“Are you sure? You’re my only guest at the moment. I’d hate for you to leave.”
“I’m sure.” She picked up her sandwich again, indicating she would continue eating. “I’m just going to finish this and then work on my photos some more. It’s all very boring.”
“All right,” Emily said after a long moment. Then she picked up the cookies and her keys again. “There’s beer and wine in the fridge if you want anything. Help yourself. I’ll be home later.”
Elise waved her off.
• • •
The evening was quiet enough for several hours. Elise went back to her room, fired up her laptop, and poked around on Photoshop, cleaning up a few photos and adjusting the coloring. When it began to thunder, she shut down her computer and went downstairs to the living room to watch the weather on TV. She curled up on the couch with a beer and flipped between local channels.
Sure enough, there was a crack of lightning and the lights went out.
Elise sat in the dark for a moment, then headed to the kitchen to light some candles. While she was in the kitchen, her phone rang.
It was Emily. “Power dead over there?”
“Yep, all dead,” Elise told her. “I’m lighting candles.”
“Okay. I’m going to stay here for a bit. I think I saw some hail, so I’m going to wait for it to pass. Luanne says Hank doesn’t want anyone on the roads in this, so I’ll be home in a few hours.”
“No worries,” Elise said softly. “Thank you for checking on me.”
She got off the phone with Emily and took a few candles into the main living room. The big Victorian wasn’t that creepy with the lights off, not really. It was just great mood lighting. She wished she had something to do, though.
So much for getting more life experience. Even tonight, she was all alone and rather enjoying it. What did that say about her?
Candle in hand, she peered out the front window at the driving rain. A moment later, it began to hail.
THREE
When it began to rain, Rome cursed his luck and paid his tab, then headed out for his bike. There was nothing worse than riding a motorcycle in a downpour, but he didn’t have any other transportation. He put on his helmet and straddled his bike. It’d be a shitty ride home.
A moment later, he’d barely gone a block before it began to hail, and hard, pebble-sized pellets began to thump against his jacket, stinging with every connection. Okay, so there were worse things than driving home in a downpour.
Cursing to himself, he saw the sign for the bed-and-breakfast and pulled in there. The yard of the garish Peppermint House was thickly treed and would provide some safety for his bike, at least. He parked it under the nearest tree and pulled off his helmet. Waiting out the storm under a tree would be fine for his bike, but it would suck for him.
Rome glanced up at the house as hail poured down. The place was dark, but there was a candle in the window. Someone was there, at least. He tugged his jacket over his head to protect it, then jogged up to the front door of the bed-and-breakfast.
He knocked on the door, then rang the doorbell. The sound of the hail pounding on the roof was so loud that he wasn’t sure anyone would hear him. “Hello?” he called out.
After a long pause, the front door of the bed-and-breakfast opened a crack. A face peeked around the corner, holding a candle.
It was Elise.
Rome was stunned. She was the last person he expected to see. “Hey, Bo Peep . . . can I come in?”
She opened the door a little wider, and he went inside.
When the door shut behind him, the roar of the rain and hail muted, and he was left staring at her shadowed face as she held the candle. Her eyes were wide, but he didn’t see fear in them.
And that made him feel a little better. “Hi,” Rome said quietly. “Is it going to bother you if I hang out here for a bit? The weather’s kind of shit.”
She shook her head and he wondered if she planned on speaking to him.
But after a moment of quiet staring, Elise gave him a faint smile and turned and headed deeper into the house. Intrigued, Rome stuffed his hands into his leather jacket and followed her. With the candle flickering as she walked, Elise was forced to cup a hand close to the wick, and he saw she had slim, pretty fingers. The rest of her figure was barely illuminated in the soft light, and he caught sight of a fuzzy sweater and tight jeans or leggings. Her long, silky hair spilled over her shoulders, and he wondered if it was as soft as it looked.
And he stiffened at the thought of how this would go down. Would she return to Grant and say Rome was harassing her? Would he get canned simply because he’d picked the wrong place to show up during a hailstorm? Fuck. He didn’t know what to do. Rome hesitated, but when Elise didn’t turn around, he sighed to himself and followed her. She wasn’t speaking, and that made him uneasy. He hated the silence between them, because it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
“Anyone else here?”
She shook her head.
Oh great. “Listen, I’ll just stay until the hail lets up, and then I’ll head back to the ranch. I won’t be here for long.”
She didn’t speak.
Damn it, couldn’t she say something? She was probably terrified of him at the moment, and he couldn’t think of a single thing to say to relax her. He was here in this big, empty house with her and the lights were off. It was the perfect scenario for a guy to take advantage of a girl, and he was sure the idea went through her head, too. Rome groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to think of how to extract himself. Maybe the hail would be the better option.
But he didn’t leave. Instead, he watched as Elise lit a few other candles on the table, and then sat down next to it.
He considered heading back out into the storm. Just bolting before she could accuse him of anything. He wasn’t going to touch her, but he didn’t know what she’d say to dear old brother, and he was already on edge around Grant. Grant was just waiting for him to f**k up so he could fire him.
“You sure you’re okay with me being here?”
She nodded, but she didn’t look at him, and that made Rome feel worse. Just then, it began to hail harder, and he groaned. He was stuck. Fuck.
Well, if nothing else, it’d be a good time to clear the air with Elise Markham and get it out in the open that he didn’t mean her any harm. “Could you please say something?”
Rome watched those big eyes raise, shining in the candlelight, and he watched her tug on her long, silky hair again. She seemed to be pulling it over one cheek. Then she straightened. “Sorry.” The word was whisper soft.