She wiped her hands off on a dish towel, tossed it over the back of a chair, and headed upstairs.
Of course, she did know men, and they could act like perfect gentlemen when it served their purpose. How many times had she fallen for that act before? Hence her wise decision to avoid men. She’d fallen for the charade one too many times.
When she reached the top step, she could hear Nathaniel in the bathroom, the splashing sound of him in the shower. She got a sudden, vivid image of him, naked, the water sluicing over the muscles she had seen outlined by his gray T-shirt.
Okay, who was the lewd one? What the heck was wrong with her? Was swearing off men like dieting? Because she couldn’t have any men, she suddenly wanted all men. Even horrible men like Nathaniel Peck? Eek.
She cast a look at the closed bathroom door, then went into her room and shut the door tightly behind her. She grabbed the handles of her tote bag and plopped both herself and the bag on the bed. After much digging, she located her cell phone. She had a signal and no messages. Her initial reaction was relief, then for just a moment, it changed to disappointment. She pushed the feeling aside. It was too early for anyone to even realize she was gone, and she didn’t want to deal with anyone anyway.
She put the phone on the nightstand.
A steel-toed boot? Someone had kicked Nathaniel in the face. And then there was his limp. Was it from the same incident? It seemed rather unlikely, and unlucky, that he would have two serious injuries from two unrelated events. But he was a police officer. It could happen, she supposed.
A knock at her door gave her a start. Before she could scramble off the bed, Nathaniel called through the wooden panel. “Marty, I’m leaving. See you around.”
By the time she reached the door, she could hear his uneven gait clomping down the stairs. She considered following him and apologizing for her behavior, but decided against it. She shouldn’t have been rude to him today, but one day of rudeness was minor compared with the days she’d spent after that school dance. The snickering in the hallways. The teasing. The cruel pranks. He owed her the apology and had for a long time.
So instead, she marched to the bathroom. A long, hot shower would get her back to normal.
She shed her clothes and was just about to turn on the shower when the bathroom door opened and Nathaniel walked in.
Marty squealed and jumped into the tub, pulling the blue vinyl curtain in front of her.
“Oh, shit,” he said, averting his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were in here.” He edged farther into the room, still not looking in her direction, even though she was shielded by the shower curtain.
“Well, I am,” she shouted. “So leave!”
“I will. I just left—” He scanned the room, still being careful not to look in her direction. “This.” He went to the white wicker hamper in the corner and picked up a brown cowboy-style police hat. “Sorry.” He exited, still never looking her way.
Marty waited a minute, then stepped back out of the tub.
She covered her face with her hands, heat burning her cheeks. Well, he’d gotten an eyeful there. Far more than the Calvin Klein ads. She groaned.
The rest of her shower was uneventful, and when she finally was clean and dressed, the house was very empty. But her peace was going to be short-lived. As tempting as it was, she couldn’t avoid the outside world for long. If her sisters learned that she was in town and hadn’t come directly to see them, they would be very hurt. And now, she didn’t even have the excuse of her car being snowbound. Just another reason to be annoyed with Nathaniel Peck.
In truth, she felt guilty that she was tempted to avoid her siblings for a bit. She was excited to see them, she just dreaded the questions. And there would be questions. Why was she here after she said she’d be busy the whole holiday season? Was there something going on with Rod? And what would they think when she told them what she was considering: leaving modeling altogether?
She wandered to the window. It was truly a winter wonderland this morning. Snow glistened. Icicles hung from the eaves of the house across the street. Bundled and rosy-cheeked children played in the whiteness, building snowmen and snow forts.
Marty sighed. It was nice to be home. Nice to feel normal after living in a whirlwind for so long, even if her return had started off a little shaky. Then she noticed her car cleared completely from the snow and the driveway that couldn’t have been more snow free even if a commercial snowplow had cleared it.
She shook her head. Out in the dark, shoveling. Maybe that’s why Nathaniel hadn’t hit on her or made offensive suggestions. He was too exhausted.
And no wonder he was limping so badly. If his leg had been injured in an accident, he probably shouldn’t have been shoveling heavy snow in the dead of night. The man obviously had some serious frustrations to work off to be doing such intensive physical labor.
Who knew, maybe he’d sworn off women like she’d sworn off men. Wouldn’t that be ironic if they actually had something in common?
Chapter 4
“I can’t believe you got into town last night and didn’t come right over,” Ellie said, setting a cup of tea in front of Marty.
Marty sat with her sisters in the kitchen of Ellie’s gorgeous house. The whole room was done in rich, polished oak with huge windows that overlooked the ocean.
Abby probably would have agreed with Ellie, but she was too busy nibbling on a saltine and looking distinctly green.
Ellie placed a cup of peppermint tea in front of Abby. Abby managed a slight nod in thanks.
“Well, like I said, I didn’t get into town until late, and I didn’t want to wake everyone,” Marty explained again. “Plus I really wanted to sleep in my old bed.” She paused. “That is, until Nathaniel Peck showed up in the upstairs hallway in the dead of night.”
Ellie paused, her own teacup halfway to her lips. She set the cup back down on the kitchen table. She winced. “Oops.”
“Yeah,” Marty agreed. “It was quite a shock. Why on earth would you let him have a key to our house?”
“The house is just standing empty,” Ellie said a tad defensively. “And Nate lives down this twisty, narrow dirt road, and we just figured he might appreciate the offer.”
Marty nodded, but she wasn’t particularly pleased with Ellie’s defense of this person. Ellie was as bighearted as a person could be, but Marty didn’t want her generosity to extend to Nathaniel. He didn’t deserve it—even if he did seem different.
“But had we known you were going to be in town, we would have warned you,” Abby added. Of course her nausea would pass in time to support Ellie’s position.
Marty nodded again, deciding she didn’t want to discuss Nathaniel Peck anymore, even though the man had been on her mind all day.
“Okay, we are thrilled you are here,” Abby said. Her greenness had faded to a mere pasty white, but her practicality seemed to be fine. “But why are you here? You just told me less than a week ago that there was no way you could get up for the holidays.”
Marty hesitated. She wasn’t ready to tell them that she might be staying here permanently. She wasn’t decided. She needed to think.
“I decided I’ve missed too many holidays.” That was certainly the truth. She had missed far too many important moments with her sisters. “And I wanted to see Emily on Christmas morning.” One of the most important things she had missed had been the first year of her niece’s life.
As