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And out into the fresh, cold night air.
Where she didn’t find any kind of clarity. She still felt... Warm.
“A husband, huh?” he asked, and the question felt weighted in a way that seemed to add to that warmth. Stoke it.
“Ex-husband,” she said.
“Right. Right.”
She didn’t know if she should’ve told him that or not. But what would be the benefit of keeping it to herself? Anyway, like he cared. Just because she was having a hot flash and some inappropriate feelings didn’t mean that he was.
“There’s a staff meeting tomorrow. Seven o’clock. In the main barn. You know where that is?”
“I... I think so. I think I remember seeing it when I came last time.”
“I can come by and pick you up, if you want.”
“I don’t want to leave Benny.”
“You can bring him. And we can go do the tour that I promised you after. He might be bored. But he can hang out in the barn. I’ll make sure there’s some hot chocolate for him.”
“Thank you.” She took a step away from him. “I’m going to go... Have my bath now.”
And for some reason, she imagined herself in the tub, but envisioned rough hands moving over her bare, wet skin. And that was her cue to leave.
Quickly.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for...for all this. Thank you.” Say thank-you one more time, Elizabeth.
“You’re welcome.”
He lifted his hand and touched the brim of his hat, nodded once firmly. Then he turned and walked away, and it was only then that she started breathing again.
CHAPTER THREE
HE WASN’T HALLUCINATING THAT. She’d felt it. She had been a little bundle of nerves the whole time they had been in that pump house together.
Ex-husband.
Doesn’t matter. She’s got a kid. It’s all complicated.
Brody didn’t do complicated.
He walked back to his own cabin, where he found his brother Lachlan still waiting for him, along with Lachlan’s best friend Charity. They had been in the middle of a poker game, the singles of McCloud’s Landing. All right, maybe Charity technically didn’t live at McCloud’s Landing. But she lived close enough.
“You get that sorted out?” Lachlan asked.
“Yep. Pilot light. I just had to relight it. So now she’s...”
In the bath. Naked. Wet and slick and far too interesting for his peace of mind.
“Yes?” Lachlan asked, not about to ignore the fact that Brody had just trailed off.
“She’s taking a bath, I guess,” he said.
“She’s pretty hot,” Lachlan commented.
