Page 47 of Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride

“You’re welcome.” Harry went on inside.

Maria hung back, since Bubba was on his way over. He reached past her, pulled the bunkhouse door closed, and said, real soft, “Seriously, if you want us to clear out of here?—”

“What kind of a woman do you think I am? I’m a few days out from my would-be-weddin’. What’s the matter with you?”

She shoved her way past him into the bunkhouse, and right before she slammed the door, heard Drew say, “Whoa. She’s got it worse than I thought.”

She wondered if Harry had heard it, too, and was almost afraid to look, but then she did. He’d wandered to the back of the bunkhouse where the beds were stacked and had found his bunk.

Maria went to the bedding closet and took two fresh, ribbon-entwined stacks of crisp white bedding, pillow and all, and set them both on the top bunk. Then she took a fitted sheet from the pile, and said, “I’ll make your bed, if your shoulder?—”

“No, I can do it. Actually, I should make yours, too. I have better reach. He leaned over the upper bunk and easily slipped the fitted sheet onto the mattress, a task that would have required Maria to climb up there. Then he held out a hand and said, “Top sheet, please.”

She put it into his hand. In no time, he’d made the beds. She helped with the bottom bunk and then sat on its edge. “Bathroom’s through there.”

“Mm-hm.” He sat down beside her. “They think we’re in here making out, don’t they?”

“They won’t, if I go right back outside. But if I stay, yeah, that’s what they’ll think.”

“Do you want to stay?” he asked.

“I really do,” she said.

“Even knowing it can’t go anywhere with us?”

She tipped her head to one side and searched his blue eyes in the dim room. “I think you’re wrong about that. But yes, even knowin’ you believe it can’t go anywhere, I’d stillliketo stay. But I’m leavin’ anyway.”

He nodded slowly.

“See, I think itcouldgo somewhere. And that means our first time together will be somethin’ we remember for the rest of ourlives. So, I sure as heck don’t want it to happen in a bunkhouse with all my cousins a few dozen yards away.”

He tilted his head like a dog hearing a new word for the first time. Like he was trying to figure her out. And then she said, “They won’t think much at all if I’m only in here for ten minutes though.”

“It’s already been five,” he said.

“Then we should be doin’ more kissin’ and less talkin’, don’t you think?”

All that puzzling left his brow, and he pulled her close and they kissed. His mouth moved over hers, all soft and hungry. She needed more of Harry than she was ever going to be able to have in this bunkhouse. Or in her aunt and uncle’s place, either. She needed to get this man alone.

He moved his lips to her jaw, to her neck, below the ear, which made her want to tear his clothes off. Her breathing had sped up, and she put her hands on his chest to slow him down.

“I know,” he said. “I know.” He stopped kissing her, but his arms were still around her so when she rose from the bed, he did, too. He looked into her eyes like he was already in love and just didn’t know it yet. God, his eyes were amazing. Sky blue. She wondered if it was logical to feel as much for him as she did.

But what she’d said outside was true. She’d been engaged to Billy Bob so recently it could be measured in hours. Was she just reacting to the break-up by falling for the first man she saw afterward? Was this some kind of rebound fling?

Maybe it was a rebound fling. Maybe she should treat it as such.

“Maria?”

She was standing there face-to-face with him. His arms were around her waist and hers were around his neck, and she’d been staring into his eyes for what suddenly felt like a long time. Sheleaned up on tiptoe and kissed him again, a long, slow, tender kiss. And when she stood flat-footed again, she blinked slowly.

Oh, yeah, she thought. This wasdefinitelygoing somewhere.

There was no way to oversleep in a bunkhouse full of early risers. Four of them had showered the night before, leaving four of them to take turns in the morning. There were two bathrooms, but Drew and Orrin got them first, leaving Harrison and Maria to trail behind.

He’d learned a lot last night. He didn’t know what he’d expected of Maria’s cousins, but he hadn’t figured he’d find a celebrity and a scientist among them. He’d also learned why Bubba was the only one who called him Harrison instead of Harry. He was sensitive to the subject because he wanted to be addressed as Ethan. Harrison would make sure to call him that from now on. Not that he would likely be around much longer.

After his turn in the shower, Harrison went in search of Maria. He found her, fresh as a daisy, her mop of dark-red curls damp-dried and piled on top of her head. She was holding a coffee mug and standing in the open door, gazing outside, her back to him.

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