“How did you know that would be there?”
“Since I had planned on getting it renovated, I left it there for any workers who would be coming.” He unlocked the massive door and motioned for her to go in.
Meg entered and had to hold back a gasp. The foyer opened to the top of the second floor. A curved staircase sat on either side of the open area. The style looked like it had been built in the thirties or forties. She walked across the marble tile, looking at the ornate chandelier hanging down. A set of Victorian chairs sat on either side of a rug.
Cade flicked the light switch on and off, with no effect. “They’ve shut the power off. Figures.”
Meg froze. “What? Is the water off too?”
“Probably. I’m guessing Zane had it winterized after I got arrested.”
Her dreams of having a hot bath swirled down an imaginary drain. Cade walked further into the foyer. “You can have your pick of the bedrooms.”
“Is the whole house furnished?”
“Yes, although I didn’t have a chance to take inventory.”
Well, at least there was that. Cade motioned to the stairs. “Want me to give you a tour?”
“I’d love one. This place is incredible.” Her voice echoed in the enormous space.
Cade smiled at her. “I thought so too.”
She turned away from his smile. The way his eyes crinkled was making her stomach get all fluttery, and she didn’t want to be thinking about Cade that way. She was only there until she could get her feet under her.
Cade took her up the stairs. He opened a door. “This is the master bedroom.”
It looked like it belonged in a museum. The huge four-poster bed held a canopy and looked like it was made from a deep mahogany wood. The ensuite bathroom was almost as large as the bedroom. She pointed to the Jacuzzi. “That’s not original to the house.”
“No. The people who owned this before had added in bathrooms to each room, and the kitchen is modernized as well. The rest, I think, is original.”
There were six bedrooms upstairs, and Meg picked the one next to the master bedroom. It was smaller but after she removed the dust covers, it wasn’t in terrible condition. A couple of the bedrooms had stains on the ceiling, indicating a leak, and one window was broken, but someone had taped it up. She followed Cade down the stairs.
“It’s cold in here,” she said, hugging her arms to herself.
“Sorry. No heat.” Cade walked into a room off the foyer. It had a massive fireplace, two couches and several chairs around an ornate rug. “I’ll start up a fire. Maybe that will help.”
She nodded. The house also had a billiards room, a library, a swimming pool and hot tub which were both drained, and a sunroom with a fantastic view of the woods behind the house. The kitchen was indeed modernized, although without power so they had no way to cook. The downstairs bathroom had a large clawfoot tub. Probably an original from when the house was built.
Cade rummaged around and found a few things they could use. Among them were a box of matches and a cast iron Dutch oven. “There’s a fire pit out back. At least we’ll have some hot meals.”
Meg nodded, not too thrilled about having to cook over a fire when there was a double oven and a huge gas range in the kitchen. “Okay.”
They made a shopping list, and Meg ran to the little shop in the town about thirty minutes away to get essentials and some food. When she got back, Cade had a fire going in the great room. It had increased the temperature in the room by about ten degrees.
She carried the grocery sacks into the kitchen and set them down on the marble countertop. Cade walked in from the back of the house. A red spot on his shirt caused her alarm, and she ran to him.
“You’re bleeding again.”
Cade looked down at his T-shirt. “I didn’t realize.”
Before Meg could think, she touched the spot. Her fingers came back wet. “We should fix this up properly. I bought some bandages.”
Cade didn’t look too happy about her suggestion but nodded anyway. “All right.”
“Take off your shirt.”
He gave her a funny look before he pulled his T-shirt over his head. Meg tried not to swallow her tongue. How could he get even more buff than the night before? This guy had some amazing muscles. And why was her heart racing like she was a school girl with a crush? She needed to bandage him up and get away from him before she did something stupid.
Chapter 5
Cade swallowed as Meg examined his chest. Her feather-light touches made him go crazy. “Are you going to rip that tape off?”
“Think I should?” She seemed concerned as her blue eyes looked up at him.
“Probably.”
She bit her bottom lip, and he realized he liked it when she did that. He wasn’t sure why. He tried not to stare at her lips. She motioned to the other room. “Maybe you should sit down for this.”
“Let’s go in the great room.”
She pulled out some first-aid supplies and some antiseptic with lidocaine from one of the grocery sacks. Cade inwardly groaned. This was going to sting. A lot.
He walked through the house to the room with the fireplace and laid down on a couch. The heat from the fire warmed him. “Rip it off fast,” he said, taking in a deep breath and gripping the cloth of his T-shirt. He closed his eyes.
Meg peeled a small corner of the tape off and he waited for the pain. When she didn’t pull, he peeked at her. “Are you going to do it?”
“Yes.” She didn’t move. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”
“We have to. Pull it off.”
“Okay.” Meg swallowed and closed her eyes.
“Wait, don’t you close your eyes. You should watch what you’re doing.”
“Why do I need to look? I’m just yanking.”
He didn’t have a good reason for her. “All right, just do it quickly.” He closed his eyes and waited. He could hear her breathing. And then came the sudden rip of stinging pain. He sucked in a breath but managed not to yell.
“Okay, now will come the worst part.”
