“Kelley called our cabin last evening while you were in the shower and told me.”
She folded her arms over her chest and shot him The Look. He could hear the toe of her snow boot tapping against the hardwood floor. “And you didn’t tell me because…?”
“Because I didn’t want you looking the way you’re looking right now.” He reached out and lightly clasped her stiff shoulders. “I figured if you knew they were here, you’d be worried about them calling the room, or knocking on the door.”
“And you weren’t?”
“Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind, which is why I turned off the ringer on the phone. As for banging on our door again, I’d made it very clear to all of them that we didn’t want any further interruptions.” He captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth to kiss her palm. “Once you tied me up, I didn’t think about anything except you. I hoped we were here early enough to miss them.” Craning his neck, he peeked around the tree toward the lounge. “Just our luck she’s here so early.”
“Mom wakes up every morning at five without an alarm. Doesn’t matter what time she goes to bed, she’s up with the chickens. And she’s a light sleeper. Which made it really hard to sneak in after curfew, and impossible to sneak in after 5:00 a.m.” A quick grin flicked over her lips. “Worse for my brothers because they’re all big and clumsy and never learned the meaning of the word ‘stealth.’”
“Wish I’d known that before I suggested coming for breakfast. Who the heck do you suppose she’s talking to at this hour?”
“Her sister, my aunt Liz. She lives in Florida and also wakes up at the crack of dawn. They talk every day at this time. My brothers and I keep telling Mom that if she’d spend as much time looking for a nice man who lived nearby as she does talking to her sister who lives sixteen hundred miles away, maybe she wouldn’t be so lonely. And maybe she’d have more to occupy her time than trying to run our lives—although none of us said that last part to her face.”
“Probably a good idea.” He shot Carol a speculative look. She wasn’t an unattractive woman. She’d been a widow for eleven years. Maybe she was lonely. Maybe that was the root of her overbearing nature. “Listen, if you think some male companionship would get her to concentrate on her own life instead of trying to interfere in ours, consider me on board the ‘find Carol a man’ bandwagon.”
“Great. But that doesn’t do us much good right now.” Jess’s stomach growled, so loud they both heard it. “I’m starving.”
“Me, too.” The scent of bacon wafted toward them from the Coldspring Room, and he lifted his nose to sniff the enticing aroma. Unfortunately the restaurant’s double doors were situated directly behind where Carol sat.
“Mom only has coffee this early,” Jess reported in an undertone. “She won’t eat until around eight o’clock. If we keep to the perimeter of the room, maybe we can make it into the restaurant without her seeing us. Then we can get a table in a back corner, out of sight.”
“Good plan. And maybe there’s another exit in the restaurant. We might be able to pull this off.”
“What about Kelley? What if she comes in for breakfast?”
“No chance. She never wakes up with the chickens. Marc?”
“Late sleeper. And if there’s room service available, he’s all over it.”
“Good.” He eyed her up and down, then said in a conspiratorial tone, “You ever had any sort of useful sneak-along-the-perimeter, military-type training?”
She considered for several seconds. “I was a Girl Scout in second grade. You?”
“Never a Girl Scout.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But I did go to sailing camp one summer.”
She looked toward the ceiling. “Great. If we happen across any yachts on our way to the restaurant I’ll defer to your superior knowledge. Clearly we’re well equipped.” A mischievous gleam entered her eyes and she surreptitiously rubbed her palm against the fly of his jeans. “Very well equipped.”
He sucked in a quick breath as his body came swiftly to attention. With a half laugh, half groan, he captured her wrist and dragged her errant hand up to rest on his chest. “Thanks. But I can’t walk in a stealthy manner with a raging hard-on.”
“They didn’t teach you that at sailing camp?”
“No. But they did teach us how to deal with saucy wenches.” He wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to nuzzle her warm neck. “Care to see my yardarm?”