Free Liz Ireland by Trouble in Paradise

she’d feared Parker and Ike had been eyeing her strangely. If they had been looking at her in a way that was peculiar, perhaps it was because they weren’t accustomed to having a woman in the house. That was a logical explanation, wasn’t it?
    Feeling better, she decided she needed to make herself useful. She wasn’t used to being idle.
    But of course, she didn’t want to make herself too useful. That’s how things had gone so impossibly awry the night before—her inability not to bustle about like a maid. But surely she could manage a few chores without raising any eyebrows.
    She looked at the fresh-scrubbed kitchen cleaned by Parker just that morning and sighed. No work to be done here. When she went out into the parlor, she was further disturbed by the lack of untidiness there, too. She sighed, wondering what to do next, and decided it had been too long since she had checked on Roy—a prospect that made her heart skip irregularly.
    Fear. That’s what caused that odd racing sensation in her pulse at the thought of seeing Roy. Parker had warned her that Roy was suspicious of women, and the man had certainly proved himself to be more meddlesome than his younger brother. His appearance in her room last night was indication enough of his distrust of her.
    Then again, there was something else in the way that he looked at her, especially when he didn’t think she was watching him, that also made her wary. It was that look of masculine curiosity she’d been onthe receiving end of on more than one occasion. Foremost in her mind among those times was the moment she’d first caught slick, handsome Percy Sternhagen’s eye.
    She didn’t need any more attention of that nature from men in this lifetime!
    And yet there was something about Roy that seemed very different from Percy. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Certainly his probing blue eyes made her jittery in the same way—noodle-kneed and breathless.
    But it was a small house and she couldn’t avoid him forever. She went back to the kitchen, heated some coffee, and fixed a tray. When she rapped on his door, which had of course been Parker’s door before she had arrived and sent the whole house topsy-turvy, her knock was met by his gruff voice.
    As she entered the room, Roy, standing by his bed, met her with an expression that didn’t ooze happiness at seeing her again. In fact, after a quick glance, he seemed to try to be avoiding looking at her at all.
    “I’m not an invalid, you know,” he grumbled.
    She smiled in spite of his grumpy attitude. Better by far to be around a cranky man than a randy one. “The doctor said you’re to stay in bed for a bit. I don’t want you to dehydrate.”
    “Slim chance that could happen with you infusing me with liquids every hour.”
    She set the tray down and frowned. “You’re welcome.”
    His pout made him look almost like a little boy. “I mean, thank you.”
    She laughed, and it seemed to her that when she did, a glimmer of attraction flared in his blue eyes. Something fluttered deep inside her, giving her the urge to giggle or prance like a foolish schoolgirl.
    She fisted her hands and asked, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
    He grinned, and immediately she felt her mistake. Would she ever stop acting like a domestic? For years she had dreamed of escaping servitude, and now she couldn’t seem to stop speaking like an upstairs maid.
    “I’m the one who should be bringing you coffee. You’re a guest, remember?”
    “Oh.” She shrugged. “So much has happened…I’m afraid I’ve been more of an irritant than a visitor.”
    He stared at her a long while, until she felt her cheeks blushing under his scrutiny. She should never have come into this room….
    “Do you know what surprises me most about you, Ellie?”
    Her gaze couldn’t seem to pull away from his blue eyes. Funny, that eyes so like Parker’s could affect her in a completely different way. “No.” Her voice came out weak,