Free Bodies & Buried Secrets: A Rosewood Place Mystery (Rosewood Place Mysteries Book 1) by Ruby Blaylock

wasn’t here to bring you a housewarming present.” He stood up, and shifted the stove into place, effectively ending the conversation. “I think that’s taken care of you, Mrs. Purdy. You ought to be able to cook now, and the refrigerator should be nice and cold in no time. I’d leave it until the morning to put your food in, though, give it time to get to the right temperature.”
    “Oh, thank you, Rory! You are my hero!” Bessie pulled him into an awkward hug, and Annie knew that it wasn’t worth pushing him on the subject of Suzy, at least not right now. Whatever was bothering him wasn’t exactly making him want to sit down and have a cozy chat about his past.
    Annie managed to avoid the subject until dinner time when Bessie insisted on making dinner for them all. “I don’t have much in the way of real food,” she apologized, “but I can’t go buy groceries until the refrigerator is ready, so I’ll just have to scrape something together. We can at least go to bed tonight with a little hot grub in our bellies.”
    No one minded, but Rory disappeared once he’d finished helping Bessie unpack a few boxes in the kitchen. Bessie insisted that he join them for dinner, so she sent Annie looking for him. She found him by the barn, jiggling the door gently and trying to slip it back onto its sliding track. He jumped when Annie called his name, he’d been so engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn’t heard her mouselike footsteps across the soft grass.
    “Crap, Annie, you scared the pants off me,” he admitted. “Sorry, but I guess I’m still a little shaken up by all that stuff with Suzy,” he said with reluctance. “I’d like to apologize for being so short with you earlier, but I just didn’t want to talk about it.” He wiped his hands on the back of his jeans and picked up a hammer from the grass at his feet. “My past is just, well, it’s old history, and I want it to stay that way.”
    Annie wanted to respect his wishes, but she also needed to be sure that she could trust Rory. A man who kept secrets might not be the best influence on her little family. “I can understand that Rory, I really can. But, I need to know that your history isn’t going to be a problem for you or for us.” She hesitated, then asked him again about his relationship with Suzy.
    He handed her the hammer, ignoring her question. “Come over here and help me lift this. I think if you give the corner down there a good whack when I get it lifted high enough, we can slot it back into place and get this barn door open.”
    Annie moved into position by his side, acutely aware of the heat and sweat coming off his body. She realized with some embarrassment that she must be just as sweaty and wondered what he must think of her, then scolded herself for having noticed his smell at all. Something in his scent had triggered memories from her past that had no place in her present. Like Rory had said, some history needed to stay just that--ancient history.
    He grunted with the effort of lifting the door, but with a few mighty shoves and a shower of dust he seemed satisfied that the door was in the right position to get it back on its track. “Whack that corner, Annie, and if that doesn’t work, whack the upper one.”
    She did as she was asked, giving the wood a mighty wallop. The door didn’t budge. “Try again,” Rory suggested, “but harder. A lot harder.”
    Annie changed the angle of her swing slightly, then pulled back and swung the hammer as hard as she could. She closed her eyes at the last second, imagining splintering wood and a broken door, but she never felt the hammer hit the wood. Instead, Rory let out a yelp, and the door lurched upward as he jumped up and out of the way of the errant hammer.
    “What the heck are you trying to do to me?” He yelled incredulously. “For the love of all that is holy, woman why did you shut your eyes?”
    Annie’s face went red. “I’m so sorry...I didn’t want to get