Dana Marton - Broslin Creek 05 - Broslin Bride (16 page)

So, after breakfast, Luanne moved the kids outside with their dolls and horses—in case the great ant hunt didn’t pan out. If the toys got dirty, they could be washed in the sink.

“Where do you want to start today?” Chase asked once they were alone in the house.

Luanne glanced around at the piles. “Let’s bag up everything that can go to the recycling center. We need to separate the paper from the plastic and the glass.”

He grabbed the first roll of black plastic bags. “Once the garbage is out, we’ll have more room to move around.”

She nodded. “Then while you drop off the bags, I can vacuum, dust some more, then Aunt Hilda and the girls could come in for lunch under improved circumstances.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“If we finish down here this morning, after lunch Aunt Hilda could sit in her recliner and decide what to do with all her boxes.”

Chase strode over to the chair piled with newspaper and began bagging it. “We can finish the upstairs tomorrow. Is there an attic?” he asked warily.

“And a basement,” Luanne said, trying not to be intimidated as she tackled the empty glass jars in the pantry.

He took the first bag from her when she was done and carried it out, a bag of glass jars in one hand, a bag of newspapers in the other, his biceps bulging in interesting ways.

He didn’t have a photo model’s body, but he had a very masculine presence that was real and definitely sexy. Not that she was looking for sexy. But as he walked to the front door with the bags, she couldn’t help noticing his long stride and the way his blue jeans molded to his backside.

Better not let him catch her ogling. Luanne blinked, then went back to work. She filled a second bag and set it by the door. Wiped her brow. Aunt Hilda didn’t have air-conditioning, and the air was getting pretty hot and dusty.

They worked for a solid two hours before the twins came in for a drink and snack. Aunt Hilda served them apple wedges and baby carrots that she let them frost with peanut butter. Of course, they were over-the-moon happy about being officially allowed to make a mess.

“How are you holding up out there?” Luanne asked her aunt.

“Most fun I’ve had in years.” Aunt Hilda smiled. “There’s a good breeze in the deep shade. Air’s nicer than in here. It’s lovely to be near so much youthful energy. They don’t rest for a second, do they?”

“Not if they can help it.” Luanne pressed a kiss on the top of each girl’s head, then went back to work.

The kitchen and pantry were just about finished by the time Aunt Hilda took the girls back outside. Luanne and Chase tackled the living room next.

They found the expected: old books, shoes, knickknacks. Then there were surprises. They found at least two hundred empty soup cans under the couch and the love seat, hidden by the skirted upholstery. At least the cans were clean.

They gathered up four bagsful of those, working side by side, on their knees, sometimes on their bellies. She was painfully aware of Chase’s hard body next to hers, muscles flexing. She could even smell his soap, Irish Spring, then later his sweat, which wasn’t unpleasant, just made him smell like a hard-working man.

They grabbed their bags and headed for the door at the same time. He went through first, dropped one bag, and reached back to hold the door open for her. She held up one bag in front of her, one behind her to fit through. Then the door began to close, and he had to step closer.

For a second, as she stepped forward, her breast dragged across his chest. The instant electricity that zapped through her, the immediate sexual tension, had her looking up at him in surprise.

His gaze darkened as it held hers. And just like that, she could have sworn the temperature hit a hundred degrees.
Major
chemistry. Way more than she was comfortable acknowledging.
 

She hurried by him, heat flushing her face. Ridiculous. She was not going to fall for those ocean-deep blue eyes again. She was an accused murderer. She was
not
going to fall for a lawman.
 

When they came back in, she headed for the laundry room, feeling the need for some separation. Still, she couldn’t completely ignore him. They kept bumping into each other coming and going, somehow always jockeying for space.

By the time noon rolled around, she was emotionally exhausted, and…aroused. From housecleaning! Well, housecleaning with Chase. He had cobwebs in his hair. She had dirt streaks all up and down the front of her shirt. They were both covered in dust and grime, for heaven’s sake. Something was definitely wrong with her. The whole murder-charge stress had driven her batty.

“I’ll drive this last load over to the dump,” he told her, sounding strained, probably from the heat.

