Cassie sipped her tea, apparently unruffled by the conversation. “No. I’m involved with someone. But Chloe is single.”
Arizona shot her a glance. So there wasn’t a man in her life. Funny how that piece of information was suddenly fascinating.
“Thanks for sharing that particular detail,” Chloe said and rose to her feet. Her aunt stood by an electric frying pan sitting on the counter. “Can I help?” she asked.
“I’m doing fine. I’m cooking Arizona’s favorite for dinner,” she said.
Chloe glanced in the pan, then over at him. “Pot roast?”
“Yup. You’d be amazed how hard that is to find in some places.”
“I’ll bet.”
“There’s chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert,” Charity added. “Both you girls will be staying for dinner.”
It wasn’t a question. The sisters exchanged knowing looks, and Arizona was pleased that he wasn’t the only one Charity bossed around.
“You don’t have to if you have other plans. Although I would very much like the company.” The latter comment he addressed to Chloe.
“Oh, we aren’t busy,” Cassie said. “I’m only seeing Joel and I can call him and cancel.”
“Joel would be your young man?” he asked.
“Uh-huh. We’re engaged to be engaged.” She held out her left hand. A thin gold band encircled her ring finger. The diamond set there was so small it looked like a grain of sand.
“It’s lovely,” he told her.
She beamed.
Cassie started asking him more questions. He answered automatically, most of his attention focused on her sister. Chloe didn’t rejoin them at the table. Instead she moved around the kitchen, doing odds and ends that to his mind looked like busywork. Almost as if she was staying as far away from him as possible. Did he make her nervous?
There was something between them, he thought. Some kind of a connection. He knew there were people who would dismiss a feeling that they’d met someone before. He didn’t. He’d traveled too much and seen too many things he couldn’t explain to overlook the obvious.
When he looked at Chloe there was heat and desire, but there was also something else. An intangible he couldn’t explain but that he wouldn’t ignore, either. He wanted to get to know her better. At least circumstances were conspiring to assist him in his quest. If she was going to be writing about him, she could hardly spend the three weeks he was in town avoiding him.
She turned and opened a drawer. As she choose forks and knives, one fell to the floor. She knelt down to pick it up. The movement prickled at the back of his mind. As if he’d seen her kneel before. But when he probed his mind, the image that appeared to him was of Chloe completely naked, kneeling on a bed of straw.
Not that he was complaining, but where on earth had that thought come from? He swore silently and forced himself to pay attention to Cassie and her list of questions. Thank God he was sitting down and no one could see the obvious and rapid physical response to his vision. Clearly he’d been without a woman for too long. He’d outgrown the appeal of a bed partner in every port, but he was still a man who had needs. At some point in time he was going to have to do something about them.
Cassie stopped her bombardment long enough to get up and fix a salad. Chloe walked over to the table and began setting it.
“Pot roast, vegetables, mashed potatoes and salad,” she said. “Not very exotic fair. Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to run to the gourmet store and grab a bottle of chocolate-covered ants or something. Just so you’ll feel at home?”
Her voice was low and teasing. She stood close enough that he could inhale the scent of her. “I think I can handle this.”
He wasn’t talking about the food, but did she know that?
“If you’re sure,” she said and picked up his empty bottle of beer. “I’ll get you another one.”
Cassie sliced tomatoes into the bowl of lettuce and cut-up vegetables. She grinned at him. “So when was the last time you had three women waiting on you?”
He thought for a second. “It’s been a couple of months. I was staying—”
Small bits of radish hit him in the face.
“Hey!” He looked up and saw Chloe prepared to launch another assault.
“That was an incorrect answer,” she told him. “You should try again.”
He eyed the piece of radish. “Charity, you’re not protecting me from these bloodthirsty nieces of yours.”
“You were just bragging how you can handle things. So you’re on your own.”
“I’m seriously outnumbered.”