“I can’t keep up with you tonight, not when you’re clearly so aggravated. I’m going inside,” she said decidedly.

Kate blinked. Why am I so surprised? Sister Ruth avoided confrontation like the plague. Really, she should have been surprised they’d got this far.

“Now,” Sister Ruth said, “will you be all right out here alone?”

Kate nodded tersely. “Don’t trip in the dark on your way back,” she grumbled.

As though they hadn’t been deep in heated discussion a moment before, the Reverend Mother brought two fingers to her temple in a salute and, smiling, turned to leave.

Returning the tools to the shed, Kate headed in for a shower. Sand chafed in places sand had no prerogative being and her hands were still putrid with soil regardless of how hard she had scrubbed them at the garden tap.

When she opened the cottage door, Tilly’s smile slipped. She pulled the phone away from her ear and covered the receiver, but Kate shook her head, mimed Ignore me, keep talking, I’m not here, about to shower anyway. She crossed the kitchen and reached around Tilly for a glass of water.

Making no effort to shift away from Kate’s closeness, Tilly hummed in agreement with whatever Declan was saying on the other end of the line. At the surprising sensation of a warm hand against her lower back, Kate stiffened. Tilly’s touch, innocent and sweet, smoothed over the thin skin of Kate’s T-shirt. Desperately attempting to relax into the friendly touch, Kate fought against a shiver. Her body was alive with adrenaline—anger, need, desire—and Tilly’s long fingers against her spine weren’t helping quell the stirring in her stomach. She took a long gulp of water. For as wholesome as Tilly was, in her heart of hearts Kate knew that Tilly could match her passion with equal intensity, with equal fervour. And that knowledge…well, it was potent enough to be her undoing.

She set the empty glass back down on the table, relief chasing through her as Tilly’s hand drifted low and pulled away. A short-lived touch, Kate thought for a second, but no. As Tilly shifted the phone against her ear, she reached out, teeth worried at her lip as she smiled shyly. In a maddening tease, her fingernail brushed against the neckline of Kate’s T-shirt, traced the small patch of sweat high on her sternum before jabbing the cotton there gently, as if to tell her she’d sweat through. Tilly fixed her with a look she couldn’t decipher and Kate’s chest expanded in anticipation. This thing between them…it wasn’t just friendship. It couldn’t be. It was richer than ever.

His voice nothing more than a faint murmur through the receiver, Tilly’s finger zigzagged over the dampened patch of cotton, and Kate pulled her gaze up. Tilly’s nervous smile was gone. Their eyes locked, held.

“Declan, I’m sorry to cut you off but I have to go…” Her gaze held Kate’s. “Kate’s just come in.”

Kate shook her head, gesturing for Tilly’s conversation to continue as she backed away and closed the bathroom door behind her. As she stripped, the spray of the shower drowned out Tilly’s voice.