Where she wanted to be?

  She asked herself the question. There was chemistry between them. She’d known it from the first, when he’d come by to show her the plans. Each time he got near her lightning bolts shot through her veins. There was definitely something guiding her, urging her to let this happen. Only she was afraid.

  Instead of turning toward him, she went into the family room. She and Sam had been in there before going to make the cookies. Her toys were all over the floor. Erin thought she should have taken Digger to the living room, but it was too late to change her mind.

  “Have a seat,” she said. She bent over and started picking up the toys. Digger reached down and helped her.

  “Where do they go?” he asked.

  Erin lifted the lid of a window seat and they dumped their treasures out of sight.

  “Do you want to tell me why you really came by tonight?” Erin knew there had to be more to it than just that he’d forgotten to tell her about the fence and the path. “Is there something that has to be done which we didn’t talk about? Something outside the contract that needs to be added?”

  She sat down on the sofa, and he sat across from her in a wingbacked chair.

  “Has that happened to you before?”

  She nodded. “Although no one who recommended you said anything like that.”

  “That’s not it. The contract is fine. The job will be done with the current agreement. There is nothing to add that we didn’t talk about.”

  “So we’re back to question A. Why are you here?”

  He stared at her. “I wanted to see you.”

  He’d said it. He hadn’t intended to speak. When he left home tonight after his shower, he thought he’d drop by, give her the apology and be done with it. Yet the situation looked so homey, the cookies smelled sweet in the air and she looked adorable. He just wanted to sit there and stare at her. Sam provided him with the opportunity.

  “I wanted to ask you if there was anything about the site that hurt the children?” He hoped he covered himself with that.

  “Hurt the children?”

  “Like too much dust. Often we use water on big projects to keep the dust down.”

  “We didn’t notice anything in particular. Probably as time goes by.”

  This was getting worse, Digger thought. Why didn’t he just leave? There was no reason for him to stay. Something was poking into his back. He should take it as a signal to leave. Reaching behind him and between the cushions he pulled out a rag doll.

  “Sam must stay here often.” He held the toy in both hands, remembering the stuffed animal he’d found under the desk in her office the first time he’d been there.

  Erin smiled. His heart fluttered. “A couple of times a month. I don’t mind.”

  “You like kids?”

  “I could hardly say no to that. I run a nursery school.”

  “I withdraw the question.”

  “I love children. They’re so innocent and open. What about you?”

  “In my business I don’t come into contact with them often.”

  “I’m not talking about business. Don’t you want to marry and have children?”

  He hesitated. Why had he started this conversation? He didn’t want to talk about marriage or children. After Marita and Josh he knew nothing would ever replace what he’d had.

  “I don’t think I’m the marrying kind,” he said.

  “That sounds like someone who’s been destroyed in a relationship.”

  He hadn’t expected her to be this perceptive. She worked with children all day, but he remembered she’d trained in psychology. Digger looked at his hands. He was still holding the rag doll. He put it down and stood. “I’d better leave. We both have to be up early in the morning.”

  Erin looked at the clock on the wall. It was a little after nine. Still early by his standards, but he didn’t know her schedule. And he felt as if he were only treading water being with her.

  She stood and walked with him to the door. She didn’t open it tonight as she’d done the previous time he’d been here. Digger turned to her.

  “You’re limping.”

  “It’s nothing.” She tried to move normally, but he saw the effort it took and the pain on her face.

  “You’re in pain.”

  “Digger, I’m fine.”

  “Sit down,” he told her. She stared at him for a moment, but didn’t argue. “What happened?”

  She stared straight at him. “I told you it’s nothing. I just had a hard day.”

  “What do you mean a hard day?”

  “I had an accident a long time ago. Every now and then my leg reminds me.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t want to go into it.”

  He didn’t push her. He had his own secrets. “Can I get you anything, aspirin?”

  “I’ve already taken a pain pill.”

  “It hasn’t worked,” he stated. When she said nothing he stood up. “Lie down,” he said.

  She stretched out on the sofa. Pain was etched on her features. Digger wanted to ease it. He dropped to his knees and took her hands. Their eyes met. Digger wanted to hold her, but he knew better. He didn’t ask her to lie down to seduce her. He raised her hands to her face and dropped them, rubbing his knuckles against her cheek.

  “Close your eyes,” he said. Her lids fluttered down. She was lying with her back against the back of the sofa. Digger reached for the side she’d favored when she walked. She jumped slightly as his hands touched her. “Shhh,” he quieted her and massaged her hip, his thumbs drawing small circles on the outside of her clothes. He widened the circles, feeling the warmth of her and hoping the heat of his hands was penetrating her skin and relaxing the muscles that forced her to limp.

  She moaned slightly and Digger recognized the sound as pleasure, not pain. He switched the circles to a straight line, holding the waist of her jeans as he smoothed the surface from her hip to her thigh. This massage would be better with hot oil and minus the clothes, but he wasn’t sure he could manage to maintain his dignity if nothing separated them except a long towel. He continued stroking her, changing directions and coaxing her muscles into submission. She relaxed under his hands. He felt her body soften and heard the low, throaty sound that had no name, but meant she was being helped, meant that she was trusting him.

