Hunter shook his head. “Haven’t heard of anyone in this area missing their cat. Chances are they are strays.”
“They need looking after.”
So do you, Hunter wanted to say. Gaylynn had shoved more pasta around her dish than she’d actually eaten. Did she think he wouldn’t notice? Did she think he was buying her restless cheerfulness as the real thing? If so, she had a lot to learn.
“You never did tell me why you decided to come to Michael’s cabin,” he prompted her.
“I already told you, I needed a vacation.”
“So you’re on spring break from school?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what exactly?”
“You’re nosy, you know that?”
“Hey, I’ll have you know that my interrogation techniques have been honed to a fine art. You might as well tell me all your secrets now,” he stated with a lazy grin as he helped her stack the dirty dishes on the table. “I’ll get them out of you sooner or later.”
“Oh, no, Officer Davis.” She gasped mockingly, putting one hand to her heart. “Not your dreaded tickling routine!” Hunter might not have learned how to tickle trout but he’d excelled at tickling her in their childhood days. “Anything but that!”
“So you’re willing to confess now?”
“You’ve got me.” She sighed, putting a dramatic hand to her forehead. “I’m an escaped felon, wanted by the city of Chicago for two overdue parking notices. I’ll give myself up peaceably,” she added, holding both her hands out to him. “Cuff me now and take me away.”
“Don’t tempt me,” he muttered, disturbed by the sudden sexy image of her wearing handcuffs and little else. What was wrong with him? She was Michael’s kid sister, for heaven’s sake!
“Then stop making such a big deal about this,” she said in exasperation. “I needed some time off from my teaching position so I took a vacation. End of story.”
“How long are you staying?”
“I’m not sure.”
“When is your vacation up? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, teachers can’t just up and take vacation during the school term.”
“Bravo, Sherlock.”
“Which means you’re what.on some kind of leave or something?”
“That’s right.”
“A medical leave?”
His persistence was irritating her. “That’s none of your business,” she said, taking the dishes from him and transferring them to the stainless-steel sink.
Hunter followed her into the open L-shaped kitchen to say, “Meaning I’m right.”
“No, meaning it’s none of your business,” she stated. “Look, I’ve been teaching for seven years in a stressful situation. It’s not surprising that I got burned out. End of story.”
“Someone like you doesn’t get burn out.”
“What do you mean ‘someone like me’?” she demanded.
“You’ve got too much determination to burn out. Besides, you’re too damn stubborn to give up.”
“What makes you think you know anything about me? You haven’t even seen me in ten years.”
“I’ve kept track of what you’ve been doing. Michael would brag about you in his Christmas cards, saying that you insisted on teaching where you were needed and could make the most difference, despite the fact that he and the rest of your family didn’t approve of you working in such a bad part of the city.”
Having said that, he reached around her to put a dish in the sink. She felt his body heat against her back, felt his arm brush her breast and she jumped as if hit by lightning.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, confused by her startled-cat routine. “Why did you jerk away from me like that?” Then, as one possible explanation hit him, his expression turned serious, bordering almost on alarmed. “Oh, my God. Were you sexually assaulted?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I was not sexually assaulted. Just because I’m a little jumpy doesn’t mean that anything like that happened to me!” Gaylynn said.
“And even if it had, you wouldn’t tell me, would you?” Hunter retorted.
“If you think that, then why ask me in the first place?”
“Because I’m trying to figure out how I can help you.”
His words were like tiny arrows piercing her pride.
Lifting her chin, Gaylynn stated, “I don’t need you to help me. I’m not one of those injured baby birds you used to take in when we were kids.”
“I’m still pretty good at mending broken wings,” he murmured, coming so close behind her that his breath stirred her hair and awakened silent yearnings.
Hunter was pretty good at plenty of things, not least of which was making Gaylynn feel like a young girl on her first date—filled with anticipation of what could be.
Curtly reminding herself that she was no young girl, Gaylynn squelched her wistful thoughts before they took further flight. “I’m sure the birds around here are glad to hear that you’re good at mending their broken wings,” she replied dryly. “But I don’t have wings and I don’t need your help.”
Gently brushing her shoulder blades with his fingertips, Hunter softly said, “Remember how Michael told you that these would grow into angel’s wings when you got older?”
“I was a gullible kid,” she admitted.
“And now? Are you still gullible now?”
“Sometimes,” she replied, stepping away from the magnetic temptation of his touch. “After all, I let you come over and badger me tonight, didn’t I?”
“You forgot to mention the delicious meal I made. Tomorrow night, you can cook.”
“Hey, I didn’t come to the mountains to cook,” she protested.
“Why did you come here?”
But she was on to his tactics now. “I’ve already answered that question several times. Maybe you need to get your hearing tested,” she mockingly suggested. “How old are you now? Almost forty?”
Hunter did not look amused. “I’m thirty-five and you damn well know it.”
His arrogant assumption that she would know his age irritated her. “Forgive me if I’ve been too busy living life to recall all the details of yours.”
“Yeah, I heard about you living life, traipsing all over the globe.”
She relaxed. This was something she felt more comfortable talking about. “That’s right. During my summer breaks I used to travel a lot,” she reminisced fondly. “I’ve been elephant-trekking in Thailand, slept on the beach in Morocco, shopped in Singapore, gotten rained on in England’s Lake District and visited the rain forest in Costa Rica.”
“You used to be a globe-trotter?”
“Yeah, well, now I stick a little closer to home.”
“Any