He gripped the back of the couch with one hand. The fabric was worn. “Go ahead.”
She sprayed the antiseptic on his gash, and fire erupted on his chest. He couldn’t help the scream that tore from his throat. With everything in his power, he held onto the couch so he wouldn’t leap up and knock Meg over.
“Sorry.” She dabbed at the cut with her cloth. “It will be over soon.”
He clenched his teeth and breathed in deep. The smell of the antiseptic almost gagged him. He tried not to think about what she was doing until she was done cleaning his wound. Then she used the butterfly bandages to keep the cut together. At least the stinging was over.
As she worked, he tried to ignore the feeling of her hands on his chest. Outside of the pain, her touch felt amazing. Man, he needed to get himself under control. Finally, she taped some gauze on it to catch the blood.
“There, you’re all fixed up.” She patted his chest.
He grabbed her hand. The warmth of her skin radiated through him. She blinked and looked away, but he tilted her chin toward him and she met his gaze. Her eyes were the color of the sky on a cloudless day. “Thank you.”
She swallowed. “You’re welcome.”
He let go of her hand and she stood, gathering the first-aid supplies. He sat up. “Just don’t tell anyone I screamed. It would ruin my reputation.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I can just imagine what your reputation was in prison. A rich guy like you tossed into the clinker with all those hardened criminals.”
He sobered. He didn’t want to think about prison or how he’d almost been killed twice. “Yeah.”
She ignored his tone. “I bought a ham for us. I figured it would last a few days, at least.”
He stood, tossed his T-shirt on the couch and followed her into the kitchen. “Ham sounds delicious.”
Her gaze flickered to his bare chest. “And I got potatoes.”
&nb
sp; “We’ll have a feast.”
She picked up the package of T-shirts she bought yesterday and tossed them to him. Then she pulled out a spray cleaner and started spraying the countertops. She must have spent quite a bit of money at the store. He wondered how much she had left.
He pulled a clean shirt on over his head. “I’ll need to get my brother to wire some cash. Maybe I can run into town this evening.”
Meg shot him a worried look. “Aren’t you tired?”
“Exhausted.”
“Then worry about it tomorrow.”
He scratched at his stubble. It was probably best to wait so he didn’t run off the side of the mountain if he got drowsy while driving. “Okay.”
She wiped the counters with a rag. “If you can get a fire going out back, I’ll cook us the ham.”
“Will do.” He’d been chopping wood while she’d run to the store. It wouldn’t take long to get a fire going.
Meg looked like she wanted to say something else but hesitated. “What?” he asked.
“If we could find a lake or something to bathe in, that would be nice too.”
“There’s a stream about thirty yards out back but it’s water from the melting snow, so it’s freezing.”
Disappointment settled across her features. “Oh.”
“Maybe I can bring up a few buckets and heat it over the fire. Then you can sponge bathe.”
She gave him a smile. “Okay.”
He liked it when she smiled, but he pushed that thought out of his head. He couldn’t be making any moves on Meg. She’d just come out of a terrible relationship. She was in no place to start anything new. Plus, his life was a complete mess right now.
He walked through the screen door. It was one of those old ones without a door closer, just a chain, and a spring so it slammed shut. The fresh smell of pine trees greeted him. He reached down and picked up the ax. It had been left outside, propped up against the house, and the wooden handle was rough. It looked like the ax head could pop off any second. At least it held while he’d chopped wood earlier. He grabbed another log and set it on the chopping stump. He’d sleep well tonight. He was so tired, he almost couldn’t lift the ax.
As he got into a rhythm of chopping and lifting, his mind wandered to his brother. Nicholas. His biggest support system. He probably shouldn’t forget Zane too, his childhood best friend. Having Nicholas and Zane on his side was important to Cade. He, Nicholas and Zane had gone through a lot together. Zane had grown up in the foster care system and had spent every summer pretty much living at Cade and Nicholas’s house. He was like another brother.
Cade swung the ax down, hearing the satisfied thwacking noise as it chopped cleanly in half. His childhood had been ideal until his mother died. Nicholas had turned to drugs, and Cade had buried himself in schoolwork. After college Cade built himself a successful business, hiring Zane as soon as he could afford it. And he and Zane watched as Nicholas spiraled out of control with his addiction. When Nicholas was finally at rock bottom, Cade had dragged him to rehab, promising him a job if he got his life back together.
It had worked. Nicholas pulled himself out of his addiction. It took a while, but eventually, he stepped up to the plate and took over a large part of the company operations. He was a totally different person now.
Cade needed to call his brother. Nicholas would send some cash. What he really needed was access to the company files. If he could buy a cheap laptop, he could finish what he’d started two years ago, before Angie was killed. Whoever set him up was also the one stealing from the company. He was sure of it.
A shrill screeching sounded from inside the house, and Cade dropped his ax and ran. He found Meg in the kitchen, screaming and hopping around on one foot. He grabbed her shoulders. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“No.” She pointed to the cupboard under the sink, her movements frantic. “There’s a family of rats in there.”
“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll get them out.” He started toward the sink and Meg fled to the other room. He looked around for something that he could use to chase a rat out of the house and grabbed the broom. Using the handle, he opened the cupboard.
