Remembering the feel of her made a groan rise in his throat and he was grateful for the sound of the engine.
He'd been watching her as she'd moved, the swaying of her hips, the shifting of her shoulders. Her legs were long and slender, and every time she bent this way or that, the skirt had ridden up a little higher on her thighs.
At the moment they'd come into contact, he'd been picturing himself putting the tray aside, sitting her down on one of the leather couches and parting her legs with his hands. He'd wanted to fall to his knees and kiss his way up the inside of her thighs. Feel her hands burrowing deep into his hair as she urged him closer to her heat. The image had been hot, wild, totally insane.
Yeah, and then he'd bumped into her.
She must have felt what she did to him. How could she have missed it?
And if it hadn't been clear then, it must have been obvious when she'd wheeled around. He'd known his lust was showing on his face, but everything had happened so fast, the meeting of their bodies followed by her quick spin, that he hadn't been able to strong-arm his expression into any semblance of neutrality.
No wonder she didn't want to be alone with him.
Maybe that was why he was so hell-bent on taking her home. He wanted to prove to them both that he could take care of her. Because back in that library, he sure hadn't been thinking like Gallahad and she'd caught him red-handed.
Or red-blooded, as the case had been.
Gray felt something tickle his face. A strand of her hair had escaped the loose knot at her neck and was dancing in the wind. He reached for the silken length, but she caught it first and tucked it behind her ear.
"Sorry," she said.
He wasn't. He wanted her hair down and all over his body.
Gray reached up and massaged the bridge of his nose.
"Are you okay?" she said gruffly, as if she didn't like being concerned for him. "You look like you're really cold or something."
No, he wasn't cold. He could have jumped buck-
naked into an ice bath and had the damn thing boiling in a matter of minutes.
"Gray?"
"I'm fine." Yup, for a guy being tortured by his libido, he was just Jim-dandy.
He took his hand off the steering wheel and gave the throttle a push to speed them up. She might have a point about getting the ride over with.
"Your father seemed to enjoy himself tonight."
"He did."
There was a pause. "He looks better than when you and he ate at White Caps last month."
"He's coming along. It's been hard for him."
"And you, too, I imagine. I, ah, I saw how carefully you watched him tonight."
The words were soft. He looked at her.
Joy was staring out at the lake.
"How's your brother doing?" he asked, thinking she must know all about how tough it was to see someone suffer through rehab and recovery.
"He had another operation two weeks ago. They replaced his tibia with a titanium rod and he still might need to go back under the knife again. They're not sure. He's also been struggling with a post-op infection." She pulled up the edge of the blanket and began braiding the fringe. "He's been so brave. He never complains even though it's obvious he's in a great deal of pain. I think the hardest thing for us is the fact that he's a terrible patient. He won't take his meds a lot of the time. He drinks too much. And he never talks about what happened."
Gray wanted to reach out for her hand.
"I'm really sorry," he said instead.
Her eyes came to his face. "Thank you."
"You take care of your grandmother, don't you?"
"Yes."
"That's a lot of responsibility."
Joy shrugged. "No one would tend to her as well as I'm able to. And she really can't be alone. The dementia has taken away most of her internal logic and reasoning and replaced them with paranoia. We're trying her on a new medication right now and I hope it calms her. I hate to see her distressed."
"You're a very good person, Joy," he said abruptly.
She shrugged. "Alex and Grand-Em are my family. Of course I'd take care of them."
"There's no ‘of course' about it." His mother had had no compunction about letting others worry about him. Hell, when he'd contracted viral pneumonia in first grade, and had spent two weeks in a pediatric intensive care unit trying to breathe, he'd seen the woman only once. "They're fortunate to have you care so much."
Joy looked away. They were quiet for a while, but some of the tension had been eased.
It wasn't until White Caps came into view that he broke the silence.
"I'm sorry about what happened tonight."
She gave a short laugh. "This boat ride hasn't been too hard to endure."
"No, in the library."
Joy stiffened. "Oh, that."
