After a few minutes waiting, he opted for joining her inside. Grateful that he’d worn sneakers, he climbed the rest of the way up the tree, stepped onto the porch roof, then tiptoed over to the open window. Whether she’d heard the commotion outside and decided to beat a hasty retreat or whether she’d simply completed her unauthorized tour, Gracie picked that precise moment to try to back out of the window.
Kevin paused and enjoyed the view for several seconds before asking quietly, “Going someplace?”
She rose up too fast and whacked her back on the edge of the window, let out a muffled exclamation, then hesitated as if torn between going back inside or completing her ignominious exit. He heard her heavy sigh of resignation. Then she backed the rest of the way out.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Kevin said when she was standing toe to toe with him, her expression defiant, the bottom edge of her yellow blouse ragged where she’d snagged it.
“You scared me half to death,” she retorted. “How dare you creep up on a person like that!”
“Excuse me? You’re not exactly in the best position to be hurling accusations at anybody.”
“I saw the window was open and I thought someone might have broken in,” she said.
Kevin was impressed. She hadn’t wasted a single second coming up with an explanation, even though on close examination it defied logic. “You’re quick on your feet, I’ll give you that. Did you consider calling the cops?”
Color crept up in her cheeks. “Not exactly.”
“Or shouting for Mrs. Johnson to call the cops?”
“No.”
“No, you decided to investigate all on your own.”
“It seemed like the neighborly thing to do,” she insisted, her expression daring him to question her motives. “Besides, you didn’t call the cops or tell Mrs. Johnson to call them, did you? No. You did exactly what I did.”
“Because I was just about one hundred percent sure who was inside,” he said.
“It’s the tiny one percent of uncertainty that will get you killed,” she pointed out.
“A fact you’d do well to remember,” he retorted. “Honestly, Gracie, if you wanted a tour of the place, all you had to do was ask.”
She regarded him skeptically. “Would you have taken me through the house?”
“No. What would be the point, when the owner’s not prepared to sell?”
“If I liked what I saw, maybe I’d up my offer so it would be irresistible.”
“You can’t go that high.”
“You know absolutely nothing about my financial situation.”
“Want to bet?”
“Meaning?”
“We live in the computer age, Gracie. It isn’t hard to get a line on someone’s credit rating.”
She stared at him with stunned disbelief. “You investigated me?”
“Of course.”
“Why, you no good, rotten scum. How could you? You don’t even know me.”
“Precisely the point of an investigation, wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh, go to hell.”
“Darlin’, that’s no way to win over an adversary.”
She sighed and looked at him with those huge, golden-flecked eyes. “Is that what you are, an adversary?”
“When it comes to selling you this house, yes. On the other hand,” he began and allowed a fascinated gaze to slide over her, “I can think of all sorts of other subjects about which we could get downright friendly. Care to discuss them over supper?”
“You’re inviting me to dinner?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“But you won’t discuss the house with me?”
“That’s right. The topic’s off limits.”
“Then I can’t imagine what we’d have left to discuss.”
“Use your obviously fertile imagination. I’m sure you’ll think of something. Call me when you do.”
With that, Kevin stepped to the edge of the porch roof and lowered himself to the ground. When he glanced up, he saw Gracie staring after him incredulously.
“You’re leaving me up here?”
“You got up there all by yourself. Surely, you know the way down. Call me when you’ve decided about supper.”
“Kevin Patrick Daniels, don’t you dare walk away and leave me up here.”
“Later, darlin’.”
“Kevin, dammit! Come back here.”
He waited around the corner of the house until he heard the rustle of leaves and the creak of branches in the oak tree. When he heard her thud to the ground with a muttered curse, he grinned, then hightailed it between the hedges and into Mrs. Johnson’s yard.
Safely hidden by the high boxwoods, he was still chuckling to himself when Gracie stormed off down the sidewalk as if someone had lit a fire under her. Since he knew perfectly well that his aunt and Mrs. Johnson had watched the entire drama unfold, he could hardly wait to hear how the local gossips would manage to twist the story.
5
“Of all of the lousy, rotten, lowdown things to do,” Gracie muttered as she charged down the street toward her own house. “I could have broken my stupid neck getting down from there, but did he care? Oh, no. And whoever heard of putting deadbolts on all the doors? That’s the first thing that’ll go when the house is mine. I can’t have a houseful of guests all trapped inside. Didn’t he ever stop to think what could happen in a fire?”
Of course not, she thought, answering her own question. He obviously wasn’t the kind of man to put a lot of thought into anything. Otherwise he’d never have left her up on that roof, where she could slip, break her neck, and then sue the pants off him.
She ignored the fact that she was the one who’d climbed up on that roof to sneak into the house in the first place. He hadn’t lured her up there. Even so, a gentleman would have helped her get down. Kevin Patrick Daniels was the lowest form of pond scum, an insensitive, inconsiderate jerk. She wouldn’t have supper with the man if he promised to fly it in from Paris.
Not that she wouldn’t enjoy a little pâté de fois gras
