didn’t carry any accusation. He said the words the same way he might recite the weather report, with little enthusiasm.

Her eyes slammed shut as a shiver of fear moved through her. Anxiety washed through every muscle. She kept her back to him. “You were watching me?”

“If you were in my place would you have looked?”

She had to give him points for that. “Of course.”

“Then why all the huffing and puffing?”

She turned around and faced him again. “First, I do not huff.”