Cabin Fever by Marilyn Pappano

Author:Marilyn Pappano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307422828
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

WHEN CHASE AND RAINE ARRIVED AT Nolie’s a few minutes after seven, Micahlyn greeted them at the door. “Mama’s out back,” she announced through the screen door. “She says we can eat outside ’cause it’s a pretty night, and ’sides, her quilt stuff’s all over the dining table.”

“Do we get to come in, or do you want us to walk around the house?” he asked.

The kid somberly looked from him to Raine before shifting her dolls to her other arm, then unlatching the screen door. “Who are you?” The question was directed to Raine, and Chase left her to answer it and headed for the kitchen.

He wasn’t too eager to see Nolie, was he?

“I thought he was the bogeyman,” Micahlyn was saying as he turned the corner into the kitchen. “He was scary and mean-looking, and—”

Nolie was just coming in the back door. Her hair was up on her head in that style that shouldn’t possibly be sexy but was, and her dress was soft, summery, and reached almost all the way to her bare feet. She stopped short when she saw him, tucked a loose tendril of hair behind her ear, then moved to the sink. “Hi.”

It took a couple of tries to get out a simple response. “Hi.” Then he cleared the huskiness from his voice. “Micahlyn says we’re eating outside so you won’t have to clean off the dining table.”

“Why, that—” She gave him a warning look. “She did not.”

“No, she didn’t. But she gave that impression.” He stopped beside the counter, where six quilt blocks were laid out. It took him a moment to figure out the pattern, but once he did, he recognized it as the same pattern of the quilt on her bed. Where that one was done in pastels, the colors of this one were richer—burgundy, hunter green, navy-blue, rich purple. “Pretty. Who is it for?”

Finally she dared come closer, gathering up the squares and moving them to the table to join other pieces and yardages of the same fabric. “It’s not necessarily for anyone. I just like to quilt.” But there was a flush in her cheeks, making him wonder if just maybe she’d started the quilt with him in mind.

“Where is Raine?”

He looked over his shoulder into the living room, but it was empty. “I guess she and Micahlyn went upstairs.”

“She probably made the mistake of pretending an interest in Micahlyn’s dolls, so now she’ll get to meet the whole family—and there’s a lot of them. Mostly blond, buxom, and beautiful.”

When she would have walked past him to the kitchen, he caught her wrist. “Some people don’t care for blond and buxom.”

The color in her cheeks deepened. “True. Some prefer dark and petite.”

Like Fiona. Like Raine. “And some like red hair and curves.”

The comment surprised him almost as much as her. He hadn’t known where he was going with the conversation, and didn’t know why he’d chosen that path. But he wouldn’t take the words back even if he could.

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