“All right. I’ll make up a list of questions and have it to you by tomorrow. Would one day be long enough for you to read them over and have some answers ready?”
“It should be sufficient. If not, I’ll let you know.” He seemed to relax a bit. “Okay. With that business out of the way, can I give you the grand tour?”
Pleased to feel the tension between them leaving, even if she didn’t completely understand why it existed in the first place, Mel agreed. When she struggled to stand, Ryne laughed and grabbed her arm, pulling her up to her feet. The heat from his hand burned through the thin material of her light sweater and she was sure that if she looked, there would be a mark on her skin from the contact. Sneaking a peak at his face, she wondered if he had felt anything unusual, but Ryne was already letting go and was heading towards the door. She hurried after him.
“We put a new roof on as soon as we got here and then had an electrician rewire the place. The plumbing in the kitchen, my bathroom downstairs and one of the upstairs baths has been redone, but not the laundry room.” He called the information over his shoulder as he headed towards the back of the house. “Right now I’m working on the kitchen.”
Mel found herself in a large spacious room. The floors were old worn beige linoleum and the walls were a hideous shade of pea green. She couldn’t help, but wrinkle her nose at the decor.
Ryne laughed. “Yeah. That’s how I feel too. I have all of the cupboards down and new ones should be arriving later today or tomorrow. New appliances are coming as well. After that I’ll tackle the walls.”
“What about the floor?”
“I was going to go with tile, but then someone told me it’s really cold and hard on your feet, so instead I’m going with hardwood.”
Mel nodded in approval. “It’ll match the rest of the house.” She wandered towards the window and looked out back. The yard was massive, but obviously overgrown. “A bit of a jungle out there, isn’t it?”
“The previous owner, Edith Nelson, was an avid gardener in her day, but apparently the last few years she didn’t feel up to taking care of it anymore so it really got out of hand.” Ryne rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know much about gardens and I have no idea when I’ll find the time to do anything out there. For the time being, it will just have to stay a jungle, I guess.”
“If I lived around here, I’d love to try my hand at that. During one of her many careers, my mother had a little garden centre and I worked there while I was in high school. I don’t know that much about plants but it was still fun. I haven’t had a chance to do anything like that for quite a while. My garden in Chicago consists of some sickly weeds growing between the cracks in the cement. Your yard would be an interesting challenge.”
“And you like challenges, do you?”
“I think you asked me something like that before, and the answer is still yes.”
Ryne gave her a half smile before leading her out of the kitchen to the next room. A fireplace, an arm chair, and a sofa made up the sparse furnishings. “This is technically considered the dining room, but I’m using it as a living room right now, since the real one has drafty windows and broken floorboards at the moment.”
Mel looked around the room with a sense of familiarity. This was the room she’d woken up in during her initial attempt to meet him. “Will you turn it back into a dining room some day? It’s an awfully large space.”
“Well, I hope to have a large… er… family and lots of relatives visiting eventually.” Abruptly, Ryne moved towards the doorway and Mel had to hurry after him.
By time they stopped to discuss different features and his vision for the renovations, it took almost an hour to go through the whole house. If he ever got everything done, it would be an impressive home. She just wondered if he would finish it while still young enough to enjoy the fruits of his labours. Still, he had achieved an impressive amount in the five months that he’d lived here. From the sounds of it, only the wiring and plumbing had been hired out. He and his two friends were planning on doing everything else by themselves. Mel wondered if the other two men were around, since she hadn’t seen nor heard them yet.
By now they were back in the kitchen and Ryne had her sit at the table while he rummaged in the fridge. “Lunch isn’t fancy. Soup, sandwiches and a salad are the best I can do right now with the kitchen torn up like this.”
“That’s fine. You didn’t have to feed me, though. I could have eaten something at the diner in town.”
“You could have, but this is more private. We can talk without half of the town knowing our conversation.”
Mel laughed softly. “It is a rather small place. I suppose not much happens, so a visitor in town is big news.”
Ryne agreed as he stood at the stove reheating some soup. “Uh-huh. If you sneeze in Ruth’s diner, the nurse at the clinic is waiting with a thermometer by the time you step outside.”
“I’m surprised you moved here, since you like your privacy so much. It’s obvious that people take note of what everyone else does.”
“They do.” He acknowledged. “But only what happens in town. They leave you pretty much alone at home and for the most part, if you don’t want to talk, they respect that. People are friendly and concerned, but not maliciously nosey.”
Mel wondered if Ryne thought she was maliciously nosey, but decided not to pursue the point. Right now they were getting along quite well and she didn’t want to ruin it. For whatever reason, his earlier mood had passed and he wasn’t being sarcastic either. It would be nice to relax and just have a normal conversation.
That was exactly what they did. Movies, books, and decorating ideas flowed around the table as they ate the simple meal. Mel felt relaxed and answered his casual questions about her schooling and her upbringing. Thankfully, he didn’t mention the interview she wanted and she didn’t either. The story that Aldrich had told her to use wasn’t firmly embedded in her brain yet, and she wanted to go over it a few times before trying it out on Ryne. Somehow she suspected that he’d easily sense deception on her part.
