His Tempest by Candice Poarch

shape. It’s January. You have until June. I could repair them in that length of time.”
    â€œWhy is it so important to you?”
    Colin darted a glance at the older man. “You dipping in my business, Carp?”
    Carp grinned. “Yeah.”
    Colin chuckled. “You just make sure she doesn’t decide to move back to Memphis to that computer job. I want her right here.”
    â€œJust drop me off at the campsite. I’ll look things over while you find her. You can take your time. It’ll take a while to go through everything.”
    Colin drove the rutted road to the campsite. As soon as Carp got out he headed for Noelle’s place. The yard needed serious work; the plants her grandparents had put in had grown wild over the years. Dormant now, they’d need trimming come spring.
    Colin stopped beside the rental truck and loped up the stairs to knock on the door. Noelle opened it wearing a bandana, old jeans and an oversize sweatshirt. Even with paint splatters as her only makeup, and with all her curves hidden, desire still hit him hard. He had it bad.
    Colin pulled her into his arms and kissed her until he got his fill.
    â€œHi,” he said when he came up for air.
    â€œHi, yourself,” she said, laughing.
    â€œI think I taste paint.”
    â€œYou taste like coffee. Yum. Come on in out of the cold,” she said. His arm was still around her waist. “We’ve painted the last room, thank God. And I took a quick trip to the basement. There’s a nice desk down there and a couple of chairs and a dining-room table I want to bring up here.”
    â€œGreg and I’ll do it later on this evening. Leila thinks you need fattening up. Said your grandmother would be scandalized.”
    â€œOh? And what do you think?”
    He didn’t need an excuse to let his eyes roam over her. “I told her you’re perfect the way you are.”
    Heat infused Noelle’s face.
    â€œShe sent coffee, with coffee cake and a whole plastic container of clam chowder. You made quite an impression on her. She liked your grandparents. She likes you, too. Thinks you’re just the woman to get me to settle down. What do you think?”
    â€œI think it was kind of her to send food and I can’t wait to dig into the chowder. I have to thank her.”
    â€œCoward.” They both knew she was evading the reference to his settling down, but he let the subject ride for now. “She has an ulterior motive. She wants to enroll her grandchildren in the camp.”
    â€œWe have room. How many grandchildren?”
    â€œThree that are the right age.”
    â€œI’ll make sure there’s room for them.”
    â€œCarp is outside looking over the buildings,” he said.
    â€œYou sobered him up?”
    â€œI caught him on a good day. After he gets one of the cabins in decent shape you might want to let him stay there out of the way of temptation until he finishes.”
    â€œI don’t have a problem with that.”
    â€œWhere’s Greg?”
    â€œHe ran to town to get a new DVD. He was tired of being cooped up in the house.”
    â€œWish I could stay, but you might want to go down to the campsite in an hour or two, after Carp has a chance to go through the buildings. And don’t lift any furniture. I’ll help Greg.”
    â€œI’m not helpless, you know.”
    â€œYeah, well, we’ll save that back for other things.”
    Noelle blushed again. She knew he was teasing her, but she couldn’t help wondering what the real thing would be like.

    An hour later Noelle grabbed her coat and knit hat, and hurried to the car to drive the short distance to the camp, where she found Carp in the kitchen.
    The radio had predicted snow by morning. Already, thick clouds covered the sky, giving the camp an even more dilapidated look.
    There were three huge buildings. The girls’ and the boys’ dorms were on either side of the