She rested her cheek on his shoulder and sighed as he pulled the sheet over them. “Yes. For a while.”
For some reason she’d felt the need to remind him—remind them both—that this was only temporary. That she neither expected nor wanted anything more than this, a few hours of escape with him.
She let her thoughts drift, allowed herself to focus only on the feel of his skin beneath her cheek, the warmth of him surrounding her, the rough length of his leg tangled with her smooth one. She wasn’t asleep but she was in a light doze when Dan spoke again, sounding almost tentative.
“Kinley?”
“Mmm?”
“Are we ever going to talk about it?”
That brought her eyes open, her frown back. “Talk about what?” she asked gruffly, though she was afraid she knew.
“What we saw.”
She kept her head burrowed into his shoulder, her face hidden from his gaze. “We didn’t see anything. A trick of the fog. That’s all.”
“And yet you knew exactly what I was referring to.” There was a grim satisfaction in his voice, as though she had inadvertently confirmed something he’d questioned.
“I saw shadows so deep our flashlights hardly penetrated them. I saw branches swaying in the breeze and tendrils of fog winding through the woods. I saw a few stars when I fell and hit my knee on a rock. And then I heard Ninja barking and saw that Grayson was safe, and that was the only thing that really mattered.”
He’d listened without reaction to her fervent assertion. She recited the words as if she’d memorized them—because she had. She’d silently repeated the spiel to herself all evening, ever since they’d left those dark woods. She had almost convinced herself it was the complete story of her experience tonight.
“Okay, fine,” he said after a moment, his tone gentle, perhaps in response to the sharp edge even she had heard in her own voice. “Rest tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Not about that.”
He hesitated long enough for her to know that he wanted to argue. He released his breath in a hard sigh. “You really can be stubborn.”
She didn’t answer. He certainly wasn’t the first to point it out.
“I should go, I guess.”
Her fingers tightened reflexively on his arm. For some reason, she really didn’t want to be alone just then. Maybe because she wanted to make the most of every minute she had with Dan before he finished his assignment and moved on.
“Stay awhile,” she murmured, looking up at him through her lashes. “If you want.”
He hesitated a moment, then lifted her chin with the edge of his hand. She could almost see the momentary impatience fade from his eyes as his gaze locked with hers.
“I want,” he assured her and pressed his mouth to hers.
Reaching up to him, she sank into the kiss, clearing her mind again of anything but the satisfaction of being with him at that moment.
Chapter Nine
The weather Saturday was as perfect as the TV pundits had promised, with temperatures in the low seventies and blue skies dotted with only a few puffy white clouds. Having awakened alone in her bed, Kinley took another long shower, letting the hot water pulse against muscles that weren’t all sore from the tramp through the woods. Just the memory of the enthusiastically energetic lovemaking that had followed made her shiver despite the warmth of the water.
After one quick assessment in the mirror, she shook her head and dived into the closet to find clothes to hide the bruises. She settled on loose buff-colored pants with a thin, very pale yellow blazer and a matching lace-trimmed camisole. Pushing the jacket sleeves up on her forearms, she added a couple of bangle bracelets and earrings. She had applied her makeup carefully and brushed her hair to the usual sleek, shiny bob. Finally satisfied that she looked put together and professional, dressed appropriately for an afternoon spring wedding, she hooked the strap of her leather tote bag over her shoulder and headed to her car.
She wasn’t quite sure when Dan had slipped out last night. She’d roused only long enough to lock up behind him, as he’d insisted, and had then collapsed back into the bed without looking at the clock. She figured it would be a little awkward seeing him again today, but she could handle it. They were both adults, both experienced, had gone into this with eyes open and emotions guarded. It had been quite a week, and maybe it would take her a few days to recover—but that didn’t mean she had let herself fall for Dan. Not seriously, anyway. Or, if she had, she’d get over it. Eventually.
Truth be told, she was more nervous about his insistence on discussing what they’d seen—what they thought they’d seen, she corrected herself immediately—in the woods last night. Though she was confident that she’d explained that momentary aberration to her own satisfaction since, she still couldn’t help casting a quick, sideways glance toward the woods when she parked in her usual spot behind the inn, next to Bonnie’s car. Fortunately, all she saw on the grounds was a hive of activity getting ready for the wedding later that day.
She’d deliberately come in a bit later than usual, after breakfast service. She hadn’t been needed for that, and she had a busy day ahead as it was, especially since Eva had drafted her as the last-minute wedding director. She headed straight for the coffeemaker when she went inside, filled a cup, took a bracing sip and only then greeted her sister and the various others milling around the dining room.
“Logan put a lock on the gate last night,” Bonnie told her when they had a chance to speak in private in the kitchen. “Now that we know Ninja is capable of opening the latch himself, we didn’t want to risk him crashing the weddin
g later.”