Silence followed, then a muffled squeak of distress.
Michael glanced at his watch. “Wilhemina, Michael and Katie here. We've been worried about you.”
Katie started to move forward, but he put out his hand to stop her. “Thirty seconds more,” he whispered, pointing to his watch. “Do you really want to catch them naked?”
Katie winced, shaking her head.
After another glance at his watch, Michael walked to the barn door and slowly pushed it open. He gave Katie a nudge. “Call her name,” he said in a low voice.
“Wilhemina,” she said and walked into the barn.
Wilhemina stood several feet inside the barn with straw poking out of her hair. The man standing just behind her appeared to be struggling with his zipper.
Oh, no.
This could be a mess.
Folding and unfolding her hands, Wilhemina smiled nervously and bounded toward Katie. She might be nervous, but she was also glowing. She threw her arms around her. “It's so good to see you, but I told you not to come.”
Katie hugged Wilhemina in return. “Michael and I were too worried.”
Wilhemina pulled back. “Oh, I've been fine. Well, except for when I got lost at night and an animal pulled out in front of me and I landed in a ditch.”
Katie's stomach turned. “In a ditch! Are you okay?” she asked, looking at Wilhemina for signs of injury.
“I'm fine. I hurt my foot, but it's much better. And Douglas,” she said, looking at the man behind her with gooey, sweetie-pie eyes, “rescued me.”
“Is that so?” Michael interjected, extending his hand to Douglas who had finally managed to pull up his zipper. “Thank you for your kindness to Wilhemina.”
He gave an awkward nod. “My pleasure.”
I'll bet,
Katie thought, assessing the man. He was tall and strong with kind eyes. She checked for any physical signs of weakness or general sliminess and didn't find any. Yet. It was still early.
“Well, Wilhemina, you can certainly say that you've had a genuine adventure.”
Wilhemina giggled.
“That's right,” Michael agreed. “After all your excitement, I'm sure you're ready to go home.”
Wilhemina's smile fell. “Well, actually—”
“Since your father will be coming from Europe in the next few weeks, I know you'll want to be ready for his return,” Michael added.
Katie watched the air go out of Wilhemina's balloon right before her eyes.
“So soon” Wilhemina said in a forlorn little voice. “I didn't realize how much time had passed.”
“I'm sure your mind has been occupied with your traveling,” Katie said, feeling sorry for Ivan's daughter. “I imagine it was challenging with Chantal along.”
“Yes, it was. Douglas and I were just looking for her,” she said, blushing. “But we got sidetracked. Chantal!” she called and the cat pranced out with a huge barn cat bringing up the rear.
Katie tensed at the cozy sight of Ivan's pedigreed cat with the barn cat. She glanced at Michael “and saw him rake his hand through his hair. He met her gaze and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was. She just hoped that barn cat was female.
Michael clapped his hands together briskly. “Well, Katie and I are ready to get you and Chantal to the airport so we can all go back to Philadelphia. I'm sure Katie will be happy to help you pack.”
Wilhemina frowned. “Well, there's no rush, is there? I mean, why don't we all have dinner together?”
“There's been, a flood and some of the roads closed,” Michael told her. “We should travel during daylight.”
“But I'm not—I'm—” She broke off helplessly and looked at Douglas.
Douglas put his arm around Wilhemina and met Michael's gaze. “Wilhemina wants to stay a little longer.”
Katie watched Michael bristle. She could practically smell the testosterone flaring between Douglas and Michael. They were both tall, well-built, physically fit men. Michael didn't want his authority challenged and Douglas was protecting his newfound territory.
“I'm responsible for Wilhemina until her father returns from Europe. I'm her bodyguard,” Michael said.
Douglas frowned and looked down at Wilhemina. “Is that true?”
Clearly upset, Wilhemina twisted her hands together. “Yes.”
“Who in the world is your father that you would need a bodyguard?”
Michael gave a short laugh of disbelief. “I realize this is the middle of nowhere, but everyone has heard of—”
Seeing Wilhemina's eyes fill with distress, Katie elbowed Michael in the rib cage and cleared her throat. “I think,” she said, meeting Michael's hard questioning gaze, “that Wilhemina wanted to be the one to discuss that with Douglas.”
