She wanted to say no. She wanted to believe she could deny him even that and turn away, go away, without regrets. But there’d be regrets, Lee realized, if she went back to L.A. without taking whatever was left. “I can’t promise to understand, but I’ll stay two more days.”

Though she was reluctant, he held her hand to his lips. “Thank you. It’s important to me.”

“Don’t thank me,” she murmured. The anger had slipped away so quietly, she couldn’t recall it. “Things have changed.”

“Things changed days ago.” Still holding her hand, he drew her in the direction Sarah had gone. “I’ll come back for the gear.”

Now that the first shock had passed, the second occurred to her. “But you live here in the canyon.”

“That’s right.”

“You mean to tell me you have a house, with hot and cold running water and a normal bed, but you chose to spend two weeks in a tent?”

“It relaxes me.”

“That’s just dandy,” she muttered. “You’ve had me showering with lukewarm water and waking up with aching muscles, when you knew I’d’ve given a week’s pay for one tub bath.”

“Builds character,” he claimed, more comfortable with her annoyance.

“The hell it does. You did it deliberately.” She stopped, turning to him as the sun dappled light through the trees. “You did it all deliberately to see just how much I could tolerate.”

“You were very impressive.” He smiled infuriatingly. “I admit I never expected you to last out a week, much less two.”

“You sonofa—”

“Don’t get cranky now,” he said easily. “You can take as many baths as you like over the next couple of days.” He swung a friendly arm over her shoulder before she could prevent it. And he’d have time, he thought, to explain to her about Sarah. Time, he hoped, to make her understand. “I’ll even see to it that you have that red meat you’ve been craving.”

Fury threatened. Control strained. “Don’t you dare patronize me.”

“I’m not. You’re not a woman a man could patronize.” Though she mistrusted his answer, his voice was bland with sincerity and he wasn’t smiling. “I’m enjoying you and, I suppose, the foul-up of my own plans. Believe me, I hadn’t intended for you to find out I lived a couple miles from the campsite in quite this way.”

“Just how did you intend for me to find out?”

“By offering you a quiet candlelight dinner on our last night. I’d hoped you’d see the—ah—humor in the situation.”

“You’d’ve been wrong,” she said precisely, then caught sight of the house cocooned in the trees.