She was just raising her cup of coffee to her lips when a loud crashing sound filled the room. Her hand jerked and the hot liquid spilled onto her clothes. With a yelp, she stood up and pulled the material away from her skin. Ryne was immediately at her side, yanking at the sweater and pulling it over her head.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She sputtered, ineffectually trying to pull the top back down. It was no use. Ryne had it over her head before she could even finish the question. Good heavens, but the man was fast! Mel crossed her arms protectively across her chest.
“I’m keeping you from getting seriously scalded. You can’t leave that hot material on your skin.” He was working at the button on her jeans and she batted at his hand while stepping away from him.
“It wasn’t that hot. There’s only a spot or two on my pants and if you touch me again, I’ll kick you in the balls.” She glared at him, embarrassed and angry at his presumptuous behaviour.
“Relax. I have no designs on your body… at the moment.” He paused and leered at her ample cleavage.
Mel shifted her arms in a vain attempt to cover more of herself, but knew it was useless. There was just too much of her to hide. At least she was wearing a decent bra. Glancing around, she spotted a tea towel and snatched it up, wrapping it around herself.
Ryne had now moved to the sink and was soaking a cloth. Once it was wet, he approached her and flicked up the towel, pressing the wet cloth to the hot pink skin of her stomach. The cloth was ice cold! Giving a startled cry, Mel tired to step back, but Ryne simply grabbed her and held her in place. Once again she found herself sputtering wordlessly not sure if she should be protesting him touching her or the coldness of the cloth.
Pre-empting any comment from her, he spoke sternly. “Be still. It’s important to cool a burn immediately. Now hold this cloth while I stick your sweater in water so it doesn’t stain.” He grabbed her hand and presse
d it to her stomach so she could keep the cloth in place.
“Oh.” It was a small comment, but the only one that came to mind. The cool rag did feel good and Mel let herself relax a bit. Apparently Ryne had nothing else in mind, but tending her burn. She watched him fill a large bowl with water and plunge her top into it. “How do you know how to do that? Treat a stain, I mean?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I’m twenty-seven and I’ve been doing my own laundry for quite a while now.”
Mel nodded. “What was that noise?”
He nodded his head towards the window and Mel looked out to see rain pouring down. She hadn’t realized how dark it had become. “We’re having a spring storm, it looks like. The wind has really picked up. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the older trees in forest fell and that’s what the sound was.”
She giggled. “So if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there, it still makes a noise?”
He chuckled back. “How’s your burn?”
Mel took the cloth away. Her skin wasn’t nearly as pink now. “I think it’s better.”
“Good. I’ll wet the cloth again and you can hold it on for a bit longer. You should cool a burn for ten minutes.”
“First aid training?”
“Something like that. I’ve lived in places where it pays to know how to take care of simple injuries.” He fixed the cloth for her. “You wait here. I’ll go upstairs and get a shirt for you to wear. As enticing as the tea towel is, I assume you don’t want to drive home in it.”
“Ah—no. I think that would definitely give the people of Stump River something to talk about.”
Ryne left to find her a shirt and Mel moved to stand by the window, staring out at the pouring rain. It was raining heavier by the minute and becoming harder to even see across the yard. Something flashed by the window and for a moment she was sure it was a pair of wolves, but that was ridiculous. What would wolves be doing out in the rain, running around the house? Surely, they’d hole up in a cave or a burrow or wherever they made their home. She shook her head. No—she was just imagining things.
A door slammed, the noise coming from the back entryway just off the kitchen. She could hear male voices laughing and then two very damp, scantily clad men entered the room. When they saw her, they came up short and fell silent. Mel stared at them speechless. At one point she believed she’d said that good looking men didn’t grow on trees; apparently that wasn’t quite true in Stump River.
Chapter 16
Both of the men before her were amazing specimens; tall and lean, with well defined muscles. She watched, fascinated, as little rivers of water cascaded down their bare chests, rising and falling over the well developed abdominals. Some drops were lost in the indent of their navels, while other luckier ones travelled even lower, disappearing below the waist band of their shorts. Said shorts were sopping wet and clinging to their bodies, hinting at the interesting anatomy hidden beneath.
Tearing her gaze upwards, Mel felt her face flush with embarrassment and hoped they hadn’t noticed the direction of her eyes. Unfortunately, from the smirks on their faces, she strongly suspected they had. Both men appeared to be around twenty and had blonde or light brown hair; it was so wet at the moment, it was hard to determine the exact shades. Their heights were comparable, though the one with hazel eyes carried himself in such a way, that he seemed the larger of the two.
He was the one that moved first, stepping forward, his hand extended.
“Hi! I’m Bryan. We met out by the road the other day.”
Realizing she was basically ogling them, Mel gave herself a little shake and accepted his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first, with you being so wet and nearly naked… ” She let her voice trail off, feeling her cheeks growing even hotter as he laughed lightly.
“That’s okay; it’s always nice to be appreciated. You’re Melody Greene, right?”
She nodded. “You can call me Mel.”
“Mel is good with me.” He gave her a friendly smile and she lost some of her initial embarrassment. Giving his head a nod to the side, Bryan introduced his companion. “This is Daniel.”