“I’ll vacuum and mop, then I’ll start lunch.” Aunt Hilda had taken a big chunk of ground beef out of the freezer last night. “How do you feel about french fries and hamburgers?”

“Enthusiastic,” he said before he walked away, his easy gait on the slow side, almost as if he was reluctant to leave.

She cleaned up downstairs, which went pretty quickly without all the stacks, then cleaned herself up upstairs before starting lunch. The girls came in, hopping with excitement, which was pretty much their standard setting.

“Aunt Hilda said we can call her Grandma Hilda if it’s okay with you. Can we?” Mia begged.

“Sorry.” Aunt Hilda ducked her head. “I should have asked you first before saying something like that to the girls. Now you’re put on the spot. If you’re not comfortable—”

But Luanne smiled, something warm and sweet filling her heart. “I think Grandma Hilda would be great.”

The girls broke out in wild cheers. They’d never known either of their grandmothers, so this was a big novelty. “Grandma, Grandma!” The twins kept saying the word as if they needed to practice it.

The pleasure that spread over Aunt Hilda’s face in response made the entire trip worthwhile.

Luanne patted Mia, who was, of course, the loudest, on the head. “Why don’t you let Grandma rest for a second? How about you two help me?”

After a thorough hand-washing, Luanne let them flatten out the hamburger patties, which they loved doing. As far as they were concerned, the messier a job was the better. They were done in a few minutes.

“Okay, now let’s wash your hands really good with soapy water again. You don’t touch anything after you played with raw meat. You got it?”

“Got it!”

“God bless you for doing that.” Aunt Hilda sat by the table, watching them all with a fond expression. “My knees are so bad these days, it’s getting hard to stand by the stove. I really appreciate you cooking for me.”

“I’m cooking your own food. I think we’re getting the better end of the deal,” Luanne assured her, making a mental note to buy the next round of groceries. She didn’t want to take advantage of her aunt’s hospitality. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

“I have some canned corn in the pantry,” Aunt Hilda said after a second. “I’d love to have some if you don’t mind making it. It’s getting hard to open cans with these arthritic fingers.”

Luanne headed for the pantry, wondering how old the empty cans under the couch had been.

When Chase came home, they sat and ate—after the twins rattled off their prayer. A speed prayer meant they liked dinner. When she served vegetable soup or, God forbid, something with broccoli or spinach, they could drag that prayer out for an eternity.

While they ate, Chase entertained them with stories about police dogs. Apparently, at the police academy, at one point he’d trained with a canine unit. The twins listened with openmouthed fascination. He was animated, funny, showing sincere interest in the girls. Even Aunt Hilda hung on his every word.

Luanne looked around the table, and a sense of family hit her so hard it stole her breath.

Anyone walking in would have seen a normal, everyday family, mom, dad, kids, grandmother. She couldn’t even imagine what it must be like to tackle life’s challenges as a team, as a family unit.

Better not sink too far into that little fantasy.
She swallowed the last of her hamburger abruptly and stepped over to the sink to start on the dishes. For some stupid reason, her eyes were suddenly burning.
 

* * *

Tall and lean, Luanne’s body hadn’t changed much since she’d been a high school athlete, running track, Chase thought as he watched her standing by the sink. But she was definitely a full-grown woman, if too thin. Just the thought of her breast brushing against him earlier in that doorway sent a rush of heat to his loins all over again.

He wanted to walk up to her from behind and put his arms around her slim waist, cuddle her against his chest. He would turn her in his arms and taste those lips he’d been thinking about all morning, kiss that sexy crease in her bottom lip. He couldn’t have been more aware of her long legs and perky boobs, having spent the night under the same roof. Every dream he had began with her appearing at his door. She’d said dirty, dirty things to him in that velvety voice of hers.

He turned from her, back to the kids and Aunt Hilda. He had to stop thinking about her in his bedroom, her blond locks barely covering her perfect breasts, or he’d be getting up from the table with a bulge in his pants. No need to embarrass himself in front of everybody.

“May I have some more milk?” Daisy asked very politely, very quietly.

Since the carton was nearest to Chase, he poured for her.

“Thank you,” she said immediately.

Luanne had raised the girls right, whatever hardship she had to go through to do it.