Wilhemina shot Katie a look of pure gratitude. “Yes, that's right.”
“I think she may want to do that very soon since we really do need to return to Philadelphia,” Katie said firmly.
Wilhemina sighed and reluctantly nodded.
His brow still furrowed with displeased confusion, Douglas shrugged. “Well, I guess that means you two will be staying for the night. I would offer you a room, but I only have one extra and Wilhemina's using it. I suppose you could use the mobile home I have on the other end of the farm. I keep it for temporary employees to sleep over during the busy season.”
Mobile home.
Visions of her childhood assaulted Katie. “Isn't there a hotel some—”
Douglas shook his head. “I tried one for Wilhemina, but the plumbing's messed up and the owner's taking his time getting to the repairs. It's not a bad trailer.” He cleared his throat. “I just need to take a couple of the
Baywatch
posters off the wall.”
Katie swallowed a moan and looked at Michael.
He sighed. “It'll just be for one night,” he said, throwing both Wilhemina and Douglas a firm glance. “We'll leave tomorrow.”
After dropping their bags at the small trailer, Katie and Michael put fresh sheets on the beds and dusted and cleaned. It truly wasn't that bad, Katie thought and tried not to give in to bittersweet memories of her childhood. Douglas took them on a tour of the farm and showed off his prize hogs: Luckily he didn't go into an in-depth description of the fate of the hogs, but Katie still wasn't sure she'd be able to look at a ham sandwich exactly the same way for a while.
Wilhemina complimented Douglas and flirted with him shamelessly, and he didn't seem to mind at all. Douglas barbecued burgers on the grill while Katie helped Wilhemina prepare potato salad.
“I don't know how to do anything but boil water,” Wilhemina confessed to Katie. “You're so lucky you know how to cook. Douglas has had to cook for me every night.”
“It's not difficult if you can read and follow instructions, and you can do both.”
“Do you think you could help me bake a cake for him?” Wilhemina asked. “As a thank-you for all he's done for me.”
Katie didn't want to think about all Douglas had probably done to Wilhemina. She felt uneasy about the looks they shared. She was concerned about Wilhemina's feelings, but she was also concerned about getting Ivan's daughter on the plane back to Philly. “Sure. I think I remember a simple recipe for a dump cake and we can put it together in no time.”
Wilhemina looked doubtful. “Dump cake? How does it taste?”
“Don't let the name fool you. It's chocolate, and it's great hot. I bet Douglas has the ingredients,” she said, looking through the cupboards. “If we hurry, we can get it in the oven and bake it while we're eating dinner.” It took a little extra time to give Wilhemina the instructions and allow her to put the cake together, but seeing the sense of accomplishment on her face pleased Katie. Wilhemina might have one of the richest fathers in the world, but she'd been deprived of so many things that could have helped her self-esteem. She wondered how Wilhemina might have turned out if she had been raised in a more normal home.
Katie paused. Not that she knew what a normal home was.
Just as Wilhemina carefully set the cake in the oven, Douglas and Michael brought in the burgers.
“Hi,” Douglas said, nearly drowning as he gazed at Wilhemina.
“Hi,” Wilhemina said breathlessly.
The two looked so sappy Katie glanced down at their feet to see if they were melting into the floor. Hearing Michael's put-upon sigh, she looked up and saw him roll his eyes.
Katie bit back a chuckle, but couldn't help thinking that there was something sweet about their adoration for each other. She cleared her throat.
Douglas blinked and glanced at Katie and Michael self consciously. His gaze traveled back to Wilhemina. “That potato salad sure looks good. I thought you said you couldn't cook.”
“Wilhemina blushed. “Thank you, but Katie helped.”
“I can't wait to taste it.”
Michael walked to Katie's side. “That isn't all he wants to taste,” he muttered in her ear.
If Katie didn't do something, she wondered if Wilhemina and Douglas would throw the food aside and jump on each other. “The table's ready and I'm hungry. Let's eat,” she urged.
The four sat down to dinner and Katie and Michael were forced to endure glances brimming with lust and longing and lengthy distracted silences. Katie remembered to get the cake from the oven and Douglas made over it as if Ivan's daughter had made him a gourmet delicacy. When he asked what kind of cake it was, Katie didn't have the heart to tell him dump cake.
