Page 25 of Your Heart & Mine

Cam's room looked out over the backyard and her mother's rose garden, looking like nothing more than a bunch of brown, gnarly bushes at this time of year. Her gaze landed on the gazebo at the far end. Memories of secret, late night meetings with Wyck there behind the darkened screens flashed through her mind.

Her parents' room was at the front of the house so they couldn't see the garden from there. Many a night, she had snuck out of the kitchen and had silently run across the grass in her bare feet to meet Wyck behind the darkened screens. They'd made so many plans snuggled up in that gazebo in the middle of the night.

She'd excitedly flung open the screen door to the gazebo, but the space was empty. She'd frowned and started to turn when hands suddenly covered her eyes. She squealed in surprise. "Shh, Angel. You're going to wake up the whole house."

"Dammit, Wyck!" she'd cried with mock anger. "Don't scare me like that. You could have been some old crazy guy off the mountain coming to kidnap me for ransom!"

She'd always had just a small flare for the dramatic. "Aww, now, Sugar, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to my angel," Wyck crooned to her as he led her into the dark space and pulled her up tight close to him.

She harrumphed at him trying to maintain her frown but failing miserably. "Well, anyway, you're late! I didn't even know if you were going to show up. Who knows what might have happened."

He looked at the glowing numerals of his watch over her shoulder. "It's exactly 10:48, Harp."

She raised her nose in the air. "Exactly. You're three whole minutes late! A girl might think you weren't too excited to see her."

"Oh, a girl might, huh?" Wyck answered playfully. She'd been reading those Regency romance books again. "Well, this girl here never has to worry about her man not being excited to see her." He pulled her onto his lap, pushed back her long, blonde locks and kissed her neck in the spot behind her ear that he knew made her melt.

"Well, I guess a girl might forgive her man for his tardiness if he did something to make her forget it," Harper teased.

"Mmmm, is that a challenge, Miss Carrington?"

"If you want to take it that way, Mr. Crockett, I can't stop you."

She gave a little cry when he nipped her earlobe, but he quickly swallowed it with his mouth on hers. They'd spent long minutes exploring each other's mouths before she finally broke away.

"Tell me again about our house, Wyck," she asked in a breathy whisper after snuggling against his chest.

And he'd told her, describing their imaginary home on top of the mountain, full of windows looking out over the valley. The bright white kitchen she wanted, full of marble and metal, a contrast to the deep, brown of the logs making up the open space. The four bedrooms on one side of the house because she had declared they would have three children and, of course, they needed an extra bedroom for guests; the master bedroom with the huge king-sized bed where they would spend lazy Sundays making love and eating to keep up their strength. Finally, the large deck where they could lounge in the sun, drink fancy drinks and listen to the wind rustling through the trees.

They'd conjured the place in their minds so clearly it was like it was already real. She'd even had a scrapbook where she kept pictures cut out from magazines detailing exactly what each room would look like.

She sighed heavily remembering she'd burned that scrapbook in the months after Wyck had disappeared; when she realized he wasn't coming back. A hand on her shoulder made her jump. "Hey, where did you go, Love?" Cam's lilting tones brought her back to the present.

She looked at him with a tremulous smile and shook her head. "Nowhere. It's nothing. Sorry." She stepped away and grabbed the box she'd set down. "I'd better get this to my room and start unpacking. We have a meeting with the realtor in a couple of hours."

Harper beat a quick retreat from Cam's room. Her friend might seem flighty at times, but he was all too perceptive, especially about her. There were things she simply did not want to share with him, or anyone. Not even herself.

Chapter twenty-two

Construction

"Thankssomuchformeeting us," Harper told Jackie, holding out a gloved hand as the woman came toward them on the sidewalk, carefully picking her way across the concrete in four-inch heels. Harper tried not to wince watching the woman dodge icy patches covered in rock salt. Who in their right mind would wear those heels on a day like this?

Jackie smiled brightly and gave a little wave as she looked up and saw Harper and her sisters waiting for her. "Brrrr, it's colder than a well digger's behind in January, idn't it?" Her mountain accent left no doubt she was a local despite her professional city-like outfit.

"It is," Brenna agreed, chaffing her hands together. "But we're still excited to see the properties."

The realtor's smile broadened. "Well, I just happened to turn the heat on last night so you can take your time and not freeze to death."

"That was really thoughtful, Jackie," Harper said, watching the woman fit a key into a heavy oak door that opened directly into a steep staircase.

"Y'all come on up and I'll give you the quick tour."

As they gained the top of the stairs, Harper felt the heat hit her in the face. Jackie must have turned the thermostat up to 90. She slipped off her gloves and shoved them in her pockets. She and Elizabeth shared an amused glance as they simultaneously began unbuttoning their coats.

The air was musty and the old, floral carpet under their feet gave an unpleasant 'squish' in places. Harper saw Cam's nose wrinkle as he looked down at his Ferragamos. She bit her upper lip to stifle a laugh as Jackie played up all the features of the six small apartments on the second level.

When Elizabeth broke out the measuring tape and Brenna opened a notes app on her iPad, Harper knew it was time for a break. "I'm going to go down and get a little air," she announced. Her sisters barely acknowledged her, wrapped up in their measuring and plans.

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