  Digger was trusted by his crews. He was trusted by his family and, once, he’d been trusted by his wife. It had been a long time since a woman had trusted him this way. It surprised him that it seemed important, that he needed that. He hadn’t known it.

  He glanced at Erin. She’d fallen asleep. Sleep was good. It was healing. He wondered what she had done today that made her tired. He wondered what had happened to her hip. She didn’t want to tell him about it. But she did trust him.

  Digger considered leaving her where she lay. She was comfortable and if Sam hadn’t been in the house he might have done so. But Sam was down the hall, out of earshot, away from where Erin slept. He looked at the dark hallway and back at the sleeping figure. Digger stooped down and slipped his hands under Erin. She rolled toward him, toward his warmth. She smelled good, her perfume heated by her skin and forcing him to remember he wasn’t here for seduction.

  Erin opened her eyes, but they didn’t focus. She put her arms around his neck and he lifted her into his arms. For a moment he stood holding her as if she were a child in need of comforting, while he was the one taking the comfort. It had been a long time since he’d held a woman in his arms. He cradled her to him, her head on his shoulder, her hair tickling his nose, her mouth only a few inches from his.

  Digger finally moved. He carried her toward the bedrooms, where Sam slept silently. A night-light pointed the way to Sam. The door was open and Digger could see the foot of her bed and the small form under the covers. The house had three bedrooms and the first one he checked was a guest room. He found Erin’s bedroom and entered the large space appointed in various shades of blue.

  Lowering Erin to the floor he held her against him while he pulled back the comforter and sheet. He set her on the bed and lay her against the pillows. She wore no shoes. He put her legs under the covers and loosened the snap on her jeans before pulling the covers up to her chin. Then he ran his hand down her hair before he left the room.

  He checked Sam. She slept the worry-free innocence of childhood. The two were fine. Digger went down the hall checking that everything was in order. He went to the kitchen making sure the stove was off even though he’d already checked it once before. The back door was locked and the windows were closed. The room was cooled by the air system, which appeared in perfect order.

  Digger went through the front door, making sure it locked behind him and got into his truck. He turned the key in the ignition and backed down the driveway. His lights swung across the house as he turned onto the street and drove away.

  For the first time in four years Digger wished there was someone waiting for him at home.

  Chapter Six

  Erin’s internal clock woke her with a start. It was dark, and she was in her bedroom, in her bed, not where she went to sleep. She was fully dressed, too. Except for her shoes.

  Digger must have carried her to bed. She lay back down, her lips curving in a pleased smile, her body warming to the thought. She didn’t remember it. She pushed her hair back and listened for any sign that Digger was still in the house. She was usually a light sleeper, waking at the slightest noise. The last thing she remembered was lying on the sofa.

  And Digger’s hands.

  She closed her eyes as delicious sensations washed over her at the memory of his hands stroking her leg. She’d only meant to rest her eyes when she closed them. It had to have been the grueling day tiring her out and the throbbing pain in her hip that made her relax under his hands. She’d lost herself in the dark room and the healing effect of the massage and fallen asleep.

  Where was he, she wondered? Was he in the other room on the sofa? Or had he left? Erin slipped out of bed. Her slippers were still in the closet. She reached for the light next to the bed. The clock said five-thirty. The sun wouldn’t tinge the horizon for another half hour. She padded to the hallway without shoes. Sam slept silently in her bed. She wouldn’t need to wake up for a while.

  Erin went to the family room. She’d walked these halls too often to need light to show her the way. The sofa was empty. Her shoulders, along with her heart, sank in disappointment. Had she really wanted Digger to be there? Asleep on her sofa? She was a nursery-school teacher and presently charged with the care of a small child. His presence would be outside of propriety, even in this day and age.

  The kitchen was as she had left it. The sink clean, the dishes washed and put away, all vestiges of last night preserved only in her memory.

  Erin put on coffee and began her morning ritual. She thought she would see Digger later today at the school.

  But she didn’t.

  She looked for him all day, constantly checking what was going on in the yard, expecting to see his strong body among the many muscle-bound men. At ten o’clock she’d taken coffee out to the workers and casually asked Jackson Wright, the foreman, if Digger was due.

  “He’s usually around at the start of a job, but he’s got a restoration over in Brentwood and they keep finding things that aren’t in the plan.” The big man laughed. “Digger loves making over old houses.” He looked up at the Victorian. “I’m sure he’ll get here soon.”

  He hadn’t arrived by closing. Erin walked through the empty school. The other teachers had put the toys back in the bins. The place was clean, even the floors had been swept and the temporary cots stored.

  Erin rested her feet on the desk and her head against the back of her chair. It was after closing and the place was quiet, although in Erin’s mind, the echo of shrilled voices never really left the place. The workmen had gone, and there was nothing outside but the setting sun and a gaping hole in the ground.

