He wanted to push aside the notebook she was writing in, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her straight to the bedroom. Instead, he headed for the bathroom and filled the tub with very cold water, once again cursing the lack of a shower. He washed himself quickly and slipped into clean clothes. All week he’d been driving himself, but it hadn’t done a damn bit of good. Despite the carpentry and painting, despite the daily workouts and the miles he’d added to his run, he wanted her more than ever. Even the game films he’d started watching on the TV in the office couldn’t hold his attention. He should have moved back into the B&B, but Lilly was there.

A stab of pain shot through him. He couldn’t think about her now. Maybe he’d drive into town for another workout in the tiny health club at the inn.

But no, he found himself moving toward the porch, all his vows to stay away from Molly evaporating. As he stepped through the doorway, he realized he was in the only place he could possibly be right now, in the presence of the only person who might understand his confusion over what had just happened.

She gazed up at him, her eyes full of that generous concern she showed for anyone she thought might have a problem. He couldn’t spot even a hint of censure toward him for being so surly, although he knew she’d get around to putting him in his place sooner or later.

“Is everything all right?”

He shrugged, not giving away a thing. “We talked.”

But she wasn’t impressed by his tough-guy act. “Were you your normal repugnant self?”

“I listened to her, if that’s what you mean.” He knew exactly what she meant, but he wanted her to pull the story out of him. Maybe because he didn’t know what she’d find when she did.

She waited.

He wandered toward the screen. The plant she’d hung from a hook brushed against his shoulder. “She told me some things … I don’t know … It wasn’t exactly the way I thought.”

“What way was it?” she asked quietly.

So he told her. Leaving out how muddled his feelings were. Just giving her the facts.

When he was done, she nodded slowly. “I see.”

If only he did.

“Now you have to adjust to knowing that what you believed about her wasn’t true.”

“I thinks she wants …” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “She wants something from me. I can’t—” He whirled on her. “Am I supposed to feel this sudden attachment to her? Because I don’t!”

Her expression flickered with something that looked almost like pain, and it took her a long time to answer.