Winter Interlude (25 page)

She stared
at the phone,
wondering
why she’d settled for less for far too long
,
and why had it taken so much time to recognize the fact
.
Thank God
,
Chrissie’s engagement jarred
her into thinking clearly.

The ding on the gas oven indicating it had reached the right temperature drew her attention
.
Her dinner
!
She’d almost forgotten about it
.
Thankful
for the task of cooking to keep her from dwelling over her situation,
she dashed
back to the kitchen
.

She opened the oven door
and
placed her soufflé inside
.
She set the timer,
then
started on
the c
hocolate melting cake
she’d planned for dessert
.

Moments later, her cake in the oven
, she glanced up to see Paul sauntering, barefoot, toward the kitchen, stretching and looking mighty hunky in jeans
and
a
navy turtleneck
that
highlighted his blond good looks
.

“Man, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he teased with
an approving expression
.

As he walked across the room, her focus remained on him
.
Too bad James wasn’t more like his brother.
Heat rose up her face
when
the
thought
registered
.

“I’ve never smelled anything like it,” he murmured, sniffing and indicating the oven
.
He reached for the handle, but her hand on his wrist stopped him.

“You’ll ruin it if you open the door now
.”

“Wouldn’t want to do that
.
But…”
He pierced her with a stare
.
“I’m dying to see if it tastes as good as it smells.”

Her breath caught in her
throat
and her heartbeat quickened
.
“It will
.”

“Promise
?”
His grin tightened the pretzel in her stomach
,
changing the knot
from hurt to tension in seconds, as her mind went blank.

“Promise what
?”

“Promise me that it will taste as good as it smells?”

She cleared her throat,
struggling
for normalcy
,
and ignored the way his eyes crinkled at the edges, which only added to his appeal
.
“Of course it will.”

“Then I can wait
.”
His tone and look made her feel as if he was talking about something other than chocolate melting cake or her soufflé
.

Oh
,
for
heaven
’
s
sake
.
Stop gawking at him!

Her gaze shifted lower
.
“Well, I’m glad you approve,” she said, mentally shaking the effects of his nearness and finally remembering her phone call. “By the way, it’s just going to be us tonight
.
”

“Really
?”
His brow wrinkled with concern
.
“I thought James would be here by now.”

“No, I-80 and H
igh
w
a
y 50 are closed and there’s no relief from the storm in sight, so he’s not coming at all
.”
She went back to fixing an endive salad and had to swat his hand again when he tried to steal a bite
.
“Here, do something useful while I finish dinner
.”
She opened the silverware drawer, using it as a buffer to get her mind off the idea of him putting those hands on her
.
“Go set the table
.”
Whoa
.
I need to quit thinking such thoughts
!

Grinning, Paul snapped to attention and saluted
.
“Yes,
m
a’am.”

Don’t look at him
.
Ignore him
.
Remember Judith…he belongs to her
.

Paul got busy and soon the meal was ready
.

When she picked up the salads, he
pulled
them from her hands
.
“You go and sit
.”
His nod indicated the table
.
“Since you cooked, the least I can do is serve you.”

“Okay. But I should warn you
.
I could get used to being served,” she said, following him and trying to extinguish the flames in her belly that his nearness recently started igniting
.

He laughed as
he set
a
bowl at the tip of each fork
,
then
rushed to pull out her chair. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

More heat streaked up her face as his intense gaze met hers
.
Glancing down, she sat, hiding her reaction in the act of putting her napkin on her lap
.
He left and returned with the soufflé and garlic bread, without giving her heartbeat enough time to slow to normal
.

Damn
.
If only he didn’t love her best friend
.
If only Judith didn’t love him
.
If only he’d stop being so nice
.
A lot of good ‘
if
onlys
’
did when not one of them helped keep her attraction in check
.

“Say when
.”
Now standing beside her, he added a spoonful of the egg and ham mixture onto her plate
.

“That’s good,” she said
.
His acting as if her desires were the most important thing to focus on was heady stuff and hard to ignore
.
Despite knowing it would never go anywhere, she couldn’t help but enjoy his attention.

He eventually sat and served himself
.

They’d barely started to eat when the lights flickered out
.
The room was completely dark except for the
softly flickering
candles Paul had placed on the table earlier
.

Double damn
,
Kate
thought, glancing at him
.
Shadows
fluttered
over his face
,
lending it
a roguish appearance that any woman would find hard to resist, her included
.

She averted her eyes, reminding herself that eating this close to him with the lights on was difficult enough
.
In candlelight, it was near impossible to stave off her errant thoughts of being completely alone with him
.
How would she make it through the meal without slipping?

K
ate
picked up her wine and
downed a healthy swallow
.
Once she could speak without giving herself away, she asked nonchalantly, “I wonder how long the electricity will be out
.
”

“I don’t know
.”
Paul
shrugged
.
“I can’t remember it ever happening
here
before
.”

She nodded
.
Neither could she
.
It wasn’t a common occurrence.

“We should be okay, though you may want to move into the house, just in case.”

“Why?” Her concerned gaze sought his.

“No heat out there without electricity
.”

“But I thought the entire house was heated with gas
?”
She had to glance away again
.
He was just too appealing in candlelight and that did not bode well for the rest of the night
.

“It is
.”
He broke off long enough to
finish another bite
.
“Unfortunately, the units work off an electric blower and starter
.
Both use electricity.”

“Oh
?”
The one word held none of the panic storming over her senses at what moving closer to his room meant
.
How could she sleep with him so near?

“Could be worse
.
At least the fireplace is gas
.”
He eyed her for an extended moment and obviously mistaking her concern, said, “Even without a fan, it’ll put out heat
.
And the heat from the fire in my room will add to it if I keep the door open
.
But we should close off the rest of the house to try to
prevent
heat loss, since it’s in the high twenties outside.”

More warmth stole up her face at the idea of him leaving his door open
.
D
id he ever have it
wrong
.
She wouldn’t have trouble keeping warm
.
Not with the heat sizzling through her
body
whenever his intent gaze landed her way
.
Thank
the stars above
for candlelight, she thought, as Paul got up from the table
.