Claire’s declaration slammed into him like a fastball to the temple. At first, the words bounced around his stunned brain, but then he started to consider the implications.
“Do you know who she was?”
“Everly...” Claire shook her head. “I can’t remember her last name, but she gave me her card.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a small white business card. “Everly Briggs.”
He tried to recall if he’d ever heard of her before. “Why would she say something like that?”
“I don’t know.” Scarlet swept up Claire’s throat and flooded her cheeks. “She stopped me in the grocery store and we were talking about Honey, and then she noticed what I had in my cart and I accidentally told her I worked for you, and then she thought we were having an affair.”
Claire ejected the explanation in a rush, not pausing for breath. As she stumbled to a halt, he glimpsed mortification and horror in her eyes, but guilt as well. Suddenly he felt a little light-headed. Because she was so devoted to Honey, he’d always perceived her as a devoted mom, first and foremost. Plus, she was still in love with her dead husband.
So where was the guilt coming from? Did she secretly desire him? The notion delighted him and awakened a whole new realm of possibilities.
“What did you say?” he asked, curious how she’d handled the conversation.
Her lashes flickered. “I told her that was ridiculous. That’s not the sort of man you are, and there’s nothing going on between us.”
“Have you ever considered you’re wrong about the kind of man I am?”
“Of course not.” She looked startled. “You would never have cheated on London.”
“You’re right about that. Although, my reputation hasn’t always been stellar. Knox, Austin and I used to tear up this town. Drinking. Hooking up with random women.”
“But all that was before London. That’s not who you are now.”
Claire’s fierce defense of him made his chest tighten. He doubted she’d rush to champion him if she knew how she’d featured in his dreams in the days and weeks before he’d ended his engagement. Her husband had been a hero. He’d died while serving his country. That man deserved Claire’s love. The purity of her heart made Linc want to deserve her.
“Did she believe you?” he asked.
“Not at first, but then I set her straight.”
Linc wished he’d been there to hear it. “How did you do that?”
“I explained to her that I clean your toilets and that’s far from being romantic.” Claire’s dry tone didn’t quite match the bright color in her cheeks.
“So you didn’t clue her in to the skinny-dipping incident?”
“There was no skinny-dipping incident. Whenever I take Honey into your pool, I wear a very conservative one-piece suit.” Her eyebrows drew together as she regarded him sternly. “This isn’t funny. What if that’s what everyone is thinking?”
“So what if it is?” Linc was completely intrigued by what Claire’s body language had revealed. He offered her a lazy grin. If the gossip was widespread, they were already perceived as being guilty of having an affair. Part of him wanted to just go ahead and prove everybody right. “I’m sure everyone will congratulate me on my excellent taste in women.”
She huffed impatiently. “You should be worried that it will appear as if you took advantage of someone you employ.”
“Anyone who knows me will realize I would never do that. If anything happened between us, it would be because you couldn’t keep your hands off me.” His outrageous words produced a squawk of outrage.
“I am not seeing the humor in this,” she said, her annoyance making her look more beautiful than ever.
Seeing that his teasing had taken her past her comfort zone, Linc sobered. “Are you worried about your reputation?”
“I’m your housekeeper. Why would I care what anyone thinks of me?”
“But you do,” he guessed and could see from her expression that he was right. “Don’t worry. No one who knows you would believe we were engaged in an affair, illicit or otherwise.”
“Why is that?” she asked, her voice giving nothing away.
“Because everyone who knows you is aware...” He hesitated to continue, conscious of stepping over a line they hadn’t to this point approached.
“Aware of what?”
“Your husband. That he was very important to you.”
It occurred to him as he glanced her way, watching emotions play across her features, that he wanted her to deny how she continued to cling to her dead husband’s memory. And why was that? As much as he wanted to, pursuing her was a bad idea.
“There are a lot of people who don’t know me and will be quick to believe the worst,” Claire said.
“Why do you care what those people believe? They are nobody to you.”
“I don’t. But you should. Those are your friends and neighbors. People in this town who matter.”
“You don’t think you matter? I do. You and Honey both.”
“Well, of course Honey matters to me. And you matter to me. I mean, as my employer,” she rushed on. “And your reputation matters to me. It should matter to you as well. Think of what your mother would say if she caught wind of the gossip. The whole thing could blow up into a huge scandal.”
“You matter to me, too,” he said, ignoring the latter part of what she had said. When she gave a start, he wondered if his stronger feelings had leaked through. “You and Honey. And I don’t give a damn about the gossip or what my mother thinks about it.”
His phone began to ring and his sister’s name flashed on the screen built into the car dashboard. As much as he wanted to ignore the interruption and continue this fascinating conversation with Claire, she’d wonder why he hadn’t taken Sawyer’s call.
“Hey,” he said after keying in the call. “Claire and I are on our way back from dinner at a restaurant near Wappoo Creek.”
After a brief pause, Sawyer asked, “You and Claire had dinner together?”
“It’s our