“
Chocolat special,
” Katie improvised in a French accent she could only say she'd learned from Pepe LePew. “She did a great job.”
“Sure did. I think I want some more.”
Wilhemina's face colored prettily in delight and she quickly rose to take care of Douglas's request.
Unable to endure their verbal foreplay any longer, Katie grabbed Michael's hand and dragged him to his feet. “Michael and I will do the dishes,” she said, ignoring Michael's glare of displeasure.
“Dishes?” he echoed.
“Are you sure?” Wilhemina asked, returning with Douglas's cake.
“Sure,” Katie said. “It's the least we can do. You two have done all the work.”
“That's so nice, Katie. Isn't that nice, Douglas?”
“Yeah, it is,” Douglas said, his gaze dipping into Wilhemina's cleavage.
“Get the plates,” Katie muttered and cleared the table in record time. Michael followed her to the sink, but she could feel his dark unspoken grumbles at her back.
“Why the hell—”
Katie covered his mouth with her fingers until she saw that Wilhemina and Douglas had adjourned to the den. “Because I was going to scream if I had to witness one more minute of the loopy way they were acting.”
“It's better that they have supervision. He's probably banging her right now.”
Katie covered her ears. “Don't say that.”
He covered her hands with his and pried them away from her ears. “We have to decide if we're going to try to keep them apart or not.”
“Wouldn't it be easier to change the force of gravity?”
He looked at her, then rubbed his forehead. “We still have to decide if we're going to try to chaperone them or not.”
“Don't you think they've already—” She broke off, wanting him to fill in the blank.
“Been at each other like rabbits.”
But not quite that way. She looked up at the ceiling.
“Yeah, I think they have. The question is whether he gets her pregnant or not.”
Shock raced through her. She gaped at him. “Preg—Preg—Preg—”
Michael frowned at her in concern. “Are you hyperventilating? Do I need to get a paper bag?”
She shook her head and forced herself to breathe slowly. “I'm the one who might be—be—”
“Pregnant.” His gaze gentled and he brushed his hand over one of her shoulders. “You're gonna be okay.”
Her stomach dipped at the steadfast assurance in his eyes, and she wondered how the moment had changed in less than a heartbeat. She shook her head and swallowed over a strange lump in her throat. “We got off track. You were talking about Wilhemina.”
He nodded, “One of us needs to make sure she's using contraception.”
“And exactly how are we supposed to do that?”
“Someone needs to talk to her.”
“About contraception,” she said. “I'm not sure I'm the best candidate for that job in light of the fact that I completely forgot to use any when you and I—” She broke off, wondering why all roads of this conversation kept leading back to the same uncomfortable place.
“Then I can talk to her. I can talk to Doug too.”
Katie saw visions of Michael with broken bones and Wilhemina sobbing with tears of embarrassment. “I'll talk to her,” she said quickly, not at all sure what she would say.
“Okay,” he said and waited.
“After we do the dishes,” she clarified.
“Are you sure you should wait?”
“It can't be that urgent.”
“Listen,” he said.
She heard a combination of feminine moans and low groans and slapped her hands over her ears again.
Chuckling, he pried them loose again. “I'll load the dishwasher.”
“
The most important thing you can do in life is to be your best you. You wouldn't have been born if the world wasn't needing you for something.
”
—S
UNNY
C
OLLINS'S WISDOM
K
atie frowned at Michael, then made her way to the den. The sighs and moans of hot and heavy foreplay made her want to cover her ears again, but she stiffened her spine. She had a job to do.
She cleared her throat, but the love sounds continued. Katie sighed, wondering if she would need a whistle or a water hose.
“Wilhemina,” she called from the hallway. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”
Katie heard the rustle of clothing being rearranged and a nervous feminine twitter. Katie counted to ten. “Wilhemina?”
“Just a second, Katie,” she said, then appeared in the hallway, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling.
“Is there somewhere you and I could talk?” Katie asked.
Wilhemina shrugged. “How about the front porch?”
“That will be fine.”
“Douglas, I'll be back in just a few minutes,” Wilhemina called and walked with Katie outside.
Katie remained standing while Wilhemina sat in one of the old rockers. “What did you want?”