Read Online Rekindled by Barbara Delinsky - Free Book Online Page B

of matches.”
    Her response was meant as humor, because she wasn’t telling Ross the truth. Oh, yes, Lee was a willing handyman, able in nine cases out of ten. But they had a running gag over that tenth. Chloe was convinced, and had told Lee as much, that his occasional flub was intentional, his way of reminding her that he needed her, too. He never denied it. And Chloe always indulged him. Emotionally, he gave her so much. She liked giving a little some of that back.
    Without further pause, she ran up the steps. It was only when she reached the top and started for the door that Ross caught her hand. He pressed something into it. She looked down at a book of matches.
    “You smoke?”
    “Actually,” he said with a wry twist of his lips, “I carry matches around with me just in case a pilot light goes out.”
    :,Do you smoke?”
    “Through my eyes, when I’m angry.”
    “Ross, do you?”
    “Smoke? No.”
    She sighed. “That’s good. This is a nonsmoking house. If you wanted to smoke you’d have to sneak one in the john, or stay out here with the chipmunks.”
    “That’s some choice. Good thing I don’t have to make it. As it happens,” he informed her, “my only vice is sex. Do we have to sneak that in the john, too?”
    She might have choked if she’d been eating. But she recovered quickly, shook her head, and muttered a soft “Incorrigible…” as she pulled the screen open. She took refuge in the kitchen, where her loyal protector, Lee, was waiting.
    And he filled that role repeatedly throughout the evening, taking over for her when she was distracted. He was an able conversationalist, a gracious host. She trembled to think what would have happened had she and Ross been alone in the house. She was too vulnerable, too susceptible where Ross was concerned. If she hadn’t known it before, she learned it that evening.
    It started before dinner, when she left the two men and went off to shower. She put on a pair of jeans and a western-style blouse that had breast pockets and a decoratively stitched yoke. Her intent was to be cool and at ease. The finished product, though, spoke of homespun femininity. Had it been the pale pink of the blouse, she later asked herself.? Or the way the seasoned denims outlined her hips? Whatever, she caught Ross’s attention. Her first step into the living room, where the men were nursing drinks while the steaks grilled, brought Ross’s eyes her way for a perusal that set her pulse hammering. Where Chloe’s peace of mind was concerned, it was downhill from there. She wanted to tune him out, but she couldn’t.
    The talk centered on business matters. Sitting quietly in a peacock chair, Chloe learned that Ross’s headquarters were indeed in New York, but that there were corporate branches in the South and in the West.
    She tried to imagine it. “You must live out of a suitcase a good deal of your time.”
    “I’m used to it. Don’t forget, when I was a kid my family was shuttled around by the Army.” At Lee’s prodding, Ross elaborated on his background. Chloe found herself wondering if he had ever settled down, even for a short time, or if he ever would. She found herself wondering how as compelling and attractive a man had avoided the lure of a wife, a home, a family. When she was caught in the act of admiring him, Ross smiled in what she swore was a knowing way.
    And so went the evening. Lee talked with Ross, and Ross talked with Lee. Chloe listened, joining in from time to time, trying to fight admiration without much success.
    Why Ross? she asked herself at one point. Why not Lee? The two were as physically alike as brothers. But then, why had Ross been attracted to Chloe rather than Crystal? Or had he? Had Crystal been right? Had it been a case of his taking what was offered by whichever sister came forward?
    That question nagged. Had her being with Ross been pure chance? A simple turn of fate? But what about that coin? There was nothing coincidental about Chloe