Page 114 of Spurred On

He tried to hold back a grin. “Did you?”

“I referred her to Claire.” Sidney offered a snarky smile.

“I’m guessing she didn’t get her the sunglasses?”

“Claire quoted her a fee that made it financially unwise to purse the sunglasses issue.”

“Claire’s good at that.”

“Isn’t she?”

“Hmm.”

He checked his watch. “The show’s starting soon.”

“Is it?”

“I have to be onstage.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. Ahem. Would you be interested in a moonlight walk after everything’s done?”

Her brow rose. “When everything is done? I have a list as long as my arm.”

She pulled a paper from her pocket and he perused it. It was hardly as long as her arm, but damn, there was a lot to do. His visions of a romantic evening evaporated. He’d have to talk to Claire about overworking the staff. “You don’t have to do it all,” he said.

She laughed. “Yes. I do. It’s my job.”

Rats.

And then, he had a brilliant idea. “I’ll help you.”

“Will you?”

“Yes.” He’d never actually done any of the housework before, that had always been Claire’s department so, fool that he was, he had no idea what he was getting into.

After the party ended, and the guests trooped out for the Starlight Hayride, which Cade was officiating, he and Sidney bussed the tables together, put the dishes and the cutlery in the industrial dishwasher, wiped down the counters, took out the trash, and prepped for breakfast. By then, the guests had returned from the hayride and were asking for a late-night bar service, and so they set that up as well.

When everything was finally done, they skulked off to the library—which was at the back of the house and rarely discovered by the guests—and collapsed on one of the overstuffed sofas together.

It felt good, holding her.

It felt good to have no more work to do.

“Thank you for helping me,” she murmured against his chest.

“Thank you for letting me.” He tugged her closer and kissed her. She responded sweetly, so he supped at her, a slow, gentle seduction. Which worked . . . until she snored into his mouth.

Poor sweet thing. She was exhausted.

Then again, so was he.

He grabbed a blanket from the back of the easy chair and rearranged them into a more comfortable position on the wide sofa, and hunkered down with her in his arms.

It was hardly the hot and frantic sex he’d been wanting, but it was, no doubt, the next best thing, falling asleep with her in his arms.

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