Free Summer Rose by Elizabeth Sinclair

before you do anything like that again.”
    “There is an upside.” Rose smiled weakly. “Pansy will be a mom, and we’ll have a cute little litter of kitties around here.”
    His anger began to surface again. “Maybe Pansy doesn’t want to be a mom and have the responsibility of caring for babies. Maybe she just wanted to go on being a loner and having a life of her own, catching mice and—” He stomped from the office, slamming the connecting door behind him, and leaving Rose to stare wide-eyed after him.
    She frowned. What on earth had brought that on? One minute he’d seemed to have been cooling off, and the next he’d erupted like an active volcano. All she’d said was that Pansy would be a mom. For some reason, that had set him off again. And what a strange choice of words. The way he’d ranted on about it, anyone would think he’d been talking about a human and not a cat.
    By the end of the day Hunter had not come out of the backroom, so Rose finished up her chores and had started to get ready to close the office. She’d just clicked on the answering machine, when Hunter emerged from the back. Fearing another eruption, she busied herself straightening papers and pretended not to notice him.
    He cleared his throat, forcing her to acknowledge his presence. “Rose, I want to apologize for my totally irrational reaction to Pansy’s pregnancy.” Then he smiled, and, as if by magic, the man she’d called Hunter appeared.
    “No problem. We all have our moments.”
    “Well, be that as it may, it wasn’t fair to yell at you. I should have spayed Pansy when I took her in, but I kept putting it off. So this is just as much my fault as anyone’s.” He stared at her for a long moment. “Let me make it up to you by cooking you one of the thick steaks I have in the fridge.”
    Rose knew she should say no . Her equilibrium couldn’t withstand being near him in a casual setting away from the office. But she wanted so desperately to say yes . These past few weeks of formal conversation had been the longest of her life. She longed for the relaxed atmosphere that had existed between them on that first day. But did she dare?
    “I’d love to.” Good grief! Where had that come from? Oh well, in for a dime, in for a dollar . . . or however that saying went. She couldn’t back out gracefully now.
    “Great. I’ll start the grill, and that’ll give you time to freshen up before dinner.” He opened the front door for her.
    As she stepped into the doorway, their gazes locked. His warm breath feathered across her hot cheeks. She became way too aware of the width of his chest and the deep smile grooves around his full lips.
    Dragging her gaze away, she hurried through the door. “I’ll make a salad,” she called as she dashed toward the garage and the emotional safety of her apartment. Hopefully, she could get herself under control before she had to sit across a table from him.

Chapter 5
     
    Showered and dressed in white shorts and a pale salmon T-shirt, Rose finished throwing the cut-up salad vegetables into a large wooden bowl she’d found among the kitchen utensils that Hunter had said she could use. She added dressing, and then tossed the veggies thoroughly. Firming up her resolve to keep this dinner on a friendly basis, she picked up the bowl and descended the stairs into the yard connecting the garage to the main house.
    Still unsure about the prudence of spending the evening with Hunter, she covered the distance slowly. One of the main reasons she’d agreed to have dinner with him had been because she’d grown tired of her own company. Since the incident with Davy and the wolf weeks ago, Hunter had become a different person from the man who’d hired her. He’d closeted himself with patients and then closed up shop at the end of the day and disappeared inside his house. She would retire to her apartment and watch TV or read.
    She hadn’t expected life here to be a never-ending action adventure, but