wiring. Madge and her crew had returned from New York City to record their efforts.
Elsa was avoiding the guys today. Yesterday, they had found the flowers and Howard’s card on the counter, and now they were having fun teasing her.
She busied herself in the kitchen, removing the cabinet doors. Her plan was to sand and refinish the existing cabinets before building new ones that matched. But first the cabinets needed to be thoroughly cleaned, inside and out.
She was grateful for the hard work. It kept her mind occupied, kept her from thinking about the nightmare with Howard. Or the sexy lovemaking at the beginning of the dream.
She snorted. How foolish could she be? She wanted to think about him fondling her breasts, when his hands eventually grabbed hold of her neck?
Tired of being on her knees with her head inside a cabinet, she straightened and stretched. This was hot, miserable work for July. She pulled off her work gloves, then used some bottled water to wash her hands in the sink and splash some water on her face.
Her cell phone made a dinging noise, signaling a text message.
It was Howard. She groaned. How was she going to tell him she never wanted to see him again? Just the thought brought a pang to her chest. It was going to hurt him. It was already hurting her. And it was too cruel to reject him in a text message. But if she saw him, she didn’t know if she could resist him. Huge, handsome Howard.
She read the message.
She peered out the kitchen window, and her heart swelled. There he was, standing near the woods. How long had he waited there to catch a glimpse of her through the window?
He concentrated on the phone in his hands, and soon her phone dinged again.
She glanced out the window, and he was lifting a large basket for her to see. A bear with a picnic basket. Her mouth twitched, and she texted back.
She smiled and texted back.
He pocketed his phone, then reached into the basket to pull out a checkered blanket. He stretched it on the ground under the canopy of trees.
Elsa watched as he removed more things from the basket. Horrible Howard. He knew what a curious person she was.
She was also hungry and thirsty. It was after four in the afternoon, and she’d had only a salad for lunch. After long hours of physical labor, the picnic looked terribly tempting. No doubt it was cool and breezy beneath those trees, not hot and stuffy like the kitchen. And he was setting it up close to the house. There were a bunch of guys in the house, and her aunts were stationed on the front driveway. After a week of no action, they spent most of their time in the car now, reading and knitting, but they still had their weapons in the trunk.
It should be safe to meet Howard. For a little while. She wasn’t much to look at, with her dirty work clothes, but did it matter, when she was just going to reject him? Another twinge jabbed at her heart.
She grabbed the hairbrush out of her handbag, then quickly brushed her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.
She took a deep breath.
She marched outside.
He glanced back at her and smiled.
He filled a second wineglass with white fizzy liquid. “Sparkling white grape juice.” He handed her a glass. “I thought this would be best in case you had to operate any machinery.”
“Oh.” That was thoughtful of him.
“Cheers.” He clinked his glass against hers and drank.
Good Lord, she’d never realized how sexy a man’s throat could be when his Adam’s apple was moving up and down with each swallow.
“Good?” He watched her, his mouth curled into the half smile that caused his cheek to dimple.
She nodded, aware of a tingly sensation in her mouth.
“Have a seat.” He motioned to the blanket.
“Well, actually . . .” She eyed the plate filled with green grapes, red strawberries, water crackers, and slices of cheese. Another plate held an assortment of Ghirardelli chocolate squares. Would it hurt to share a few bites with him? He’d gone to so much trouble.
“All right.” She sat on one edge of the blanket.
He sat on the other side with the plates of food between them. “Let me refill your glass.” He leaned closer to pour more juice into her wineglass.
She took a sip. “This was very kind of you.”
He popped a grape into his mouth. “The cafeteria lady loaned me the basket. I told her I needed to impress a beautiful woman.”
Elsa snorted. “I’m a dirty mess today.”
“You’re strong and talented at what you do. It’s part of what makes you beautiful to me.”
She groaned inwardly. Rejecting him was so hard.
“Have some food.” He stacked a piece of cheese onto a cracker and bit into it. “How’s your day going?”
She nibbled on some cheese. “The guys are teasing me something awful.”
“Why?”
“When I followed you yesterday, I left the note on the kitchen counter. You know, the note you wrote . . .”
“Let me prove that I’m worthy of you?”
She nodded, her face growing warm. “Now every time they see me, they bow down and say, ‘I’m not worthy’!”
Howard chuckled. “Sorry about that.”
She ate another piece of cheese with a cracker and looked about. Three squirrels and a raccoon were watching. A deer was crossing the clearing, headed toward them. “Sheesh, it doesn’t take them long to find me.”
“Shoo!” Howard waved a hand at them and they scattered.
She huffed. “You don’t have to frighten them.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Spoken like a true guardian. A week ago, they were freaking you out, and now you’re acting protective.”
“They don’t mean me any harm.”
“You can’t be sure. I don’t think those feral pigs were impressed by your guardianship.”
Frowning, she picked a few grapes off the stem. “What do you think? About me being a guardian and all.”
“I . . . found it hard to believe at first. My grandfather told me the story a million times when I was growing up, but I always considered it a fairy tale. But now . . .” He sipped some more juice, deep in thought. “It makes sense. Werewolves and were-bears exist, so the guardians should exist, too. You made us who we are.”
She swallowed hard. Was this why the berserkers killed their guardian? “Do you . . . resent us?”
“For what?”
She winced. “My ancestor turned you into beasts. Doesn’t that make you angry?”
“No. Elsa, I’m perfectly happy with who and what I am. I’m super strong, super fast, have superior senses, and I can live for about five hundred years.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?”