Six baby possums stared at him. He jumped back. “They’re not rats,” he called to Meg.
“What are they?” she yelled from the other room.
“Baby possums.” He wasn’t sure how he was going to get them out of there. It looked like they had chewed a hole through the floor where the pipes came up. “Do we have any gloves?”
“I didn’t buy any. But maybe there are some in the closet.”
He rummaged through a few storage areas before resigning to pulling them out with his bare hands. He grabbed a paper bag in one hand and walked back to the sink. He slowly crouched down so he wouldn’t scare the little critters. “Where’s your momma?” he said quietly as he reached in to grab the first one.
Their black eyes stared at him as his hand came near. He picked one up, careful not to get near its mouth. He could see why she thought they were rats. Their long tails were very rat-like. He gingerly picked up each one, placing it in the paper bag. Then he carried them out back and let them go a few feet away from the house. They wandered for a minute before climbing up a tree.
“I hope she’s up there,” he said under his breath. He wasn’t sure if they were old enough to be away from their mother. But there was no way a full-grown opossum was climbing in under the sink. The hole was nowhere near that size.
“All taken care of,” he called to Meg.
She appeared out of the back door. “You got them out? Did they fight you?”
“No, they were fine.”
“Where did they go?” Meg stepped closer to him, her gaze wary.
“Up that tree.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “Oh. Good.”
“Do you want me to check the other cupboards?”
“Would you? I mean, I’m not usually such a pansy. It’s just when I saw all those eyes staring at me I kind of freaked.”
He chuckled. “No problem.” He walked back inside and checked the rest of the kitchen for any more unwanted guests. “All clear.”
Meg put her hand on her chest. “Thank goodness. Where did they come from?”
“There’s probably a crawl space under the house. They chewed up through the hole where the water pipe goes.”
“What can we do to plug it up?”
“I’ll shove some hand towels in it for now. Maybe I can use duct tape to seal it.”
Meg looked visibly relieved. “Thanks.” She walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. It looked like she didn’t even think about it until it was done, but then she stepped back, her eyes wide. “Oh, sorry.”
Cade wanted to say he didn’t mind. In fact, the words were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back. Meg was awesome, but he knew nothing could happen between them. He needed to get his life back, and his brother was the key. So, instead of saying anything, he ignored it. “Happy to help.”
He went back outside to continue chopping the wood.
Chapter 6
Meg’s heart raced. She’d kissed him. What was she thinking? It was only on the cheek, but what was wrong with her? He was an escaped prisoner. Maybe even a murderer. Why was she getting all chummy with him? Why was she even there at all? She should just take the car and leave.
But the thought of sleeping somewhere in Travis’s car wasn’t appealing. Here she’d at least have a bed. And if she could clean herself up and go to town tomorrow, maybe she could apply for a job and get some money coming in. Then she’d be able to afford an apartment.
Meg sighed and grabbed two potatoes. If they were going to eat tonight, she’d have to go find the stream. She walked outside the back, letting the screen door bang. “Which direction is the stream?”
Cade pointed to a path into the woods. “Follow that. You’ll find it.”
“Thanks.” She picked her way down the path in her black flats. They were good for work
ing at the insurance company, but not so great for walking down the side of a mountain. She had to maneuver around patches of snow. Before too long, she heard the rushing sound of water. Another two feet and she saw it. Before she drew too near, she noticed a deer standing on the other side of the river. Meg slowed. She didn’t want to scare it. She watched as it dipped its head and took a drink. A beautiful creature.
Meg stepped on a twig and it snapped. The deer bolted into the woods. Maybe tomorrow she’d see it again. She crouched down by the river and stuck the potatoes under the water. Cade was right. It was freezing cold. She quickly rubbed the dirt off the potatoes and stood, her fingers numb from the brief contact. There was no way she’d be getting in that water.
She climbed back up the slope to the house, her shoes slipping in the soft earth. The sound of Cade chopping wood echoed as she neared. Then it silenced. When she grew closer, she realized Cade was piling wood on the fire pit. Meg went into the kitchen and pulled the ham out. She grabbed a knife and sliced open the package, cut off two chunks of ham, then placed them in the Dutch oven with the potatoes. She put the lid on top and walked out to where Cade was building the fire. “Hungry?”
He glanced at her, but then his gaze held. “Starved.”
She set the cast iron oven down on the bricks. Cade motioned to a log with his head. “Pull up a seat.”
Meg dragged the log over to the fire pit then sat on it. It wasn’t bad for a makeshift seat. Cade finished arranging the small sticks in the bottom of the wood pile, then he lit a match and held it to the kindling. He turned to her. “Where are you from?”
“Iowa.”
“Did you grow up there?”
She nodded. “All my life.”
He chuckled. “This must be different then, being up in the mountains.”
“It’s colder.”
The fire dwindled and blew out, so Cade lit another match. “The altitude will do that.” He glanced at her. “You need a sweater?”
“I need a hot bath.” Wow, she hadn’t meant to sound so cranky. It wasn’t his fault the house had no hot water.
Saving Cade: A Romantic Suspense Page 3
