Courtship of the Recluse

She picked at her food and finally pushed it away. That left only one thing. She had to leave - the sooner the better. She carried her plate to the sink. Scraping the left-overs into a bowl, she ran water to wash the dishes. Cade brought his dishes to the sink and paused gazing down at her, but she refused to look up.

His hands touched her waist for a moment. He slipped his arms around her from behind and drew her back against his chest.

"Cindy," he whispered, kissing her neck in a way that made her heart dance with excitement.

She stiffened. "Stop it, Cade. Nothing is going to happen - not tonight or any other night."

He dropped his hands and stepped away, frowning down at her. "If it's that important to you, I guess we could try a few guests. But if this is because you're lonely ..."

"I'm not lonely. And having guests here won't make me crawl into bed with you again, either. I wouldn't use you that way."

"I never said…"

"You never said a lot of things," she cut him off shortly.

"You're angry with me again."

"I'm not angry with you. I'm angry with me. I don't know how I got into this situation in the first place. I always swore I'd never..." He didn't want to hear about her moral ethics - especially since she had thrown them all to the dogs anyway. Face it. She was having an affair with her boss. How much lower could she sink? Loving him was no excuse, because even knowing he didn't love her, she still couldn't find the decency to leave. How could she blame him when she had offered no resistance?

He turned to the stove, pouring himself another cup of coffee and leaned against the counter, watching her thoughtfully as he sipped the coffee. Finally he cleared his throat.

"What would it take to make you happy, Cindy? I have a feeling you're getting ready to fly the coop. If you want me to leave you alone, it's done. I never meant to push myself on you in the first place. I thought you were..." He paused, as if searching for a tasteful word.

"Eager? Easy?" She supplied bitterly as she rinsed the last dish and put it into the rack.

"There you go, putting words in my mouth again. I didn't mean that at all." He swirled the coffee in his cup and shifted uncomfortably. "But you did seem to enjoy it."

She jerked the plug out of the sink and dried her hands. "I did." She looked him straight in the eye. "Does that shock you?" She threw the towel on the counter. "Well, it shocks me." She swung around and left the kitchen. It was time to pack. After breakfast tomorrow she would leave. He managed without a housekeeper before she came, and he could get along fine now. Maybe a housekeeper wasn't what he had planned on hiring in the first place.