The Bachelor Next Door by Kathryn Springer

Author:Kathryn Springer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Lily was afraid to analyze that thought—or why it bothered her—too closely.

Missy scrabbled over to the window, nosed the lace panel aside and began to howl.

“What is that noise?” Nolan huffed, sounding like himself again. “Are you surrounded by a pack of coyotes?”

“It’s one dog, and she belongs to Sunni Mason, the woman who hired me to paint.” Lily didn’t mention the basset was in need of a permanent home. Or that her apartment happened to be conveniently located near the dog park. “I really have to go, Dad. Someone’s here.”

“Are you the official doorman now, too?”

Lily chuckled as if he were teasing. “I’ll call you later.”

She hung up and shot Missy a warning look when the basset hound beat her to the door, tail wagging in anticipation.

“Don’t even think about it,” Lily warned. Missy, the unofficial goodwill ambassador, had discovered an activity she enjoyed even more than chasing butterflies and squirrels—greeting the mail carrier and every deliveryman who stopped by the house.

Lily stepped onto the porch and shaded her eyes against the morning sun. Not a delivery truck. A sleek, charcoal-gray SUV with tinted windows was rolling up the driveway. It pulled over to the side and stopped right in front of the shop.

An attractive couple who looked to be in their late thirties emerged from the vehicle. The man wore a plaid shirt and cargo shorts paired with leather sandals, standard issue for most of the tourists passing through the area. His wife, a slender woman with a platinum, shoulder-length bob, slid on a pair of sunglasses and began to look around.

Doors popped open, and three children tumbled out of the backseat. Two preadolescent girls, all legs and arms, and a boy of about five or six who hit the ground running the moment his feet touched the driveway. The man caught him by the shirttail and tossed him over his shoulder.

The boy’s giggles mingled with the wind chimes hanging from the porch.

Smiling, Lily took a step backward. If the family were lost and in need of directions, Liam would help them out.

She knew that Aiden had taken one of the canoes out shortly after breakfast. He’d stopped in the kitchen to fill up his thermos with coffee and mentioned that Brendan had left for a few hours.

Left his office. In the middle of the workday.

Lily did her best to hold her smile in place until Aiden left.

What had gone wrong?

One minute Brendan was confiding in her about the order they’d lost and the next minute, scooping everything into her backpack and urging her down the tunnel.

Lily had no idea what had caused the abrupt change in Brendan’s mood, but whatever had happened, it was clear she was somehow to blame.

Brendan had barely spoken to her as they made their way back to the house. Once inside, he had veered straight down the hall and disappeared into his office.

Lily started peeling the wallpaper off the walls, hoping he would make an appearance but the snap of the door signaled he’d left the house without a word.

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