“I’ve got a couple tools with me,” Lucas said, walking toward the bedroom where he’d unloaded the bunk beds, still encased in their packing plastic. “A screwdriver and wrench.” He patted his back pockets. “If I need anything else, there’s a toolbox down in the truck. Don’t let me interrupt whatever you’re doing.”
“Okay,” Virginia said a little uncertainly, still holding her cleaning cloth. “I’ll make us some tea in a bit. Do you drink tea?”
“Sure.” Lucas started stripping the heavy plastic from the furniture. Sometimes he had a hard time seeing the assertive, act-now-ask-later girl he’d known in this rather tentative woman. Yet there was something appealing about her vulnerability, something that upped the ante on the protective, tender feelings he already had toward her. And he was certain he glimpsed the determination that lay under that quiet manner. Somehow he didn’t think Virginia Lake gave any more quarter now than she had then.
Assembling the bunk beds, he watched her from the corner of his eye. She had a serious look on her face as she attacked every glass surface with her cloth. She polished the windows in the living room, then went to work on the kitchen window, a little out of his line of sight. Which was just as well. It was a hot August day, but watching Virginia Lake in her cutoffs and skimpy T-shirt made the day a little hotter.
They worked quietly for a while and Lucas was just tightening the last screw on the headboard when Virginia came into the room with a tray containing two mugs and some store-bought cookies.
“You take milk or sugar?” she asked.
“Just plain.” He tossed down his wrench and she offered him a mug.
“Thanks. Listen, why don’t you help me lift this bed on top of the other one before we have our tea and then we’ll have more room and an idea of what this is going to look like,” Lucas said. He took the tray from her and set it down behind the door, where it was out of the way.
“Great.” Virginia seemed pleased. She grabbed the footboard while he went around to the headboard.
“Now,” Lucas began, “you just steady that end while I lift. I’ll help you with your end when I get this post onto the other one.”
In two or three minutes the job was done, and Virginia’s face broke into a delighted grin. She looked about sixteen.
“Wait until Robert sees this,” she said. “He’s going to be thrilled! I think it should go against this wall, don’t you?” She indicated the north wall. “I don’t want him falling out the window.”
“Good spot for it,” Lucas agreed. “We’ll move it after our tea.” He picked up the tray and sank onto the floor beside the bed, legs crossed. They still had the mattresses to unpack and hoist onto the frame. As Virginia knelt on the floor opposite him, Lucas handed her a mug. “Robert’s never had his own room before?”
Virginia frowned. She took a sip of the hot drink. “I hadn’t really thought it was important to him, but everywhere we’ve lived, we’ve either shared a room or sometimes he’s had a sitter who stayed with us. When he was a baby we had a live-in sitter for a while.”
“Sounds like he’s looking forward to having friends over, that kind of stuff,” Lucas said casually. He took a swallow of his own tea. Virginia’s past life was of enormous interest to him, but he didn’t want to push her. He didn’t want to appear to be fishing for information. And none of it mattered, anyway. Not really. Curiosity aside, the only thing that mattered was that she was here in Glory.
“Cookie?” Virginia extended the plate to him and he took one.
“Thanks.”
For a few minutes they sat in silence, but it was a companionable silence. Lucas wondered what she was thinking about—beyond where to position the furniture and what kind of curtains to hang, if she intended to replace the rather grim vinyl blinds Mrs. Vandenbroek had installed. His own mind wandered a little, to a difficult property case he was working on, and to whether or not he’d written Tammy’s flight number in his day book—
“I want to thank you so very, very much, Lucas, for all the help you’ve been to me and my son since we arrived here.” Virginia’s voice interrupting his thoughts was low and urgent. She held her empty mug in one hand, and her eyes were troubled. “It was a huge thing for me to come back to Glory—I guess you know that. I only hope I’ve made the right decision. I’m determined to stay, no matter what happens—”
“Hey, Virginia.” Lucas held her gaze and felt something start to hum and burn inside his chest. She had this effect on him; she’d always had this effect on him.
“What could happen?” he asked quietly. Maybe it was time he told her he had no intention of being just a friend.
“I mean it. You’ve been terrific. And...and I really appreciate it. It’s meant a lot to us, especially since things aren’t always the way I’d like them to be with Mother and Father.” She paused and bit her lower lip.
Lucas had noticed that she always referred to her parents rather formally. It seemed odd, since everyone in town had always known how much Doc and Doris Lake had doted on their only child.
Lucas wanted to reach out and touch her. Suddenly he did. He leaned forward and placed both his hands on her shoulders and began to massage. She looked surprised momentarily, then relaxed into the pressure of his hands, as though her shoulders or her neck were tense and tight. Lucas continued to massage softly. “Listen, Virginia, I’m happy to be a good friend to you. But that’s not all I want to be.”
Their eyes, only ten or twelve inches apart, held. “Do you realize that?” he asked. “It’s way too early to kiss you, but that’s what I’d like to do.” His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears. “I’ve been crazy about you ever since we were kids and I only had the one chance to show it. Your graduation. And we both know what happened then.”
He grimaced, expecting an answering smile, but she stared at him steadily, her eyes huge.
“You’re working for Pete Horsfall,” he went on quietly, “not me. I mean, you’re working with me, not for me. Do you understand? I’m giving you due notice of the way I feel about you. I owe you that. When we’re at work, I’m a hundred percent professional. You can count on that. But when we’re not at work—” he studied her eyes, noticed that her lips trembled ever so slightly “—I intend to court you. Seriously. Very, very seriously.”
He stopped massaging her shoulders and drew her a little closer. “Consider yourself warned, Virginia Lake. Unless you tell me that it’s right out of the question for you. That there’s no chance at all for me. For us.”
There was a moment or two of strained silence. Then, “S-seriously?” Her voice was very faint.
“Damn seriously.”
“Oh, Lucas...then kiss me. Please.”
He didn’t need a second invitation. He pulled her into his arms. Her trembling stopped and she met his kiss with her own, warm and soft and tentative. He shivered. It was way, way too early for this. What the hell was he doing? She was vulnerable, she was new in town, and she was hurting in some way he couldn’t begin to imagine.
Still, he’d made his intentions clear. Which was what he’d planned all along. Virginia moaned and he brought her even closer.
Well. He’d asked. And it didn’t look as though the doctor’s daughter was completely against the idea.
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