Page 25 of Her Summer Hope

Relief flooded Kyle as he took in the meaning behind Aiden’s words. He was joking about going back to the place he was injured. It wasn’t exactly acceptance or resignation, but it was something.

It was a start, especially considering that he’d never mentioned his time overseas until now.

“I’ll see you for supper then.”

“Roger.”

Kyle chuckled and went downstairs to the employee hall. He heard clattering and movement in the kitchen and smiled. It seemed like Madison was getting along fine. Now, he was going to get Evans and drag him along on his run.

It would be a good way to keep him away from the woman while she cooked and hopefully keep himself from thinking about her too much.

He’d gone a long time without thinking about the opposite sex. He had been sorely mistaken to think that he’d become immune to their charms. Madison was proof of that.

He found Evans lying in the shade watching Murdock toil with the late tomato plants in the enclosure at the edge of the woods. They had terraced the ground, so they had plenty of level terrain for gardens and recreation.

Murdock was sweaty and had stripped off his shirt and wore only a boonie hat and some old BDU pants that had seen better decades.

Kyle avoided looking at the scars that lined his brother’s skin. They were reminders of a time that he’d rather forget. Murdock hadn’t been in the longest, but he’d suffered the most.

He gave him a nod and motioned for Evans to follow him.

“Oh man,” he groaned, seeing Kyle’s running shorts. “Really?”

“I think you need to learn a lesson,” he said, staring into the younger man’s eyes. “The woman is off limits,” he said quietly, deadly serious. “Any employee that we hire is off limits, and you will do nothing to make them uncomfortable.”

Evans frowned. “Logan, you know me. I’d never hurt a woman. I’d never force a woman.”

Kyle shook his head. “No, but you sometimes push them too much, too far. I think one day, it’s going to cause you heartache.”

Evans grinned and brushed it off, but Kyle knew he got the point.

“Alright, I’ll be back in five. Try not to kill me before supper. I’m looking forward to eating whatever she’s cooking up in there.”

Kyle wandered over to Murdock. “Where’s Conner?”

Murdock straightened up and grunted as he stretched his back. “John? He went back to town. Said he’d be along before supper.”

Kyle didn’t micromanage his friends, but he did like to know where they were in case there was trouble and they needed backup. He acknowledged that as Evans came trotting back out, dressed in a short pair of running shorts and a grin.

“You think Ranger panties are an appropriate form of dress with a woman on the premises?” Kyle remarked, crossing his arms and frowning at the short, silky briefs made famous by Army Rangers and then adopted by other branches.

They all had them for workouts or whatever, but he never imagined he would have to regulate their usage.

“Hey, you said I couldn’t hit on her. You didn’t say anything about seducing her via silkies,” he said, pointing to the black shorts which left very little to the imagination.

Kyle closed his eyes and counted to ten.

Chapter Seven

Madison

As soon as Kyle walked out in a trail of his spicy, heady, woodsy scent, Madison collapsed down onto a stool and stared at something that looked vaguely like a big deep fryer, except it didn’t have oil in it.

What on earth is a sous vide machine?

She eyed the other equipment, feeling very out of her element among the other professional cooking apparatuses. Apparati?

She glanced at the large clock on the wall and noted that it was now five o’clock and she needed to get a move on if she was going to come up with something by six or six-thirty.

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