drop off our gear and then head over there and pick up groceries afterward. We figured sheâd want to fix us breakfast, at the very least. So you have to admit we were rather surprised. Then we heard you and Rose screaming andââ
âI didnât scream.â
He turned to study her, his brow furrowed. âIn the kitchen you vehemently said you wouldnât do it. I thought some man was trying to force you to do something horrible.â
Loriâs cheeks warmed a little.
âWhat was that all about?â
âCatherine wanted me to tell the two of you that you were being auctioned off. It wasnât my idea! So I wasnât about to take the blame for it. Or be the messenger either.â
âAh. And Roseâs scream? Hell, she screamed when we were on the speakerphone with Catherine, then someone else yelled, and then the phone clicked dead. What would you expect us to think?â
âThat someone had a little accident? But really? That was the reason you went all Navy SEAL wolf on us?â She kept herself from probing about his last mission. âOkay, Rose picked up a plate Catherine had been warming on top of her toaster oven. It was hotter than Rose expected, and she burned her hand and dropped the plate. On my foot! Which protected the plate from breaking. I yelled out in surprise when the plate hit my foot. But Catherine must have ended the call with the two of you right after that. She checked Roseâs hand to see how badly it was burned, and it wasnât that bad. Rose was startled more than anything.
âRight before the two of you barged into the kitchen, Rose tripped over a box of jams and jellies that she forgot her mother had set on the floor, which made Rose drop the plate she was taking to the dishwasher. This time she didnât have my foot to protect the plate from shattering on the ceramic tile floor. When the plate broke, she said she was giving up on dishes and got another cup of coffee. I got the broom to clean up the broken plate.â
âAnd then used the broom on me .â
Lori cast a smile at him again. âYou have to admit it did stop you.â
âNot for long.â
âWell, if it had been someone else, I would have continued to fight.â
âNot kissed him back.â
Now that they had gotten off the subject of Dusty and the necklace, Lori was feeling more relaxed. She hadnât been up here since the incident. Paul had sensed that right away, and she wished she could have said and felt otherwise.
Not that the brothers were inherently bad, she didnât think, or she wouldnât have agreed to them coming up to the lake. She and Rose were trying to learn why the men were now living in the Cunningham packâs territory. Sheâd thought questioning them was a good idea. The brothers said that theyâd had to move from their last jobs and find new homes because the rancher had retired and sold off his ranch. And theyâd lived close before so the area felt like home. Now she worried that something more might come of it, considering the way the brothers had given Paul the eye, especially when her grandma outbid everyone for his services.
Paul watched Lori as she looked toward the west, her mouth still curved in a tantalizing smile. âSunsetâs gone. Do you want to keep me company while I make the jam for tomorrow?â
He sure did and joined Lori in the kitchen, where she began washing her bucket of berries. He followed her lead and washed his. Then she put them all in a big saucepan and added sugar in the same quantity as the huckleberries. After that, she dissolved pectin and added it to the fruit and sugar mixture.
âDo you want me to break up the berries more? Less?â She paused in stirring them and crushing some to make the mixture more jelly-like.
He peered over her shoulder, breathing in the sweet berry-and-sugar mixture and Loriâs sweet she-wolf scent. âSmells great.