‘‘You’re not walking two and a half miles.’’

‘‘I’ll call Julie. She’ll run down and pick us up. You must have work to do yourself. I’m . . . behind schedule,’’ she said, desperately now. ‘‘I can’t catch up if you don’t put me down.’’

He considered her. ‘‘There’s not much to you.’’

The shimmer of need wavered into annoyance. ‘‘If you’re going to tell me I’m skinny—’’

‘‘I wouldn’t say skinny. You’ve got fine bones, that’s all.’’ And smooth, soft flesh to cover them. He set her on her feet before he forgot he intended to look after her. ‘‘You don’t have to worry with the house today.’’

‘‘I do. I need to do my job.’’ Her nerves were a jittery mess. The way he was looking at her made her want to take one flying leap back into his arms and also made her want to hightail it out the back door like a rabbit. She’d never experienced such a dramatic tug-of-war on her system, and could only stand her ground. ‘‘I can do it quicker if you aren’t underfoot.’’

‘‘I’ll get out of your way as soon as you call Julie and see if she’ll come by and get you.’’ He reached up and brushed some dandelion fluff out of her hair.

‘‘Okay.’’ She turned, punched in numbers on the kitchen phone. Maybe it would be best, she thought wildly as the phone started to ring, if Anna didn’t want her around after she got home. It seemed she couldn’t be with Ethan for ten minutes anymore without getting jumpy. If it kept up, she was bound to do something to embarrass them both.

SIX

ETHAN DIDN’T MIND PUT ting in long hours on the boat at night. Especially when he could work alone. It hadn’t taken much persuasion for him to agree to let Seth camp out with the other boys in their backyard. It gave Ethan an evening alone—a rarity now—and time to work without having to tune in to questions and comments.

Not that the boy wasn’t entertaining, Ethan mused. The fact was, he was firmly attached to Seth. Accepting Seth into his life had been natural because Ray had asked it of him. But the affection, the appreciation, and the loyalty had grown and solidified until it simply was.

But that didn’t mean the kid couldn’t wear down his energies.

Ethan kept it to handwork tonight. Even if you felt awake and alert at midnight, the odds were you’d be a bit sluggish, and he didn’t want to risk losing a finger to the power tools. In any case, it was soothing to work in the quiet, to hand-sand edges and planes until you felt them go smooth.