She winced. “That much?”
Sarah took Jeannie from Bodie. “It’s so lucky that one of iSecure’s top guys is in Pine Hill and willing to help you.”
Isabelle had never shirked from uncomfortable situations. Usually, she was the one who dealt with them so that her mother and Sophie never had to. But she didn’t want to talk to Zach about her father’s abandonment. She didn’t want to turn and come face-to-face with him again, either. She knew those hazel eyes would be more twinkly than all the gorgeous Christmas lights Sarah had strung around Hamilton House.
“Much as your ego might find it difficult to believe, we weren’t discussing you.” She avoided meeting Zach’s gaze when he joined them at the kitchen island and stared directly at her.
“Actually, we were,” Bodie reminded and Isabelle’s face heated.
Oops. They had been.
Zach grinned. “Oh? What were you saying? Asking for my phone number or just wanting to know all my deepest, darkest secrets?”
If only. Instead, she was about to tell him hers.
*
“Bodie thought youmight be able to find someone for me.”
“No need to look any further. I’m right here.” Zach waggled his brows.
He’d caught a glimpse of Isabelle earlier when she’d first arrived, but she’d immediately disappeared into the kitchen with Sarah. He’d wanted to follow her, but Lukas had called. Due to the noisy party festivities and Christmas music playing in the background, Zach had headed to his room.
Lukas had just been checking on him. When he’d come back downstairs, Harry had wanted to go out and thought Zach was just the guy to take him. Not that Zach minded. Crowded parties for Christmas tree decorating weren’t exactly his thing. Hadn’t his mother just arranged for some interior decorator to spiff up the house to a magazine replica of whatever was the latest Christmas fad? Zach sure couldn’t recall tree decorating parties or the loving way Sarah displayed her aunt’s antique ornaments.
Isabelle shot Sarah a see-what-I-mean look, then toyed with her sweater’s zipper. “Not interested.”
Bodie snorted, then nudged Zach’s arm. “On that note, Sarah and I are going to leave you two to discuss this while we go find the Fruit flies. I imagine they’re cooking up some holiday mischief and need to be reined in before they get out of control.”
Fruit flies? Oh, yeah, Sarah’s group of old-lady friends. Bodie was always calling them by some insect name. Earlier in the week he’d called them hornets, then gnats. The one Zach had met at Lou’s seemed harmless enough, more like a blue ladybug if he’d had to give an insect name.
Sarah smiled, then the trio left the kitchen, leaving Zach alone with Isabelle. Her color heightened, her pulse pounded at her throat, and she was going to rip that zipper tab off any moment if she didn’t quit jerking it back and forth.
He grinned. “I can tell you’re excited to see me again.”
At Sarah’s advice, he’d held off on going to the quilt shop, but Tuesday seemed longer than three days ago. Finally, Isabelle’s gaze lifted, blue fire sparking with annoyance.
“Is that what you call the sudden urge to be ill? Excitement?”
Zach laughed. “When are you going to admit that you like me, Blondie?”
“I asked you not to call me that.” She gave him one of her pinched-face scowls. “As for the other, I’ll tell you what… you just hold your breath until it happens.”
“That bad, eh?”
Eyes still narrowed, she sighed. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find my sister.”
That same sinking feeling hit that had when she’d driven away from the square. Just as she stepped into the large rectangular foyer in the middle of Hamilton House, Zach reached for her hand, momentarily staying her.
“Wait.” Electricity flared where their skin touched.
Not so long ago his hand had been dead, unable to move or feel. How sad if he’d never experienced the zings coursing through him?
Her gaze dropped to where he held her, and he wondered if she felt it, too, or if his nerve endings were just misfiring from some missed piece of shrapnel still lodged near his spine. Taking a deep breath, she pulled free. He hadn’t been holding tight, just enough to temporarily stay her. At the loss, he shoved his fingers into his jeans pocket to keep from reaching out again.
“Don’t go. Please.” Heart pounding all the way to his throat that their conversation wasn’t going as he’d imagined a thousand times that week, that he didn’t know when he’d see her again if she left Hamilton House, Zach latched onto the one thing that might give her pause. “What did you mean about me helping to find someone?”
Frustration flickered across her beautiful face. “It’s nothing.”
