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.“We had a storm like this in Connecticut a couple years ago.Took days before they cleared all the damage.”Peachy.Above them, pine branches groaned.Instinctively, the entire group looked upward for debris before taking a few steps backward.“Tell the crew I’ll double their rate if they get here as soon as possible,” Ian told Josef.“That is very generous of you.”“Generosity has nothing to do with it.” He was eager to get on the road, and if money helped bump the inn to the top of the list, he was more than glad to pay.Top of the list.He’d been about to say the same thing to Chloe when the tree saved him.He was beginning to wonder if she wasn’t a test, as well.With her curls and her infectious smile, not to mention those mile long legs, the woman was temptation in high heel boots.He’d been celibate for almost as long as he’d been sober, and for the first time, the lack of companionship ate a hole in him.When he’d wrapped his arm around her waist in the parking lot—hell, before that, when they’d sat in the parked car—images of what he’d gone without had flashed through his head.Beautiful Technicolor images of tawny skin spread out beneath him.The scariest part of all was his attraction wasn’t only physical.She had this way of drawing him out from behind his facade.In one day he’d shown her more of himself than he had anyone, short of the addiction counselors.Worse, he had this inexplicable desire to know more about her.Like what secrets lay behind that false bravado, for example.A trait so much like his it hurt.But then he thought about all the women whose hearts he’d broken, and he reminded himself he had all he could do to keep his own life together.Complications like Chloe, as intriguing as she was, would only lead to more mistakes.“You must be psychic.”Ian pulled out of his thoughts to find Josef smiling at him.“How so?” he asked.“Booking a room.Looks like you will need to stay the night.”Images flashed before his eyes again.Oh yeah, definitely a test.“About that,” he said, following Josef and the others to the house.“Do you have a second room available?”“Really? I assumed.” The innkeeper looked surprised.“The two of you look quite comfortable together.”Sure, if comfortable meant being perpetually half-aroused.“Is there a second room?”“Of course,” Josef replied.Ian ignored his disappointment at the man’s answer.“I’ll do up the paperwork soon as I check to see Dagmar’s got the generator running.”“Thank you.” That was one test taken care of.Good thing, too, because Chloe insisted on meeting him at the entrance with a mug of steaming coffee.Wordlessly, she held it in his direction.“You read my mind,” he said.“In this case, it wasn’t so hard to do.” She turned on her heels and headed back indoors, but not before shooting him a smile that made his stomach take a strange, hard tumble.Gripping the mug like a lifeline, Ian watched her walk away.Definitely a complication, he thought to himself.A damn fine complication.He headed off to make sure Josef remembered that second room.* * *“Extra towels are down the hall.We also keep a supply of toiletries on hand—shampoo, toothbrushes and other essentials.I will check to see if Dagmar has an extra nightgown you can borrow as well.”Somehow Chloe didn’t think petite Dagmar and she took the same size, but she appreciated the gesture.“Thank you.”“Do not give it a second thought.Our house is your house.”So long as they were paying customers.Only a couple hours earlier he’d wanted to turn them away.Her fantasy grandfather was quite the capitalist.Josef filled her in on a few more details, such as where she could find an extra blanket, reminded her that guests could get coffee twenty-four hours a day, and headed off in search of sleepwear, leaving Chloe alone for the first time since their arrival.First time since this morning, really.She threw herself on the bed.As she lay there staring at the ceiling, her mind automatically went to Ian, who’d stayed downstairs to finish his coffee.His mood had shifted between when he’d left to check out the storm damage and when he’d returned.Lunch’s good humor had disappeared.Shouldn’t be surprising, seeing how this trip had been nothing but delay after delay.Now they were stuck here for goodness knows how long.The control freak in him must be ready to scream.Rolling on her side, Chloe took a good look at her surroundings.The room was gorgeous.Small, but filled with all sorts of cozy extras, like fluffy robes and a pillow-laden window seat.Of course it helped that, to save a strain on the generator, Josef had provided her with a battery operated lantern.The light’s glow mimicked candlelight in the wake of the setting sun.An emptiness filled her chest.The Bluebird had been created for couples—real couples, like Del and Simon or Larissa and Tom
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