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“Good thinkin’,” Ace said. “Let’s go check the henhouse.”
Both men pulled on heavy jackets and gloves and headed for the back door. Lissa headed for the kitchen. No Gentry underfoot, thank heaven. The last thing she needed was to see him again—and what was that bit about Brooklyn? What would a man like him know about—
She came to a dead stop.
He was there, right in the middle of the kitchen, leaning back against the worktable, cradling a mug of coffee in his hands.
“What are you doing here?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I live here, or hadn’t you noticed?”
She ignored the fast answer, went to the pantry and retrieved the flour, sugar and lard.
“Planning on making yourself some breakfast?”
“The men are hungry.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I know. I’m gonna have to get into town for supplies.”
“Can you? I mean, the snow…”
“Worried about me, Duchess? I’m touched.”
Lissa swung toward him, eyes narrowing when she saw the smug grin on his face.
Despicable was too kind a word for him.
What made it worse was that he didn’t look despicable. Dressed in a dark blue sweater, faded jeans and those omnipresent well-worn boots, he looked—he looked—
Dammit.
He looked gorgeous, like the movie star he was, especially with that early-morning stubble on his jaw. She’d never thought stubble sexy, but it turned out that it was.
Could a mongoose be sexy?
No, she thought coldly, it could not.
“You’re in my way,” she snapped.
He didn’t move.
“I said—”
“Want some coffee?”
“If I do, I’ll get it the next time I go into the dining room.”
“There’s better coffee right here.”
She looked at him, followed his gaze. A Chemex half filled with dark chocolate-brown coffee was on the counter near him.
“It’s my one kitchen skill. The men think it’s sissified, but I have this strange thing about preferring coffee that doesn’t taste like old socks.”
She almost laughed. That was what she’d thought last night after she’d tasted Gus’s coffee. It even smelled that way—her comment a few minutes ago about its smelling wonderful had been more a courtesy than reality.
She considered turning down his offer, but what was that old saw about cutting off your nose to spite your face? Coffee was one of the basic food groups.
There was a clean mug next to the glass pot.
