Page 48 of Trouble Walked In

“This late? Surely not.” Renic led the way up the stairs. Music spilled out of the open door to the Rose Room.

They found Mark and Bill the Plumber hammering in thelast piece of drywall. Although the room renovation was far from finished, it smelled fresh and clean.

The two men stood up to greet them.

“Hey,” Mark said. “Carrie’s waiting for you in the lounge. She’s threatening to report you as a missing person. What happened?”

“Car broke down,” she said quickly before Renic could say more. Her cheeks heated, but she did her best to pretend like everything was perfectly normal. “And my phone ran out of juice.”

Mark stared at her. “Renic’s phone die too?”

“The GPS used up all the charge,” Renic said with a grin.

Lizzie avoided looking at him during the short awkward silence that followed. She cleared her throat. “What’s going on in here?”

Bill picked up a rag to wipe his hands. “The pipes are all fixed up, Ms. Bellamy. Just need to prime, then when it’s dry we can work on the wallpaper and the carpet and get this room back in order. Won’t be another day or two at the most.”

“Why are you working so late? This could have waited for daylight.” She inwardly cringed at the thought of overtime costs.

Bill glanced at Mark, and something unspoken passed between them. “I like to help friends out when I can. I had the time, and they said you had a wedding coming up. Mark said he was tackling the job himself, and we couldn't have that now could we?”

Renic held out his hand to Bill. “Thanks, man. I appreciate you clearing the air in here. It’ll make the night a lot warmer.”

Lizzie avoided looking at him. The man justhadto keep reminding her about how he’d stood right here in this roomnaked. If he kept this up, her cheeks were going to burn right off.

Bill shook Renic’s hand. “No problem, Mr. Renic. I’ll be back around nine in the morning. Give you a bit of time to sleep in.”

“Oh, I doubt she lets me sleep that late,” Renic said. “She’ll be working me from the crack of dawn, I have a feeling.”

She raised her eyebrows at him and gave him a look that promised he’d be up well before dawn at the rate he was going.

His answering grin reminded her of their time in the backseat of his car.

She ignored the rush of heat through her body and pressed on. “Mark, where do we stand? Are the rooms ready?”

Mark picked up tools that lay scattered around and placed them into his toolbox. “Yep, they’re good to go. Della even put those little mint things on the pillows.”

“Floors? Dusting?”

“Done, and done,” Mark said. “It’s all done.”

Lizzie blinked. “All?”

“Everything. Della finished off her list, I did mine, and Carter helped us with the master list. Everything on it was checked off a couple of hours ago.”

“How did you manage that? It was enough work for ten people.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d been ready for six or eight more hours of hard labor.

Mark closed the lid on the toolbox and snapped it shut. “Carter called in a few football buddies, and a couple of cheerleaders. Don’t worry, I supervised. The place is spotless. Pretty sure Carrie finished the kitchen stuff but you should ask her. We stayed out of her way after lunch since she started singing.”

Renic gave her a significant see-I-told-you-so look. “So what you’re saying is the inn not only didn’t fall down while Lizzie was gone, but it’s better than how she left it?”

“The lists were detailed enough a child could follow them, so yeah. It’s all good.” Mark patted Lizzie on the shoulder on his way to the door. “Get some sleep.”

She didn’t miss the glance he gave Renic before he left. It was like Mark knew something had happened. Men always seemed to sense when a member of their species had sex.

Bill looked from her to Renic and back. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

Lizzie shook his hand. “Thanks, Bill. Let me know how much I still owe you tomorrow, okay?”

---