Deep River Promise, Jackie Ashenden [large ebook reader .TXT] 📗

boxed up and ready to go tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, good. That’s great.” Her momentary irritation vanished. “Thanks, Mal.”

Excellent. Another project safely off the ground. Hopefully it would be viable and end up being good for everyone.

“Phil’s wanting more books though,” Mal said casually. “I spoke to him this morning on the phone. He got through the last stack quicker than he thought, and he said could you get him some more.”

“No problem. I think the title he specifically requested last week has just come in, so I’ll get it up the hill to him.”

“Phil?” Damon glanced at her. “As in ‘animal sanctuary’ Phil?”

Ah yes, she’d mentioned that to him, hadn’t she?

She nodded.

“I’ll take them up if you like.” His eyes glinted from beneath his lashes. “Someone told me to go and speak to people in the town, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet.”

Her. That had been her. A small glow of warmth centered itself in her chest for absolutely no reason at all, because who cared if he took her suggestion? Certainly she didn’t.

The women clustered around the counter—Debbie Long, Jenny Anderson, Melissa Evans, and Maria’s friend Coco Smith—all murmured admiringly.

“That’s a lovely thing to do.” Jenny put a hand on one of Damon’s powerful shoulders. “Phil would appreciate that so much.”

Jenny liked a handsome man—hell, most of those women did, and Astrid couldn’t blame them for falling all over Damon. Men like him didn’t turn up in Deep River often. No, scratch that. They didn’t turn up in Deep River at all.

Still. The way they were looking at him irritated her the way it had after hot yoga this morning.

Jealous maybe?

How stupid. There was nothing for her to be jealous of. Yet the sight of Jenny’s hand on his shoulder, touching the textured fabric of his shirt, a fabric she wouldn’t mind touching herself, was…annoying.

“He would appreciate it,” she agreed coolly. “I was just on my way to the library, so why don’t you come with me and I’ll give you his books?”

Damon’s smile curved his beautiful mouth. “I was hoping you might say that.” Pushing himself away from the counter, he stood at his full height, turning that smile on the adoring female crowd. “Ladies, thanks for your time. It’s been a pleasure.” He glanced at Mal and held out a hand. “Appreciate your time too.”

“No problem.” Mal took Damon’s hand and shook it, smiling back. “Good to talk to you. I like a man who makes an effort to get to know the locals.”

The warmth in Astrid’s chest glowed hotter. He really had taken on board her suggestion, hadn’t he? It made her feel ridiculously pleased, though she had no idea why.

“You do know that Phil’s is a good half-hour walk?” she said as Damon turned toward the exit.

“You don’t think I can walk a half hour carrying a couple of pounds’ worth of books? Maybe I’m falling behind in my workout regimen.”

A patently untrue statement given he was built like a Greek god.

“Hmmmm.” She made a show of examining him as she followed him out of the market. “Seems like you could maybe handle it. You can never tell with city boys, though.”

Wickedness glinted in Damon’s eyes. “Are you calling me soft?”

“If the shoe fits,” she murmured as they came out onto the boardwalk.

He laughed that distractingly sexy laugh. “Harsh, Ms. Mayor. But maybe you’re right. It’s been a while since I’ve gone twenty miles with fifty pounds on my back. Perhaps I should run there to build up my stamina?”

“You should. I’ll time you.”

There was no reason for her heart to lift as they turned toward the library, her leading the way. But it did. His presence was as warm as the sun on her shoulders and somehow exciting. He could be so reassuring and yet under that reassurance was a sense of danger. The kind of delicious, sensual danger that women loved…

And look how that turned out last time.

Badly. It had turned out badly.

“Want to tell me why you left so abruptly earlier?” she asked, trying not to think about Aiden. Or her past in general. Or how the excitement inside her just didn’t know when to quit.

Damon strolled beside her, his hands in his pockets, his attention ahead of him as they walked along the boardwalk to the street. “I think you know why.”

A flush crept over her. Stupid question to ask. On the other hand, wasn’t it better to know for certain?

“I wouldn’t like to assume,” she said. “Leads to all kinds of misunderstandings.”

He glanced at her. “You want me to say it, then? Fine. I left because it was either that or I reached over your desk, dragged you out of your chair, and kissed you.”

Oh. Oh.

“That’s clear.” Her voice had gotten husky, dammit. “Good thing you left, then.”

“Isn’t it?”

A silence fell between them, crackling and electric.

She was so very aware of him as he walked beside her, long legs, narrow hips, and broad shoulders… There was nothing soft about him in any way.

If she’d been just a woman in a bar that he’d approached, she’d have given him her number the moment he’d asked for it. Or maybe she’d even have approached him and asked him for his.

It wasn’t to be, though. More’s the pity.

Astrid tried to ignore that as she led the way along the road from the boardwalk, going down the little gravel path that led to the library, Damon following along behind her.

The library was situated in a small, self-contained wooden cabin on the riverbank just along from the Deep River town center. It had a porch out in front that Phil had donated a couple of his hand-carved chairs to, with a few wind chimes that Gwen had made hanging from the eaves. Sparkling crystals dangled from the bottom of the chimes, sending prismatic glitters everywhere, and while Astrid privately thought the crystals were overkill—for good vibes, Gwen had told her—she’d always liked the sound of the chimes.

Perhaps it was wrong to