“Aw, you’re not so bad.”
“Thank you for that,” Roen said dryly.
Lily continued to turn the bacon while she looked over her shoulder at Clay. “It comes so easily to him that it’s hard for him to imagine it’s challenging for the rest of us.”
“Yeah,” said Clay. “But he’s real patient. That’s different than Pa was.”
Lily stole a glance at Roen, but he was plating eggs and at least acting as if he hadn’t heard. “Yes,” she said. “He’s different that way.” She poked him gently in the side with her elbow and pointed to the plate. He handed it over, and she added the bacon to it. “I love that you’re different that way,” she whispered.
This time when he kissed her, it was on the mouth, and it lingered just a little.
“Eggs, Ma!” Ham shouted from the table. “You’re going to lose our eggs!”
The plate was indeed tipped sideways. Lily stepped back and righted it so nothing was lost. She pushed it at Roen and told him to take it to the ravenous horde. “I’ll get the toast,” she said.
Once the children were off to school and Lizzie was playing in the parlor, Roen asked Lily if she’d done anything about looking for a housekeeper. He was fairly certain the answer was no, but he thought he should give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Nothing except think about it,” she told him, dropping dishes and utensils into a tub of soapy water. “I don’t have a candidate in mind, and if I do this, I’d like it to be someone I know.”
“If?” he asked. “There’s still a question in your mind? I thought this was settled.”
“It’s extravagant, Roen.”
“There will be two incomes,” he said. “Yours and mine, and if Clay wants to add a little something, there will be three.”
She smirked. “Sometimes your calculations are suspect. No matter how many times you slice it, the pie is still yours.”
“Then allow me to do as I wish with it. I’ll speak to Ellie. She’ll be able to recommend someone. That’s how Ridley found Mrs. Rushton.”
Lily recognized she was on the losing end of the argument. “Oh, very well. Ask Ellie when you pick up your pack.”
He sidled up to her at the sink. “You know, I’d rather get rid of the outside-the-town clothes and take you back to bed.”
She flushed and flicked water at him. It should have sizzled when it touched him. His dark eyes were that hot. “Last night was quite enough,” she said before the heat overtook her.
Roen moved behind her and nuzzled her neck. “You don’t mean that.”
She didn’t. “Well, you shouldn’t make me say what I don’t mean.” She felt his laughter bubble against her skin. He’d marked her in almost the same spot last night. A love bite, he called it, and she thought it was a proper name for what he’d done because it had been deliciously erotic. When she saw it this morning in the mirror, she called it what it was: a bruise. She batted him away. “No more of your branding,” she said, tapping the side of her neck.
He squinted at where she was pointing. “That? That’s nothing.”
“Nothing you have to cover up. Go on. Get out of here.”
Roen reluctantly stepped away. “Think about what I’m going to do to you tonight,” he said, and then he was heading down the hallway.
“You can’t leave like that,” she called after him. “Roen!” But he didn’t turn and he didn’t come back. She heard him talking to Lizzie and then saw him collect his things at the front door and walk out. She was wet by then, and damn him, he knew she would be.
•••
Hannah and Clay were squabbling in the kitchen when Roen got back. He scraped snow off his boots and beat his hat against his thigh before he walked in. Icy clumps clung to the lamb’s wool collar of his coat. The children stopped to look him over.
“Escaped an avalanche, Da?” asked Clay. “You’re a sight.”
“Mm.” He was wet and tired and took no pains to hide it. “Forget about taking the horses to the livery,” he told Clay. “It’s done.”
Clay nodded. He looked past Roen to the window. Snow was coming down sideways. “I reckon the storm’s just getting started here.”
“Well, it started a lot earlier in the higher elevations.”
