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He paused, then baldly stated, “You’re right. I wasn’t.”
Hildy chortled a bit. And Caro couldn’t help asking, “So, what was it you said that got you in trouble with the pastor’s sister?”
Hildy harrumphed at the memory, then explained. “At the annual spaghetti dinner at the church a few months ago I told Miss Hester I was hungry. That’s all.”
Mick cleared his throat.
Hildy shot him a glare, then grudgingly added, “Very hungry.”
As if knowing the woman wasn’t about to tell the whole story, Mick continued. “She told the whole congregation that she was hungry enough to eat the leg off the lamb of God.”
Caro sucked her lips between her teeth to bite back a laugh. There was something to look forward to in old age—being able to get away with being absolutely outrageous.
Hildy shook her head in sorrow. “I knew I shouldn’ta. I shoulda said thefirstthing that came to my head, which was that I was hungry enough to eat the bum off a low-flying duck.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to whisper, “But I didn’t think bum was appropriate to say in a church-type setting.”
This time, Caro couldn’t hold the laugh in.
“See?Shecan take a joke. She has a sense of humor. Now, you rascal, you’ve made fun of me enough for today. Be good or I’ll sick Moe on you.”
“I thought Moe never left the property.” He glanced at Caro. “Moe’s the ghost of a mobster. He lives in the inn.”
“I’ve heard about the ghosts,” Caro said. “But we’ve yet to see any. We’re hoping they’ll show up during the shoot.”
“Somehow, I have the feeling Moe “Six Fingers” Marcini and his pals are only around when Hildy needs someone to get her out of trouble.”
Hildy tsked. “Making fun again…well, mock if you will. One of these nights I’ll have Moe go visit your bedroom and see if you’re really all the stories say you are.”
Caro could have answered that question.Yes, he is.But she kept her mouth shut.
Finally, Hildy sauntered out of the trailer, leaving Caro alone with a laughing Mick.
“What a character,” Caroline said.
“You can’t begin to imagine. Gwen and Jared love her to pieces. We all do.”
Caro liked that about Mick. She’d never seen him interact with people outside his own circle before. Mainly,womenin his circle. But seeing his tenderness, his good humor, the care with which he’d hugged her and his playful relationship with a woman old enough to be his great-grandmother somehow surprised her. It wasn’t the type of friendship a no-good playboy would cultivate. Was it?
“So, what are you doing here?” she asked once Mick had closed the door with a decisive thud.
Without waiting for an invitation, he took Hildy’s recently vacated spot on the love seat. He crossed his long, khaki-clad legs and gave the trailer a once-over. “I figured it was time to check out the madhouse. I’ve been hearing stories.”
“Stories?” she asked, instantly worried.
“Nothing too dramatic.” He grinned. “Yet.”
“Just wait ’til this afternoon when the cast gets here,” she mumbled, wearily brushing a lone strand of hair off her forehead and tucking it behind her ear.
His voice lowered. “You look tired.”
“I’m fine.”
“You sleeping okay?”
In my big lonely bed?
She choked down the question, wondering where it had come from. She didnotwant to share a bed with Mick Winchester. Been there. Done that. Never gonna happen again.
Yes, it had been good enough to almost make her have an orgasm sitting here thinking about it, but that was way in the past. Way, way, way in the past.
