The Road To Love: Love by Degree / The Rain Sparrow. Debbie Macomber

as a dorm. I didn’t think it would hurt.” He swallowed. “I mean, with you being in the Middle East and all. The house was...so empty.”

      “How much are you paying?” Reed directed the question at Ellen. That sarcastic look was back and Ellen hesitated.

      “How much?” Reed repeated.

      Ellen knew from the way Derek’s eyes widened that they were entering into dangerous territory.

      “It’s different with Ellen,” Derek hurried to explain. “She does all the shopping and the cooking, so the rest of us—”

      “Are you sure that’s all she provides?” Reed interrupted harshly.

      Ellen’s gaze didn’t waver. “I pay thirty dollars a week, but believe me, I earn my keep.” The second the words slipped out, Ellen wanted to take them back.

      “I’m sure you do.”

      Ellen was too furious and outraged to speak. How dared he barge into this house and immediately assume the worst? All right, she’d been walking around half-naked, but she hadn’t exactly been expecting company.

      Angrily Derek stepped forward. “It’s not like that, Reed.”

      “I discovered her prancing around the kitchen in her bra. What else am I supposed to think?”

      Derek groaned and cast an accusing look at Ellen. “I just ran down to get the pie out of the oven,” she said in her own defence.

      “Let me assure you,” Derek said, his voice quavering with righteousness. “You’ve got this all wrong.” He glared indignantly at his older brother. “Ellen isn’t that kind of woman. I resent the implication. You owe us both an apology.”

      From the stunned look on Reed’s face, Ellen surmised that this could well be the first time Derek had stood up to his domineering brother. Her impulse was to clap her hands and shout: “Attaboy!” With immense effort she restrained herself.

      Reed wiped a hand over his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Perhaps I do.”

      The front door opened and closed again. “Anyone here?” Monte’s eager voice rang from the living room. The slam of his books hitting the stairs echoed through the hallway that led to the kitchen. “Something smells good.” Skidding to an abrupt halt just inside the room, the tall student looked around at the somber faces. “What’s up? You three look like you’re about to attend a funeral.”

      “Are you Pat?” Reed asked.

      “No, Monte.”

      Reed closed his eyes and wearily rubbed the back of his neck. “Just how many bedrooms have you rented out?”

      Derek lowered his gaze to his hands. “Three.”

      “My room?” Reed asked.

      “Yes, well, Ellen needed a place and it seemed logical to give her that one. You were supposed to be gone for a year. What happened?”

      “I came home early.”

      Stepping forward, her fingers nervously laced together, Ellen broke into the tense interchange. “I’ll move up a floor. I don’t mind.” No one was using the third floor of the house, which had at one time been reserved for the servants. The rooms were small and airless, but sleeping there was preferable to suffering the wrath of Derek’s brother. Or worse, having to find somewhere else to live.

      Reed responded with a dismissive gesture of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. Until things are straightened out, I’ll sleep up there. Once I’ve taken a long, hot shower and gotten some rest I might be able to make sense out of this mess.”

      “No, please,” Ellen persisted. “If I’m in your room, then I should move.”

      “No,” Reed grumbled on his way out the door, waving aside her offer. “It’s only my house. I’ll sleep in the servants’ quarters.”

      Before Ellen could argue further, Reed was out of the kitchen and halfway up the stairs.

      “Is there a problem?” Monte asked, opening the refrigerator. He didn’t seem very concerned, but then he rarely worried about anything unless it directly affected his stomach. Ellen didn’t know how any one person could eat so much. He never seemed to gain weight, but if it were up to him he’d feed himself exclusively on pizza and french fries.

      “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Ellen pressed Derek, feeling guilty but not quite knowing why. “I assumed your family owned the house.”

      “Well...sort of.” He sank slowly into one of the kitchen chairs.

      “It’s the sort of that worries me.” She pulled out the chair across from Derek and looked at him sternly.

      “Reed is family.”

      “But he didn’t know you were renting out the bedrooms?”

      “He told me this job would last nine months to a year. I couldn’t see any harm in it. Everywhere I looked there were ads for students wanting rooms to rent. It didn’t seem right to live alone in this house with all these bedrooms.”

      “Maybe I should try to find someplace else to live,” Ellen said reluctantly. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to see any other solution now that Reed had returned.

      “Not before dinner,” Monte protested, bringing a loaf of bread and assorted sandwich makings to the table.

      “There’s no need for anyone to leave,” Derek said with defiant bravado. “Reed will probably only be around for a couple of weeks before he goes away on another assignment.”

      “Assignment?” Ellen asked, her curiosity piqued.

      “Yeah. He travels all over the place—we hardly ever see him. And from what I hear, I don’t think Danielle likes him being gone so much, either.”

      “Danielle?”

      “They’ve been practically engaged for ages and... I don’t know the whole story, but apparently Reed’s put off tying the knot because he does so much traveling.”

      “Danielle must really love him if she’s willing to wait.” Ellen watched as Monte spread several layers of smoked ham over the inch-thick slice of Swiss cheese. She knew better than to warn her housemate that he’d ruin his dinner. After his triple-decker sandwich, Monte could sit down to a five-course meal—and then ask about dessert.

      “I guess,” Derek answered nonchalantly. “Reed’s perfect for her. You’d have to meet Danielle to understand.” Reaching into the teddy-bear-shaped cookie jar and helping himself to a handful, Derek continued. “Reed didn’t mean to snap at everyone. Usually, he’s a great brother. And Danielle’s all right,” he added without enthusiasm.

      “It takes a special kind of woman to stick by a man that long without a commitment.”

      Derek shrugged. “I suppose. Danielle’s got her own reasons, if you know what I mean.”

      Ellen didn’t, but she let it go. “What does Reed do?”

      “He’s an aeronautical engineer for Boeing. He travels around the world working on different projects. This last one was somewhere in Saudi Arabia.”

      “What about the house?”

      “Well, that’s his, an inheritance from his mother’s family, but he’s gone so much of the time that he asked me if I’d live here and look after the place.”

      “What about us?” Monte asked. “Will big brother want us to move out?”

      “I don’t think so. Tomorrow morning I’ll ask him. I can’t see me all alone in this huge old place. It’s not like I’m trying to make a fortune by collecting a lot of rent.”

      “If Reed wants us to leave, I’m sure something can be arranged.” Already