  She should go home.

  When the knock came on the door Erin jumped. She rushed toward it, thinking it might be Digger. She was hoping it was him. But she saw Gillian through the glass panel.

  “What are you doing here?” Erin asked, pulling the door inward.

  “I saw the van as I passed.” They walked back into Erin’s office. “Thought I’d stop and see how the addition was coming along.”

  Erin glanced at her friend knowing that was only an excuse. Gillian went to the window and looked out. Several pieces of heavy equipment had been parked in front of the hole as if they were protecting it. In the setting sun they looked like huge yellow bugs.

  “How’s Digger?” Gillian asked.

  Erin tensed. She didn’t want to do it, but she couldn’t stop the reaction. A secret thrill ran through her. She recognized it as a growing attraction for the man. Erin knew she should suppress it, but the feeling was so wonderful she let it run wild. Taking a seat at her desk she stared at Gillian’s back. “He wasn’t here today.”

  “Is that why you’re waiting?”

  “I am not waiting.”

  Gillian turned around and took a seat across from Erin. The expression on her face said, “This is me.”

  Erin sighed. “I’m really not waiting,” she told her. “I just didn’t want to go home yet.”

  “Have anything to do with dinner last night?”

  “How did you know he was there?”

  “This is a small town.” Gillian paused. “And it only has one hospital.”

  “Hospital?” Erin sat forward. “Did something happen?”

  “He’s fine, at least the last time I saw him.”

  “Which was?”

  “Thirty minutes ago.”

  Erin waited for her to continue.

  “He’s got a sister. She had a minor traffic accident and was a little dazed. Her husband is out of town, and we tried to find her brother, but he didn’t answer his pager. I didn’t think to call your house until I noticed his truck when I was on my way home.”

  Erin dropped her eyes. Her face grew hot with embarrassment.

  “Is she all right?”

  Gillian nodded. “She was only shaken up, but she couldn’t drive herself home. She was released late last night.”

  Erin felt a little guilty that he had been with her, administering to her pain, while his sister was in the hospital.

  “So, how long did he stay?” Gillian asked.

  “He didn’t sleep there,” Erin said.

  “Pity,” Gillian threw out as if it were an everyday occurrence to discover a man’s truck outside Erin’s house.

  “I don’t know what time he left.”

  Gillian sat forward with interest. “Don’t stop at that.”

  “Yesterday was awful,” she began, telling Gillian everything from the sick teachers to the limp. “I woke up in my bed. Digger was gone.”

  “And you’ve been waiting for him all day. This is good.”

  “I wanted to apologize to him.”

  “For what?”

  “Being rude. Falling asleep on a guest.”

  “You didn’t exactly fall asleep on him.”

  “Gillian, you are terrible.”

  “It’s the hospital. I need a release valve when I leave there.”

  Erin stared at Gillian. She worked in the emergency room and even in a small town there could be trauma. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Today was routine. We had a few burns, a guy who had a nail in his foot, a couple of teenagers who got their braces stuck together, two heart attacks, a serious allergic reaction and a woman hyperventilating when she discovered she was pregnant. Overall it was no big deal.”

  Erin was holding her heart at the images that surfaced when Gillian matter-of-factly described her day.

  “Everything turned out all right I take it?”

  “Perfect.” She smiled brightly. “How’s your hip today?”

  “Back to normal.”

  “I suppose the massage helped.”

  She was back to Digger. Erin should be prepared for her friend. They had known each other long enough to be able to say anything to each other, but Erin was finding it hard to let her feelings out. She’d concealed them too long and while she really liked James Clayton, she was reluctant to let her heart really feel anything for him.

  “Erin, what are you thinking?”

  Erin changed the expression on her face. If there was anything there that Gillian could read, she wanted it removed.

  “You said you saw Digger thirty minutes ago. Where was that?”

  The smile on Gillian’s face widened. “Down by the courthouse. I thought it strange since at this hour everything in the courthouse is closed.”

  “Maybe he has a job there, too.”

  “He didn’t look as if he were observing the place. More like he was waiting.”

  For someone, Erin finished in her mind. She didn’t own Digger. She barely knew him. It was a good thing he wasn’t interested in her, she told herself. He would finish her addition or have one of his crews do it and they would both get on with their lives. It was for the best. She knew the consequences of thinking a man would be interested in her and her alone. Families didn’t come with a marriage ceremony, they came when a child was produced. Didn’t all the cards say “hope all your problems are little ones”?

  She wished she’d hired the other construction company and that Digger was not in her life. But he was. He’d taken up residence in her mind and refused to vacate the space.

  Three days later Erin still hadn’t seen or heard from Digger. His construction crew worked steadily every day, but he never appeared. She continued to serve coffee to the men, and they were comfortable with her and some of them joked or asked her questions about the building. Not once did any of them mention Digger and neither did she.

  After closing the school she went shopping. The stores in Austin were open late and she wasn’t ready to go home yet. It had been fun to walk up and down the aisles of different stores and find treasures for the school that she couldn’t find locally.