Asking for Trouble - Leslie Kelly [58]
But there were also plausible explanations for both. Doors got stuck, despite what she thought about the knob. And the blocks holding the carriage wheels could have worked themselves loose with all the rain softening up the earth.
Beyond that, though, he hadn’t experienced any of the unsettling, disturbing events that had plagued him for so long before her arrival. Which made the noise coming from above him all the more surprising.
Leaving his office, he went up to investigate. He could have predicted what he’d find…absolutely nothing. No unlatched shutter banging against the house. No water heater with rattling pipes. Just a long silent hallway with closed door after closed door, except the one to the room Lottie had been using. That door stood open.
Suddenly missing her, he decided to go in and move her things. As far as he was concerned, Lottie would be sleeping in his bed for the rest of her stay. Moving her in while she was gone seemed the most straightforward way to tell her he wasn’t having any second thoughts about the previous night. And that he wanted whatever was happening between them to keep happening.
He didn’t fool himself that it was anything other than great sex for as long as she was here. He was in no way ready to get seriously involved with someone. Especially not someone like Lottie, who embodied everything he, himself, was not these days. She was light and laughter. He was darkness and regret.
She wanted to heal him, he knew that. He also knew that aside from her physical attraction to him, she had a lot of protective feelings. Probably sympathy, pity. Certainly not the basis for anything more serious.
They had sex in common. That was all. It would be enough.
Going inside, he saw her half-unpacked suitcase. Clothes were strewn across the neatly made bed, and he quickly packed them up. Hoping she wouldn’t mind him going through her personal items, he went over to the closed bathroom door, intending to get her toiletries. When he opened it, however, his nose was instantly assaulted by a thick, heavy perfume.
Instinctively flinching and staggering backward, he waved a hand in front of his face, wondering what the hell Lottie had been doing with the strong, heavy stuff. Her body certainly hadn’t smelled like that last night or this afternoon when she’d left. Thinking about it, he realized he’d never noticed this particular fragrance on her at all.
And yet it was familiar. Instantly—disturbingly—familiar. Though his mind hadn’t identified how he knew it, his body had reacted, tensing, almost recoiling. Not just because of how strong it was, but because of a vague, uneasy sensation associated with the smell itself.
Odd. Very, very odd.
One thing was sure, he needed to get out of here before the sickeningly sweet scent triggered a headache. Just as he headed for the door, he heard Lottie’s voice, calling out from below. She’d come back just in time to catch him invading her privacy.
“What the hell,” he murmured, leaving the bathroom and picking up her bulging suitcase and overnight case. She could get whatever she needed out of the bathroom later.
Going down the stairs to meet her, he prepared for some kind of reaction. She had to recognize her bags in his hands and he didn’t know whether she’d throw her arms around his neck and kiss him or get indignant that he’d taken her willingness to sleep with him for granted.
She did neither. Instead, she immediately launched into a bunch of inane chatter.
He knew something was wrong. Her face was pale, pinched. She kept going on about the weather, the drive, the last of the autumn leaves blowing away across the road down the mountain.
Finally, when she made no effort to take off her coat and walk away from the front door, he murmured, “In case you’re wondering, I was moving your things to my room.”
She said nothing but merely glanced at the bags in his hands.
Something was definitely wrong. Dropping her bags, he grabbed her hands, which were icy cold and quivering. “What happened? Lottie, tell me what’s going on.”
He thought she