Page 47 of Chasing Dreams
A shudder passed through her body, and she prayed he hadn’t detected it. She was almost ashamed at how easily he affected her. She certainly didn’t want her attraction for a man she’d barely met to put him off. That was something Maggie would have done. “I have a thought.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We could set up your aquarium.” She turned, surprised to find him looking at her rather than out the window, and hoped he’d be willing to go along with the idea. She didn’t want to think about the call they waited for, neither did she want him to see how he affected her.
“Not a bad idea. I just haven’t taken the time to do it.”
Austin carried the packing crates in and they spent the remainder of the day assembling the base and tank.
“The inn used to be Maya’s grandmother’s home,” she said, picking up the conversation they’d started earlier. “She’s in a nursing home now, and when her family put all her things and the house up for auction, Maya wanted it. I was working with her at a collection agency at the time, and we decided we’d rather have our own business, so we went out on a limb and financed the place together.”
Listening, Austin used a screwdriver to tighten the screws holding the cabinet doors.
“Maya’s husband used his connections to have a lot of the work done, and the rest we did ourselves—all the stripping and sanding and painting and staining.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
“It was. Only a few of the pieces of furniture are original. Maya’s family sold it all off and divided the money. We couldn’t afford to buy any of it then, what with getting the house itself, so it’s taken us about five years to replace furnishings.”
“They’re all antiques?”
“Mostly. We even scoured farms and ranches and found old claw-foot bathtubs that were being used to water livestock. Each room needed its own bath, you know.”
“Big job.”
“It’s rewarding. We run an authentic Victorian bed and breakfast, and we’re working for ourselves.”
He stood, a look of admiration in his eyes, but he turned his attention to their handiwork. “Shall we fill it?”
“Why not? Won’t be much fun to look at without water.”
“Won’t be much fun to look at it without fish, either,” he replied.
“Where are we gonna get fish?”
He shrugged. “I’ll check an on-line directory and find someone who will ship me some.”
“You mean—” she glanced at the empty tank. “—order fish online?”
He nodded.
“Okay,” she said with a shrug, then thought. “Aren’t you concerned someone will find you through your online presence? Through shopping or shipping or somehow?”
“I don’t use my name. I use my business name to shop.”
“That makes sense,” she said, following him. “But surely someone must connect something once in a while.”
“Once in a while,” he said, slipping into his chair and pulling up a new screen.
Shaine stood behind him and watched as he found chat rooms and groups of people knowledgeable about fish. “Here’s an online site that keeps coming up,” he said. “People trust this site for healthy fish.”
She’d taken to studying his broad shoulders, his dark, finger-combed hair and his profile. She had an overwhelming desire to reach out and lay her hand against the skin of his neck or his tanned cheek. Putting the aquarium together had only been a delay. His nearness still distracted her.
The early evening had grown fairly dark, and he hadn’t bothered to turn on a lamp. The ghostly light from his computer screen flickered across his intent features.
In Shaine’s mind, another image superimposed itself over this one. The same handsome profile, a similar flickering light, but an expression of torment and indecision.
The man at the window.
