scare?â
Silence. Then she touched his cheek with her fingertip. âYeah, I do, Pete. I donât know why you keepkissing me. I donât know why you keep trying to help me. But you have to know that Iâm a walking catastrophe. I canât fit in your life, in your sonsâ life. Iâm not ready for any kind of relationship. Iâm not ready for much of anything.â
âYeah. So?â
A whisper of a grin, the first natural one heâd seen on her lips. âDonât get sassy with me, you dolt. Iâm serious. If you come on to me, you could get what youâre asking for. Trouble. So you think it through real good before you kiss me again, you hear?â
Slowly, she pulled completely free from his arms, then turned around and simply walked out. The screen door clapped behind her.
The damn woman had left him in her kitchen. And he stood there for a good five minutes, feeling as dazed as if someone had smacked him upside the headâor upside the heart. God knew what he was going to do about her. Right then, for sure, he didnât have a clue.
Five
N othing had gone well for the entire week, and as far as Camille was concerned, it was all Peteâs fault. Heâd rattled her. It was one thing for her high school crushâthe heroic icon of her whole darn childhoodâto turn into a living, breathing man who seemed to be attracted to her. But entirely another thing for her to respond to him.
Obviously there was nothing serious between themâand couldnât be. It was just a matter of shaking off this constant rattled feeling. So sheâd withdrawn. Specifically, she tried holing up in the cottage the way she had those first weeks, but that no longer seemed to work. The darn dog took all kinds of time and care. And the lavender simply had to be tended. And then, Peteâs boys kept showing up to help her.
Camille was all for denial and cowardice and hidingout, but dagnabbit, a woman couldnât even be a neurotic hermit in peace around here.
She hiked the driveway between the main house and her sisterâs Herb Haven business. Clouds had started building before noon, and now they were chasing across the sky, tumbling over each other, bringing a storm in their shadows. Since sheâd been chased out of the lavender field because of the inclement weather, she figured she might as well use the time to suck it up and seek out her sister.
She hoped to find Violet alone, but when she poked her head in the Herb Haven, she spotted at least three bodies wandering aroundâthat is, three human bodies, not counting the half-dozen cats.
She shied from the sound of strangersâ voices. Sheâd have shied from the cats, too, except that two of the long-haired Persians tangled around her legs before she could escape back outside. Trying to walk to the greenhouses was an exercise in getting tripped and sabotaged. Finally, she hunched down to pet them, snarling behind her, âDammit, Killer. Youâre a dog. Isnât it a mandate that youâre supposed to chase cats? What good are you?â
She didnât have to look back to know the shepherd was as close behind her as bad breath. Killer was still snarling at every opportunityâincluding at herâbut this last week, heâd taken up following her everywhere. She couldnât go to the bathroom, couldnât go to dinner, couldnât close the door on her bedroom without him. Just like now, he sat patiently, tongue lolling, less than two feet away from the disgusting sight of her petting the two long-haired nuisance cats.
The damn dog was just like having a second conscience. Couldnât escape him for love or money.
Finally the cats seemed sated. She stood up, slugged her hands in her jeans pockets, and wandered around the first greenhouse. Her parents had built this one. It wasnât as high-tech as Viâs new greenhouse, but it still had touches of their mother in