Storm Surge. Celia Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ there are, but none of them were available today.” Perhaps she was paranoid, but it was as if they’d gotten wind of her intentions and vanished, decided to take a holiday rather than talk to a stranger. Paige took a step after Liam and stopped, her head jerking up to view the second floor window. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had someone helping you. I shouldn’t have interrupted.”

      Pausing, Liam followed her gaze. “What are you talking about?”

      “Up there,” she said, “in the window.”

      He took a few steps back from the ladder in order to gain a better view of the upper storey. “I don’t have anyone helping me, Paige. And there’s no one up there.”

      “But—”

      Coming to stand beside her, he crouched until his head was level with hers. She could smell his body’s musk, the evidence of salt air and labor in the sun. She held her breath.

      “It’s just a reflection of the clouds. See?” He straightened. His warm, hard forearm grazed her shoulder. “I’ve got to get back to work. Tomorrow you ask around again, and if you get nowhere, I’ll see what I can do. Not everyone in this town is willing to open up to an outsider.”

      “At one time, I wasn’t an outsider,” she wanted to say. Instead, she strode away from him, heading for the beach. She remembered to call over her shoulder as she stepped down into the sand, “Permission to walk?”

      “Permission granted,” he said without a touch of humor.

      Chapter 3

      The light cast by the single bulb in the bedside lamp was insufficient for the task at hand. Apparently, people who rented the tiny cottage did not read. They slept, or engaged in activities that did not require illumination. Paige possessed no chance of either.

      Sleeping from sunrise until noon probably didn’t help her insomnia, nor did her frustrating afternoon. The recollection of Liam Gray shirtless in the late-day sun was the biggest obstacle to slumber.

      Now there would be a complication she did not want. A man like him would already have a woman in his life anyway—a gorgeous woman without baggage and who didn’t require a stepstool to kiss his mouth. Paige considered the many other ways of reaching that part of his body but dismissed them, tossing the paperback onto the nightstand. Overthrown, the novel skittered off the wooden surface to the floor with a loud slap. Something slammed against the bed’s undercarriage and then darted out, dark and low, across the room.

      Scrambling onto her knees on the narrow mattress, Paige bit back a shriek. Was that a freaking rat? Grabbing the lamp, she angled it down to illuminate the painted floor. Various hiding places existed: under the dresser, behind the small stove and refrigerator in the kitchenette, back under the bed, the bathroom. Paige chewed her lower lip as she considered the animal’s likely route. She had no choice but to go looking for it.

      And when she found the darned thing? Paige leapt off the mattress in the door’s direction. Landing at a run, she flew toward the handle and yanked the door open. With any luck, she could chase the animal out.

      Paige pawed through her purse for the small LED flashlight she kept. Once found, she clicked on a focused beam and began a cautious search in all the places she’d envisioned a rat hiding. Finding no success in the main room, she walked with soft, guarded steps to the bathroom and flicked on the overhead, filling the room with light. “Last place,” she announced in an attempt at bravado, “unless you ducked out when I didn’t see you— Oh, hello.”

      On older cat was curled behind the pedestal sink, yellow eyes wide and pupils dilated, flecks of gray around its muzzle and tufted in ears that laid flat against its head. Paige dropped slowly to her knees, clicking off the flashlight.

      “Hey, how’d you get in here?”

      The cat blinked once, ears flicking forward from the defensive. It issued a small chirp as it began to unfold from a tight ball.

      “You haven’t been in here since I arrived, have you?” Paige tried to figure out when the cat might have slipped inside. Surely, she would have heard if the animal had shared the room with her since her arrival late the night before. Where had it come from? “Are you wild, buddy, or someone’s pet?”

      A brief knock sounded on the open door. “Paige, is everything all right?”

      Paige leaned back to view Liam filling the doorway, the night sky black behind him. His wet hair was skimmed back along his head, the white T-shirt he wore splotched with damp. Not rain. He must have showered.

      “If you were planning to be my white knight, you’re a little late.” God, Paige, stop flirting.

      “Why? Did you require rescuing?”

      Hell, was he flirting back? She studied his face as he stepped inside. No, probably not. “I have a visitor.”

      “What?” He appeared truly shocked, eyes flying wide before his brows lowered into a frown.

      “A kitty,” she said.

      “If you have a cat in there with you, it’s probably mine.”

      Paige frowned. “What does your cat look like?”

      “Black.”

      “Oh.” Paige stood. “Come have a look then.”

      She stepped back to allow him into the bathroom. He smelled like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and a hint of sawdust. She supposed that came from his jeans. Attempting to ignore the flipping of her stomach, she watched to see how the cat reacted to him.

      Liam dropped to one knee on the white tile floor. “Shadow, what are you doing?” After a languorous stretch, the cat ambled over to him and climbed into his arms. Liam rose again, his head inches from the low bathroom ceiling, his shining black hair backlit by the bulbs in the glassless fixture.

      “Shadow? You named a black cat Shadow?”

      He shrugged. “Not very original, I know. I found him and took him in, and the name fit. He hasn’t complained.”

      Paige reached out and scratched the animal behind the ears. The cat responded with a throaty purr. “How long has he been gone?”

      “Yesterday. He wanders but always comes back at night. I was out looking for him when I…when I saw you on the beach last night. Well, I guess it was technically this morning.” His gruff tone had softened. Paige wondered if that was the cat’s doing. She pictured this broad-shouldered individual searching the night for his foundling pet and felt a sharp, visceral pull low in her abdomen.

      “I’m glad you two have been reunited.” She restored the flashlight to her purse. “Did you come over here only looking for him?” Paige fastened her purse, fingers hovering over the zipper tab, wondering if there’d be any chance he’d say no.

      “Yes, and I saw your door was open.”

      She sighed. His rumbling voice reverberated through the room. Paige faced him, crossing her arms over her breasts. The cat cuddled in his sturdy arms in no way detracted from his rugged good looks. Light from the kitchen lamp glinted off his scar. Paige tapped her jaw line. “What happened?”

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