“If you can call it that. We had two hikers call in a rescue after they went sliding down the mountain. You’d think people would learn not to go hiking right when the snow thaws and the ground is a sopping mess.”
Scarlet came rushing into the kitchen, her face pinched in worry. “What’s this? You were up on that mountain? Oh, my poor Boo Bear!”
“Nothing happened. I’m fine,” he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her hard.
She flinched back as he held her tighter, worried more about her clothes and her hair than the fact that her fiancé was alive and well. “Boo, you’re getting me all dirty!”
“I’ll get you really dirty tonight,” he promised.
I gagged, holding back the sound as best as possible, but some things just couldn’t be contained.
“Dinner’s ready!” I said cheerily, placing the pot in the center of the table.
“I’m starved,” Sawyer said, taking off his things and dropping them at the door.
“Sawyer,” I sighed, “I’m not your mother. It’s not my job to hang up your stuff.”
“Oh, I’ll do that,” Cuddlebug smiled sweetly. “After all, it’s my job to take care of my man after a hard day’s work.”
The pointed look she shot me lasted only as long as it took to touch his first piece of protective gear. Covered in dirt and various sorts of other unappealing things, she barely touched it with two fingers as she placed it on the hook, far away from any of her items.
“Well, then I guess you’ll want to start cooking his meals as well.”
I grinned internally as I sat down at the table, catching the horrified look on her face just before she schooled her features.
“Well, I’m sure I can whip something up.” Her eyes landed on the pot in the center of the table. “Definitely something more appealing than this slop.”
Though she meant to keep her voice low, we both heard it.
“Scarlet’s not used to food like this. She was raised in a very prominent household.”
“Ah, where they only served pheasant and duck?” I asked, taking a sip of my water to cover the scowl on my face.
“Well, it was definitely a change of many…proportions.”
“I take it your father didn’t try to marry you off to one of his rich business partners.”
“He did,” she bit out. “But I wanted to marry for love.”
Her hand found my brother’s across the table, and the look in his eyes said he believed every rancid word that left her mouth. He would be devastated once again when he realized she didn’t actually love him.
Many nights at the bar were in my future.
Either that, or watchingThe Way We Wereover and over again until I died of boredom.
As she picked up her spoon and dipped it through the rice and beans, she hid her disgust over the meal.
“So, Sawyer tells me you run an apothecary shop.”
“Yes, I do.” That was it. The extent of what I felt I could say without blurting out something nasty like,Have you ever tried to get a job?
“Well, all that hocus pocus stuff really isn’t something I’m familiar with.”
At her pasted-on smile, I gently lowered my spoon to the bowl. “Nothing magical about it. I simply use herbs to cure common ailments instead of putting drugs into my body.”
“Well,” she smiled sweetly. “I prefer to leave that up to the professionals.”
Oh, I was sure she did. She probably had a doctor on call who could load her up with Valium and any other prescription that would dull her senses until she didn’t have to think about anything.
