Page 44 of Shielded Hearts

But watching Aspen light up in delight at quirky little trinkets and turn them over in her hands with such a thoughtful expression gave him more insight into how her mind worked.

She took all the purchases out of the bags and arranged them on the granite kitchen island. There had to be at least two of everything. Standing back, she brought her fist to her mouth as she pondered what she’d bought.

Three different scents of candles were grouped together, and she picked up the first one, giving it a sniff for what must have been the tenth time.

“I’m not convinced this is the right scent.” She set it aside.

He leaned against the counter, watching her process of elimination. “What’s the matter with it?”

“Too many notes of vanilla.”

He read the label. “Says cinnamon roll.”

“Yes, but there’s a hint of vanilla, which my client hates. He prefers spicier.”

“How do you know his preference of scents? That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”

She fixed her gaze on him. “That’s my job.”

“Well, does your job include eating lunch? It’s getting cold.”

They’d stopped off at an Italian restaurant in the foothills. The joint was a well-known spot for holiday parties and anniversaries. Colt had even heard about one of Willow’s old boyfriends taking his new lady and popping the question there. For a week, it was all his sister could rant about, even though she hadn’t wanted the guy on a permanent basis.

Colt had never been there, and Aspen declared that she didn’t have time to sit down and eat, so he’d ordered ahead and picked up the food. It sat in a bag at the end of the island.

At his comment, Aspen abandoned the gift basket she was in the middle of creating and grabbed the food instead. “You’re right. Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

He twitched his head toward the living room. “What do you say we eat in front of the fire?”

She turned those big green eyes on him. Whenever she did, his heart gave a little hitch. He didn’t know what that was about, but he filed it away with the other questions he would think about at a later date. Like once he was back on the Black Heart Ranch, living his normal life.

Aspen carried the bag into the living room and sank to the floor in front of the fireplace. The flames burned low, leaving plenty of glowing red coals. All they needed was a few logs to get it going again.

He jerked a thumb toward the front door. “You set out the food. I’ll go outside and grab a couple more logs for the fire.”

She nodded and peeked inside one takeout container. “Ooh! Breadsticks!”

He swung back. “Don’t eat them all before I get back.”

As she laughed, she tossed her head, sending her soft curls tumbling around her ears and drawing his attention to the small diamond studs in her lobes. Every single thing about this woman oozed femininity.

He stared at her for a beat longer than he should before he headed outside. When he opened the door, a low, hardthunksounded.

He stopped on the porch, swinging his head right and then left, straining to detect what it was.

He spent a lot of time in the mountains and knew all the sounds, from chainsaws to the call of birds of prey. Thatthunkwasn’t one he recognized.

It sounded hollow like a dead tree falling…but echoed with something metallic too. Maybe a branch fell on the metal roof of a distant neighboring property.

No more noises reached him, so he hurried down the steps and rounded the back of the cabin to the neatly stacked pile of wood. There was enough wood here to last any couple for most of the winter, which might be something for Aspen to note in her portfolio.

Planning ahead, he filled his arms with the split wood. If things got heated up between him and Aspen again, the last thing he wanted to do was stop and come outside for another load.

When he turned toward the cabin again, a light tremor in the ground made him stop in his tracks.

The ground was vibrating.

Fuck!

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