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Agatha moved closer still. “Tell you what. If at any point I get even a paper cut, I’ll leave you and this whole project alone.”
Quiet laughter came from another room. Zeke couldn’t tell if the men were reacting to her statement or to how they expected him to reply. This offer was what he’d needed to get her out from underfoot. But now that she was making the offer, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to go down that way. A papercut was nothing. He wanted to be right.
She was making him out to be an overbearing fool, a label he’d worked hard to move away from.
Zeke sliced a hand through the air, dismissing her. “I will never admit that you belong here when you have no business being on site. But I’m done pushing you to leave. You’re going to do what you’re going to do, right?”
He wasn’t certain, but he thought there might have been a hint of a smile that touched her lips. She lifted her chin, a movement that suited her stubborn nature. “Okay, then.”
No argument. No insistence that she was going to follow her plan. No humility. He didn’t know why he expected anything different. This was a woman who had gotten her way much of her life. There was no way she would back down.
Perhaps he should have shaken her hand regarding her offer just so he could get some semblance of peace. At least then he had a guarantee for when something inevitably went wrong.
Even as the most annoying woman he had ever met stood a few feet from him, his body was still reacting as though she was someone he wanted to get to know better—someone he was drawn to.
Zeke swallowed hard and inched away from her. Was there actually something about her confidence and stubbornness he found attractive? That couldn’t be right. Evelyn wasn’t like that at all. She was quiet and strong but not stubborn like a mule.
He gave his head a sharp shake and turned away from her, but she stopped him. “Mr. Callahan?”
Frozen in his place, his back to her, he waited for her to speak. Her use of his last name was usually reserved for when she wanted to put additional distance between them—something that also indicated she was irritated with him. Well, she could join the party. This morning had been a blunder from the moment she caught him outside the cabin to the confusion over how being near her made him feel.
“I wanted to…” She made a disgruntled sound, something that made him want to smile though he knew he needed to keep a straight face. “I need to thank you.”
Without facing her, he said, “You’ve thanked me already.”
“I know, but I don’t think you realize just how much this means to me. You’ve single-handedly helped me find a place to stay and got the repairs on my home started. I know you’re a busy man, and yet you’re… going out of your way…” Her voice trailed off.
“You’re welcome,” he said, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice.
“I don’t understand it.”
He turned then. “Don’t understand what?”
“Why you’re helping me. It’s not… something…” Her face flushed, and for the first time he saw a side of her he hadn’t before. The walls were down; she wasn’t confident or stubborn. Nor was she distraught and in pain. If anything, she was wary, like a lost woodland creature who got cornered by a hunter. There was something in her countenance that made him want to move closer, but he refused. Agatha shifted her weight, and her arms dropped so she could clasp her hands together. The wringing motion drew his attention.
Much like the evening when he’d held her while she cried, he felt this uncontrollable desire to wrap her up in his arms and protect her from everything and everyone who might wish her harm.
“Why are you helping me?” she blurted in a whisper, her blush even brighter. “I overheard a couple of the men talking. They seem to think there’s something going on between us.”
He blinked, the haze disappearing. Her words were like a punch to the gut, made all the more painful by the emotions he’d been experiencing against his will. Was this yet another sign he needed to get back out there? Could Evelyn be telling him he needed to find someone so he didn’t remain alone? “That’s ridiculous,” he muttered. “A piece of advice. The men here gossip almost worse than the women do. I’m helping you because it’s the right thing to do.” Zeke rubbed the back of his neck and peered at her, his continence softening. “It’s a welcome distraction even if the person I’m helping is as hard-headed as you.”
A hint of a smile touched her lips and she looked away. “I’ll try not to be so hard-headed.”
The chuckle that left his lips surprised even himself. “I wouldn’t dream of changing a thing about you.” There was a logical part of him that knew she wasn’t his type. That same part was what helped him keep his distance. At the same time, he couldn’t deny that he saw a little bit of his second daughter in her. Brielle had the confidence and stubbornness that had him pulling out his hair, and yet he loved her even more for it.
Agatha peered at him, a funny look crossing her face. She offered him a small smile and gestured toward the stairs that had been framed in. “I’m going to help upstairs, then. I hear they won’t be using a table saw up there.”
He watched her, unmoving until she disappeared, then he raked a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath. Something crunched into the floor on the other side of the room, and his head snapped up to find Wade wandering into the kitchen from the living room. He had a rag in his hands as he wiped them clean.
Zeke frowned at him. What were the chances he was one of the men contributing to the gossip Agatha had mentioned? How much had he heard of their conversation?
Wade leaned against the doorjamb casually, his features guarded. There was something in his eyes that made it clear he’d heard every last second of Zeke’s conversation with Agatha, and he was amused, to say the least.
Zeke’s gaze hardened. “Just because you married my daughter doesn’t mean you get to come in here and—”
The young man lifted his hands and brows at the same time. “I’m not coming in here to do a single thing. But you should know some of the guys think you have a thing for Ms. Birch.”
“Yeah, I gathered as much,” Zeke said, not sure where this was going.