Yeah, that.
"I'm glad Cassandra came in when she did," he muttered, replaying the scene in his head and having to shift in his seat.
"So am I." Her voice had an edge.
So he had offended her, he thought.
Gray cleared his throat. "I don't want you to think that I'd ever … take advantage of a woman."
"Believe me, I don't," she said dryly.
As he pulled into the dock, he knew she was angry again, but he didn't regret making the apology. It had been the right thing to do.
He threw a rope around a cleat to keep the boat in place and then lifted out her bike. He wanted to say something else, but she didn't give him the chance.
"I can take that up," she said quickly. "Thanks for the ride."
And without a backward glance, she rushed away, the wheels of her bike bumping along the dock planks.
He watched her until she was all the way up to the house, heading around the corner, disappearing out of sight.
He had an absurd impulse to run after her.
But then what?
Then he would take her into his arms and pull her so close that he'd feel every breath she took. And he'd kiss her until neither one of them could stand up.
Get in this boat, he told himself. And go home, Bennett.
It was another ten minutes before he could make himself leave.
* * *
JOY MARCHED UP the lawn, grip tight on the bars of her bike.
God, he'd apologized.
How humiliating was that? As if she needed the confirmation that what he'd been feeling had had nothing to do with her. Sure he'd been happy to see Cassandra! Happier still, no doubt, to hear she was heading for bed. Because he'd clearly been thinking of the redhead when he'd become … well, aroused.
And of course, he didn't take advantage of women. A man like him didn't have to, because who would turn him down? God, as much as she hated to admit it, she wouldn't have. If he'd reached out to her, she would have stepped right into his arms and opened herself up to him, even though he'd had another woman in his mind.
Could the situation with him get any worse? she wondered. Her fantasies had been bad enough, but now she actually knew what his body felt like.
Okay, so it had only been for a second, but the impression was indelible.
And the idea he was going home to put that hard length of his to good use was a total nightmare.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Her date with Tom tomorrow night was a godsend. It really was. Honestly. She needed to try to connect with someone she could actually-
The toe of her shoe caught a tree root and she pitched forward. Dropping the bike and pinwheeling her arms, she managed to recover her balance before she face-planted into a pachysandra bed. But absurdly, tears pricked her eyes.
She wanted to curse.
Except she didn't know why meeting Gray's lover should bother her so much. The man was completely out of her league and she knew it. He was sophisticated and urbane and … she was a virgin, for heaven's sake.
Joy put her hands over her face, wincing at her own inexperience. It wasn't that she hadn't had boyfriends. There had been a few, back in high school. But when college had rolled around, she'd had to work to help pay her way. The guys she'd met then were into partying and having fun. Between her course load and her two jobs, she'd been exhausted most of the time and not exactly the poster girl for a happy-go-lucky relationship. And as soon as she'd graduated, she'd come home to take care of Grand-Em. Saranac Lake was a small community so there weren't a lot of eligible guys her own age to date. Besides, taking care of Grand-Em was an around-the-clock kind of job.
So how was she supposed to have found a man she really wanted to be with?
God, she was a fossil. At the age of twenty-six, she was a total fossil.
Joy dropped her hands and glanced up at the sky. The stars overhead were blurry.
She should have known right off the bat that the night was going to end badly.
Getting hit with a tortellini air raid the minute she'd walked into the man's house could not be, had not been, a harbinger of good things.
As she forced herself to pick up the bike and start walking, she thought at least one prediction of hers had come true. She wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.
So she might as well get back to work on her sister's wedding gown.
Chapter Four
THE NEXT MORNING, Joy threw down her pincushion as Frankie tore out of the bedroom. In the wedding gown.
"Frankie! Wait, you can't-"
"I have to catch Stu before he leaves! His phone is out."
Joy leaped to her feet and ran after her sister, figuring at least she could grab the skirting and keep it off the ground. Assuming she could catch up. When she finally got within range, Frankie was flying out the kitchen door. Together, they hightailed it for Stu's produce truck.