A Forever Home. Lynn Patrick

she teased.

      “Thoroughly human, I promise.” His lips quirked. “You believe me, don’t you?”

      “Maybe if I could see your eyes. The sunglasses do come off, right?” She’d never seen him without them.

      In answer, Rick slipped off the shades.

      His eyes were blue. A clear, sharp blue. And they were large and fringed with thick lashes, quite at odds with the granite features that suddenly took on a softer appearance. His eyebrows were thick, too, and they quirked upward as she scanned his whole face. Nice features. High cheekbones...determined jaw...tempting mouth. She shook away the last and told herself he was decent looking. That was it. Nothing out of the ordinary.

      Still, he’d make a great-looking escort at Kristen and Alex’s wedding...

      “Well?” he asked.

      Her pulse was thrumming. Could she do it? Ask him?

      “It’s just nice to know what you actually look like,” she admitted.

      “You approve?”

      Not wanting him to get a swelled head, she avoided a direct answer. “I don’t disapprove.”

      She was stalling, trying to make up her mind.

      “So you’re neutral,” he said.

      “Like Switzerland.”

      She loved that he was taking the conversation in stride, even seeming amused. She appreciated a man with a sense of humor.

      He was grinning at her when he asked, “You’ve been to Switzerland?”

      “No. You?”

      “I’ve been to a lot of different countries all over the world,” he admitted, “but that’s still on my list of places to see. I love traveling and learning about different cultures.”

      In a lot of different countries? “But you’re not a spy, right?”

      “Nope.”

      “So why all the traveling?”

      “My father was a lifer. Army. Different bases all over the world.”

      “Oh.” Now on alert, she asked, “What about you?”

      “Not a lifer. At least I wasn’t planning to be. I just kind of got sucked in for so many years because it was what I knew.” His expression changed, grew a little grim. “War isn’t pretty, so when my last tour ended, I wanted to see if there was something else for me. So I decided to give civilian life a chance before I make up my mind whether or not to re-enlist.”

      As he spoke, her pulse crashed.

      Army...thinking of re-enlisting...

      Instantly reminding her of her late husband, Scott. He’d been killed along with several other men when their truck had rolled over a land mine.

      His answer made her uncomfortable, and Heather was glad to see the EPI truck pull up. “Oh, look, Tyrone and Amber are here with some of our supplies.”

      As if tired of being ignored and wanting to be part of the conversation, Kirby barked and looked from her to Rick, who bent over and patted the dog.

      Disappointment filled Heather. For a moment, she’d thought...but there was no way she was going to ask a man who might re-enlist in the army to escort her anywhere. Rick might be nice. And good-looking. But she’d lost one man to war. She’d been devastated, and so had her girls. What if Rick decided civilian life wasn’t for him? He might want to re-enlist. What was she thinking? She wasn’t ready for a long-term relationship anyway and didn’t know if she ever would be. She couldn’t take that kind of chance with her heart again. She’d just been thinking about Kristen is all, but Rick simply wasn’t the right man for her, not even to escort her to a wedding.

      Heather gave the chew toy to the dog, patted his head and gave Rick a tight smile. “Time to get to work.”

      Turning her back on them both, she raced to the truck in the parking lot. Both of her workers were already in back. Tyrone was moving bags of compost to the rear edge of the truck and handing them off to Amber, who was dropping them down onto the dolly.

      “Wow, look who’s early,” Tyrone said when Heather got closer. “So what is the spy up to this morning?”

      “Tyro-o-one.” Amber poked his leg. “Hi, Heather.”

      Heather laughed. “At the moment, he’s up to taking care of the dog my kids found last night.”

      She couldn’t help but look over to where Rick sat with the dog. They were both watching the workers with lazy interest.

      Thinking about going to the wedding alone, Heather felt a twinge of disappointment.

      Too bad about Rick.

      He was just someone she couldn’t let into her life. She needed to keep a professional distance.

      To that end, thinking he could help haul stuff where it was needed, she yelled, “Hey, Mr. Sunglasses, since you’re not doing anything, why not come over here and give us some muscle?”

      Rick got to his feet almost immediately and sauntered toward them. The dog sat at alert and watched.

      “I still think he’s on some secret mission.” Tyrone kept his voice low. “We should see if we can crack him. A point for every detail we learn about him. Whoever gets the most points gets free pizza for lunch.”

      “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Heather said.

      “Why not?” Amber asked. “It’s all in good fun.” Then, “Hey, if you can take over here, I’ll fetch the wheelbarrow.”

      Which would make things go even faster. “Great.” Heather grabbed a bag from Tyrone and lowered it to the stack already on the dolly. “This is pretty full. I’d say just one more.”

      Tyrone handed her a bag, then jumped down from the back of the truck. “I’ll take these over to the rain garden.”

      The idea was to move the supplies directly to the site where they would be used. Which meant bags of compost and potting soil would be piled up in several areas for the next couple of weeks. They would need the bags of mortar and the quarry gray blocks to build the rain garden retaining walls today. A lot more was coming—boards for raised beds and Wisconsin bluestone for another terrace with built-in seating and a fire pit. Heather was trying not to order too much at once. The bed and breakfast was about to get busy, and she knew the owner did not want his guests to be inconvenienced. That was why she’d decided to start with the beach area, the walkway and rain gardens—they were all directly between the mansion and the lake.