Out of Exile. Carla Cassidy

laughed, the sound deep-throated and intensely pleasant. “Sorry for being skeptical, but as I said before, my main goal is to see Aunt Clara happy and comfortable. Can we go inside?”

      He nodded and she turned the doorknob, and they stepped into the cottage. It was obvious she was quite devoted to Clara. Matthew had never heard her talk about her own parents.

      The story he’d heard from his father years ago was that Clara had adopted some damn fool teenage kid whose parents had gotten themselves killed in a car accident. Adam had not been just skeptical about his sister’s mental judgment, but contemptuous about the whole arrangement. He had not been able to understand why anyone would consciously make the choice to take in a teenager.

      “It’s small, but quite charming,” Lilly said as her gaze swept around the small living room with its utilitarian kitchenette. The furnishings were plain—a sand-colored sofa and chair and a dinette table.

      She opened a door to expose a small bathroom. The door next to it opened to the bedroom. The bedroom held a chest of drawers and a double bed. She went around the bed to the window, and Matthew followed her into the room.

      “Not much of a view,” she murmured more to herself than to him.

      “But the price is right.”

      She twirled around to face him with one of her smiles that seemed to light up the room. “Yes, the price is definitely right, and I know she’ll be happy here.” She walked back to him and took his hand in hers. “Thank you, Matthew, for thinking about this. This is the best of both worlds. She’ll have her privacy, the dignity of living alone and yet will have you close enough should she need help. It was wonderfully thoughtful of you.”

      It hadn’t been thoughtful at all. A wave of guilt swept through Matthew at her words. It had been strictly a selfish gesture. He’d thought of putting Clara here simply for his own comfort, so he wouldn’t have to put up with her day in and day out.

      But he couldn’t admit that to Lilly, not with the warmth of her hand around his, not with the scent of her enveloping him sweetly. He couldn’t very well admit that he didn’t particularly like the woman she so obviously loved.

      He pulled his hand from hers, uncomfortable at the touch, by her very nearness and by the engaging light in her blue eyes. “We’d better get inside for lunch.”

      “When can we get her moved in here?” Lilly asked as they started back to the main house. “I’d like to see her all settled in before I leave here.”

      “As far as I’m concerned we can move her things in tomorrow afternoon and get her settled in then. The only thing I noticed that needs to be done is that the whole place could use a new coat of paint inside. I can get a couple of men on that immediately.”

      They reached the front of the house and he spied Eddie and Ned approaching. “As a matter of fact, I’ll take care of it right now,” he said, and gestured the men toward them.

      “We were just looking for you, boss,” Eddie said. “We finished in the stables and wondered what you want us to do now.”

      “Lilly, this is Eddie Creighton and Ned Sayville. They’re going to be working here at the ranch. I just hired them on this morning,” Matthew explained.

      “Hi, it’s nice to meet you both,” she said, then pointed to a gold chain and charm that hung around Ned’s thick neck. “What a lovely necklace.” The charm was a thick gold cross with twisted vines wrapped around it.

      Ned reached up and touched the charm. “Thank you, ma’am. My mama bought it for me years ago.”

      Eddie frowned. “All my mama ever buys me is underwear two sizes too small.”

      They laughed, then Matthew told them about moving Clara into bungalow three. He told them where the paint was stored and what needed to be done.

      “And could we move out the chair that’s in there so Aunt Clara can put her rocking chair in its place?” Lilly asked.

      Matthew nodded. “Move the chair into bungalow two.”

      The two men took off. “They seem nice,” Lilly said.

      “They’re all right,” Matthew replied as they entered the house. “Neither of them has much ranch experience, but both seemed eager to learn and promised to be hard workers.”

      “What about Jacob? Did he show up this morning?”

      “At dawn. I sent him out to the old barn that we’re getting ready to renovate. The plans are to turn it into sort of a community building. Mark has been working on getting it cleaned up.”

      Abby raised one of her dark eyebrows. “Lots of hiring and renovating going on for something you aren’t sure is permanent,” she observed.

      “Ah, there you are and just in time,” Clara greeted them as they walked into the kitchen. “I’ve just put it all on the table.”

      “You didn’t have to do this,” Matthew protested as they took their places at the table. “You aren’t responsible for the meals around here.”

      “But I wanted to,” Clara exclaimed. She leaned over and patted Matthew on the shoulder. “If I can’t do for my family, then what good am I?”

      Matthew said nothing. If she’d wanted to do for her family, she should have done something years ago. She should have done something to save him and his brothers and sister from their father.

      Anything she did for them now was too little, too late. And for that he could never forgive her.

      Chapter 3

      The afternoon stretched out before Lilly. Matthew disappeared immediately after lunch, telling them he had chores to attend to. Lilly thought about tagging along as she had when he’d done his chores on those long-ago summer days. However, something about his closed-off expression forbade her to follow him.

      “I just knew things would be fine here,” Aunt Clara said as the two women cleared the lunch dishes from the table. “And it’s wonderful I’m going to have my own little place.”

      “And it’s a nice little cottage,” Lilly assured her. “Small, but quite nice.”

      “Small is fine, with it just being me.” She filled the sink with soapy water to wash the few dishes they had used. “When you come to visit, you can either sleep on my sofa in the cottage or stay here. And you will visit frequently, won’t you?”

      Lilly smiled assuredly. “Of course. When I get back to work, I’ll have Christmas and spring vacations and all summer long to visit you.”

      Aunt Clara nodded in satisfaction and plunged the glassware into the sink water. “Of course, what would really be nice is if you’d move here to Inferno. They have schools here, and I’m sure they would be thrilled to get a skilled and caring counselor like you.”

      Lilly laughed. “One step at a time, Aunt Clara. At the moment my main concern is seeing you settled in.”

      Aunt Clara frowned and handed Lilly a soapy glass to rinse and dry. “I can’t believe I let that young man talk me into mortgaging my home and giving him all my money. He seemed like such a nice young man, too.” She pulled her hands from the soapy water, grabbed a towel and sank down at the table.

      “I guess the saying is true, there’s no fool like an old fool.” She closed her eyes and sat perfectly silent for a moment.

      “Aunt Clara, are you all right?” Lilly dried her hands and knelt down next to the older woman, who suddenly appeared deathly pale.

      “Fine, fine. I just got a little dizzy spell.” She looked at Lilly in bewilderment. “Now what were we talking about?”

      “We were talking about the fact that I think we need to get you in for a checkup with a doctor,” Lilly said, worry fluttering through her.

      “Nonsense,”