The man in question waved lightly. “Nice to meet you.”
Mel noticed that he had the most amazing eyes. They were a deep liquid brown, the kind that made her think of rich cafe mocha with pools of melted chocolate on top. He seemed like he’d be the quiet sort, but not in a way that made you think you could walk all over him. It was more like he was a deep thinker. She smiled kindly at him.
Bryan cleared his throat and she brought her attention back to him. “I see you and Ryne have had an interesting afternoon.”
“Interesting?” His comment puzzled her. “Well, we talked a bit and he showed me the house.”
“Uh-huh. I always like a game of ‘show and tell’ myself.” Bryan gestured towards her with his hand. Mel frowned, not getting his meaning at all. He chuckled. Reaching forward, he flicked the edge of her makeshift shirt—also known as a tea towel—and Mel gasped. She’d completely forgotten she was shirtless and barely covered. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and struggled to not blush, yet again. Good heavens, her blood pressure had never had this much of a work out before!
“Hey! No need to be embarrassed.” Bryan grinned. “I—”
“Bryan!” A low growl followed the utterance of his name and Bryan underwent a complete transformation. The grin disappeared and he seemed to shrink down. He turned to face the speaker, tipping his head down.
“Ryne, I was just—”
“I know what you were just doing. Keep your hands to yourself. Both of you get upstairs and dry off. And don’t forget to clean up the puddles you undoubtedly left all over the floor.”
Both men almost slunk out of the room, leaving Mel gaping at Ryne who stood in the doorway holding a shirt in his hand. His stance, his expression, the way his hand was fisted, all screamed aggression. He kept his eyes fixed on the other two until they were out of sight. Shifting uncomfortably, Mel spoke hesitantly.
“They were just introducing themselves to me. Neither one did or said anything wrong.” She tried to placate Ryne, not sure why he had sounded so angry and dominant. The reaction of the other two was puzzling as well. Why did they put up with his attitude and allow him to order them around, as if they were naughty children and he was their father? Even if he owned the place, that was no way to speak to grown men.
Ryne’s response was delivered in a sharp tone. “They know better. I told them to keep their distance.”
“From me? Why?”
“I have my reasons.” Ryne abruptly changed the topic. “Here’s a T-shirt to wear.”
Mel took the offered clothing and turning her back, she somehow managed to shimmy into it without losing the towel. Once she was decently covered, she pulled the towel from underneath the shirt and hung it over the back of a chair. By the time she’d finished, Ryne seemed calmer but Mel was still anxious to get away from the man. He was just too unpredictable for her to feel comfortable around him. “I suppose I’d better go. I’ll type up a list of questions and drop them in your mailbox tomorrow. That way you won’t have to leave the gate unlocked.”
“Actually, I’m in town tomorrow. I work at Miller’s on Wednesdays.”
“All right. I’ll drop it off there.” She looked around, found her purse, and started to head towards the front door, keeping the conversation light for fear of setting him off again. “Thanks for lunch and the tour of the house. It really is an interesting home. When I first saw it from the outside, it seemed sort of spooky, but now I can see it has potential.”
“Thanks.” He seemed cordial enough now, and Mel felt herself relaxing marginally. They were at the front door now. Her hand was on the door knob ready to open it when Bryan walked down the stairs, rubbing his hair dry with a towel.
He was whistling unconcernedly. Surprisingly, the younger man didn’t seem to bear a grudge for the way Ryne had talked to him, merely gr
inning and offering a bit of advice. “I wouldn’t go out there if I were you.”
Ryne raised his eye brows in query and Bryan continued. “First of all, it’s raining so hard, I doubt if Mel could see to drive. Secondly, there’s a large tree that fell down across the driveway about halfway to the road. There’s no way you can get a car around it.”
“You mean I’m stuck here?” Mel couldn’t keep the squeak of surprise out of her voice. She didn’t believe this. This was the sort of thing that happened in books and movies, not real life.
“I’m afraid so.” He turned to Ryne. “Daniel and I looked at it, but it will take all three of us, and probably a chainsaw, to move it out of the way.” Bryan shrugged and wandered on his way, seeming completely unconcerned by the situation.
Mel turned to Ryne, all thoughts of his earlier bad temper washed away by a sudden pressing need to leave. She was his guest and she figured he had certain obligations towards her. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she looked at him expectantly. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Well, do something.” She fluttered her hands at him, as if shooing him on his way.
Instead of moving, he put his hands in his back pockets and then shrugged. “If the road is blocked, it’s blocked. Like Bryan said, it’ll probably take all three of us and a chain saw to clear the road. Those trees are massive.”
“I heard him. I mean, why aren’t you getting your coat and umbrella and whatever else you need to go out there and get to work?”
Ryne looked at her as if she was crazy. “Because it’s pouring rain and quite possibly it will start to thunder and lightning. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always heard you don’t stand outside playing with power tools in the middle of a storm.”
Mel regarded him for a few minutes, blinking slowly as she processed his words and their implications. When it all made sense, she slumped back against the door and closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly side to side in denial. “So I’m stuck here for how long?”
The Keeping Page 16