it would be safe here.” She met his dark eyes, curious about the look in them. “I don’t know how.”
“I’m just glad you showed up,” he said quietly. “I don’t mix well with people, and I had a rough experience with my ex-fiancée. I guess I’d turned into a hermit.”
“A very nice hermit,” she said softly. “You’re easy to get along with.”
“So are you, honey,” he replied. “You make a house a home, however trite that sounds.”
She smiled from ear to ear. “What a nice thing to say!”
He drew in a long breath, watching her pretty hands working on the coins. He picked up some and started separating them. “They have a machine that does this. I need to get you one.”
“It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun,” she replied. “This is something we do together.” She flushed. “I mean . . .”
His big, lean hand slid over hers. “I like doing this with you, too. There’s no need to feel embarrassed.”
She laughed self-consciously. “Thanks. I don’t think I’ve learned discretion yet. I just blurt things out.”
“That’s not bad at all. I speak my mind, too.”
“I guess people at least know where they stand with us, don’t they?”
“What did you do, when you lived at home?” he asked.
She hesitated while she tried to think up something. “Well, not much, really. Mama didn’t want me to get a job, and I’d already gone away to school for several years.”
“A boarding school?” he asked, thinking of someplace with uniforms and firm rules. “I’ll bet you were picked on a lot.”
“Yes, I was,” she exclaimed. “How did you know?”
“Because you’re beautiful and shy, a combination that provokes people who aren’t,” he said. His face hardened. “Hell would freeze over before I’d send a child of mine away to any sort of boarding school.”
“That’s how I feel,” she replied. “It was miserable. Mama sent me presents for Christmas and my birthday, but she never came to see me.” Her voice was bitter. “It was worse when I came back home, at eighteen.” Her face tautened. “It was a constant parade of men, and sometimes she didn’t bother to close the bedroom door . . .” Her face flamed and her expression was horrified as she met his eyes.
“You can tell me anything,” he said in a gentle tone. “I don’t gossip, and you won’t shock me. Okay?”
She bit her lip and went on sorting change. “I’ve never, well, done stuff like that. She screamed a lot . . .”
“Women do, when they’re enjoying a man,” he said very softly. “It’s natural. It doesn’t mean they’re being hurt.”
“Oh.” She took a deep breath. “I tried to ask her, but she changed the subject. I never had any close friends. I was too ashamed of my home life to take anybody home with me. Mama would walk around in see-through negligees when she had men living with us.”
He was getting a sad, painful look at her life. No wonder she was so naïve. He liked it. He had little experience with innocent women. She was a new experience.
He smiled.
She looked at him, her blue eyes wide and curious.
“I like it, that you don’t know much about men,” he explained. He grimaced. “I guess that sounds Neanderthal.”
“Oh, no,” she said at once, and her cheeks flushed. “It sounds, well, protective.”
He cocked his head. “That’s how I feel when I’m with you. Protective.” He scowled. “You need some assertiveness training. I’ll teach you.”
“You will?” She smiled at him. “What’s assertiveness training?”
“Telling people to go to hell when they start annoying you,” he replied tongue in cheek. “I was a natural, but you’ll need some educating.”
She burst out laughing. “I do like you,” she said huskily. “You’re so much fun.”
Something no other woman had ever said about him. He felt ten feet tall. When he was with her, he forgot about his injuries and limitations. She made him . . . whole.
“So you never had a job?” he persisted.
“Not really. Mostly I stayed in my room and listened to music. Or I painted.” She sighed. “I had a sketch pad and canvases and acrylic paint. I really loved doing still life portraits of flowers.” She frowned. “I suppose Darrin trashed them all.”
“You never know.” He was smiling. There was an art supply store in town. He’d have to take her over there one day and get her some paints. She had spare time when she wasn’t working. It would give her something to do when he was out of