Chapter 7
Cade stepped into thekitchen. The fading light outside made the house quite dark. Meg struck a match and lit one of the jar candles she’d bought. She handed it to him then lit another one. Her skin glowed in the soft light of the candle.
She turned to him. “I’m tired, so I’ll be going to bed. I’m guessing that’s where you’re headed too.”
“I’m actually heating up some water so you can wash up. I cleaned out the Dutch oven and filled it with stream water. It’s in the fire right now.”
Meg grinned. “That sounds wonderful.”
“I know it won’t be much, but you can dip a rag in it and at least scrub off the dirt and sweat.”
“I could kiss you right now.”
Meg meant it as a joke, he was sure, but nonetheless, his gaze dipped to her full lips. He couldn’t help it. He’d been looking at them all day. Instead of saying something flirty back, he clamped his jaw shut. He didn’t need to be thinking about kissing Meg.
She turned from him. “I’ll go get a change of clothes.”
Cade went outside to check on the water. When it was warm enough, he brought it in and took it into the bathroom. He set it down on a trivet he’d placed on the tile floor.
Meg entered the room and Cade took the lid off with the tool he’d used to carry in the oven. “I’ll use whatever you have left when you’re done.”
Meg touched his arm. “Thanks, Cade.”
He shut the door after he left. The sun was completely down now, and the darkness was kind of creepy. His little jar candle didn’t produce much light. The house was also quite cold now. He went into the great room and put three more logs in the fireplace and lit them.
He sat down to enjoy the warmth and listen to the crackling of the wood. Meg joined him a few minutes later. “Oh, good. You got the fire going again. It’s freezing in here.”
“Hopefully, it wasn’t too uncomfortable while you were washing up.”
“It was fine.” She sat next to him. “But you might want to hurry. I’m not sure how warm that water is anymore. I left the soap I bought in there.”
“Okay.” Cade got up from the couch, his muscles complaining to him about having to move again. His body wanted to drift off to sleep. But it would be good to be clean. He took his jar candle and walked through the house to the bathroom.
The tile floor was original, as was the beautiful clawfoot bathtub. He set the candle down on the floor. After sponge bathing, he had to put his clothes back on. He’d have to wash them in the stream tomorrow.
His eyelids were heavy by the time he’d finished and dumped the water down the drain. He picked up his candle and walked back through the house to the great room. He chuckled at the sight of Meg sitting on the floor in front of the fire amongst a massive pile of blankets and pillows. “Warm enough now?”
She gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry. They were in the closet and I was cold.” She patted the blanket pile beside her. “There’s room if you want to join me.”
Cade plopped down, surprised at how soft the blankets were. “This is quite comfortable.”
“I think these are new. One was still in the package. And I can put another log on the fire if you think we’ll stay in here for a while.”