“Do we have to nap?” Mia skipped her milk refill and went straight to negotiating. “Can we help with cleaning? We like cleaning.”

“Nap first, fun second,” Aunt Hilda said. “I want you rested. You’ll be helping me sort through boxes of old toys later.”

“Really?” The girls giggled with excitement.

“We’ll see how strong you are when you wake up.” Aunt Hilda winked. “Some of those toys are pretty big. I do recall a rocking horse. You better get plenty of sleep.”

Mia was off her chair already. Daisy gulped the last of her milk.

Chase stood too and walked to Luanne at the sink. “Why don’t you take the girls up and settle them in? I’ll finish here.”

She stared at him with surprise for a second. Blinked. As if no one had ever helped her with dishes. And then the very real possibility occurred to Chase that nobody ever had. Because she’d been doing everything all alone pretty much.

“Go on,” he said brusquely, not comfortable with the overwhelmingly grateful look on her face that replaced the surprise after a moment.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I might be just a man, but I think I can handle a couple of plates.”

She picked up the girls, who had a million questions about the toys. “Are there dolls?” “How about little horses?” “Do you think there’s a water slide in the boxes?” “Or a puppy!” Daisy suddenly yelled with a volume that was unusual for her.

One on each hip, Luanne carried them to the stairs. “No puppy.”

“How do you know?” Mia challenged.

“We would have heard him yipping.”

The girls seemed to take that as a reasonable explanation and moved on to the next on their wish list: rubber snakes.

“God bless those girls,” Aunt Hilda said at the table. “They sure bring sunshine, don’t they?” She waited until Luanne was upstairs. “Is she in a lot of trouble?”

“I’m going to help her fix that.”

“You care about her.”

It didn’t seem right to lie to someone who’d taken him into her house. “Yes, I do.”

“Good. She needs a strong, honest man in her corner.”

He wasn’t sure what to do with the unconditional approval, so he stepped to the table to pick up the last of the plates.

“Those girls love you,” Aunt Hilda added, and Chase felt his heart turn over in his chest.

“Great kids,” he said, his voice thicker than usual.

He hadn’t much thought about children before, but he was beginning to understand why his mother was so desperate for grandkids close by. They did grow on you after a while, he willingly admitted.

He’d been living on his own for a long time, so all the people in the house should have made him long for solitude. Yet, for the first time, his life felt oddly complete.

He was going to think about that sometime in the near future. After Luanne was exonerated and safe.

When she came back downstairs, they began sorting out more of the excess furniture and the piles of boxes that held second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sets of dishes, utensils, dozens of cookie jars, homemade knickknacks, even art.

Soon the first calls from the online listings began to come in, then a steady procession of people to pick up their purchases. One was a dealer who took three dining sets all at once. Suddenly, the house was beginning to feel roomy.

Aunt Hilda sat quietly in her chair. “I feel like I’m throwing out people’s memories.”

Luanne hurried over, crouched next to the recliner, and patted her hand. “Their memories are in your heart. And you’re not throwing out any of this. You’re giving some lovely furniture to people who will keep using and cherishing these pieces. Instead of sitting here, gathering dust, those extra tables will be surrounded by kids eating dinner. Lots of new memories being made.”

Aunt Hilda patted Luanne’s hand in turn. Sniffed. “You’re right. I’m a silly old woman. I’m so glad you came.”

Chase could practically see their emotional connection deepen as they smiled at each other. Luanne was good at knowing what to say, he thought. She was good with the girls too, loving but firm, fun. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her, in a way that went way beyond his horny teenage crush on her.

“If you think you can use something from here,” Aunt Hilda said, then looked at him. “You too, Chase. It’s the least I can do for all your help. You can take home whatever you’d like.”

“Thank you. I think I’m good. You know men. All we need is a couch and a TV stand.” He looked around. “All right. What do we tackle next?”

Hilda’s forehead pulled into an overwhelmed frown for a second or two, but then she squared her shoulders. “How about the kitchen? The extra dishes could go to the thrift store. It’d be nice to have some room in the cabinets. But I feel bad giving you more work. You both worked so hard and so much already. You already made a big difference.”