Page 41 of Kiss of Wrath

She waved a hand for him to explain while she chewed on her muffin, licking some jelly off the corners of her mouth.

He just stared at her mouth, and then he licked his own lips.

Holy cow! She felt that little gesture mirrored on her own lips, and whoo-boy, it felt good. “Uh, for example?” Focus, Miranda, focus. On the subject at hand, not the luscious male before you.

He seemed to make a concerted effort to concentrate, too. “It would be better if you had a real guard dog, one that would warn you of any stranger on the property.”

She shook her head. “There’s no way I could get rid of Ruff. The children would never forgive me. And there’s no way I could handle two dogs.”

He conceded that point with a nod. “Cnut will assess your home security and come up with some recommendations. In the meantime, my biggest concern is the school situation. Two separate schools. Minimal security. There are only a few weeks until the end of the school year. Why not school them at home with a tutor?”

She shook her head again. “I have to maintain the appearance of normality in the kids’ lives. They lost their mother two years ago. Their father is absent, in prison. I moved them from their old neighborhood in Cincinnati to this new development in Las Vegas. So many changes!”

“Well, then, I will have to assign men to watch over them when they are in school.”

“You have men? How many? Surely, you don’t expect them to live here.”

He gave her a look that pretty much said, What do you think? Then he said, “The number does not matter. And they will make their own sleeping arrangements.”

“I don’t like the idea of the kids having guards outside the school.”

“The children will never know they are there.”

She tapped her fingertips on the table, considering. “All right,” she agreed.

“I also don’t like the idea of the children riding on the bus. A bus could be waylaid on the way from here to there, or the reverse. I will drive them to school and pick them up.”

She was about to protest, but nodded again. Small, but important, concessions.

“By the time you return from your work today, I will have a more detailed plan for you. We have not even talked of your own safety, but never fear, I will manage it all.” Did he really waggle his eyebrows at her before saying, “After all, I am your house manager.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a wobbly voice. The last time anyone offered to lift the load from her shoulders was . . . she didn’t remember when. Oh, Darla helped. And her coworkers. But still, the responsibility for the children’s welfare and safety was hers alone. Until now.

His concern touched her deeply. She sensed that he cared, that he would do this, even if he weren’t paid. It made him look even more attractive to her. His long hair was pulled back off his face and tied with a rubber band low on his nape, calling attention to his sharp cheekbones and other Nordic features. A dark blond shade of morning whiskers dusted his chin. And of course all those muscles.

He cleared his throat.

Embarrassed to be caught ogling him, she stood. “I need to get dressed for work before waking the kids.”

His attentive eyes surveyed her boldly, taking in her tall body from bed-head hair to slippered feet. She felt as if he could see through her thick terry-cloth robe, under which she wore only skimpy underwear.

“What will you be doing today?” he asked.

“For one thing, I have to testify in court on behalf of an elderly man whose children are trying to have him declared incompetent so that they can sell his house.”

“Greed,” he concluded.

“Definitely.”

“That is my brother Harek’s big sin,” he mentioned.

“What is?” Somehow, she’d lost the thread of this conversation.

“Greed,” he said.

“And what is your big sin?” she asked, not really expecting him to answer.

But he did. “Anger.”