Return to Virgin River (Virgin River #19) - Robyn Carr Page 0,16

to fix things, especially with men. She didn’t want to be fixed. She wanted dogs to stay away from her. She had a spontaneous urge to flee before he went any further with his offer.

“Let’s just have a peek at the inside,” he said, walking onto the porch. “It may not be what you’re looking for, but you came all this way.”

Before she had even gotten to the porch, he was holding the door open.

“Would you prefer to look around by yourself?”

“It’s okay. You can come in. It’s your house. There might be things you want to point out.”

“Sure,” he said, standing aside so she could enter. “This is the living room.”

She stepped through the door. Damn. It was lovely. Modern, decorated in earth tones of beige, rust, brown and a small bit of yellow. It was one large room. There was a sectional sofa and easy chair with an ottoman on one end, a dining table on the other. It had an open kitchen with a small breakfast bar and two bar stools. The living room furniture looked soft and comfortable, accented with pillows in a variety of colors and a large square coffee table, all sitting on a large, white-and-beige, deep shag area rug. The floor and furniture were polished to a high sheen; the countertops and cupboards looked as though they’d been recently wiped down. The appliances were immaculate.

“This is beautiful,” she said before she could check her words. The rent probably just went up, she thought.

“No fireplace, I’m afraid. I have one in the bigger house. The bedrooms are that way. A master and guest room, but like I said, I never furnished the guest room. If you need to use it for guests, just give me some notice. I can get it furnished. Go ahead. There’s a big closet and good-size bath.”

She passed a small powder room and stepped into a lovely bedroom, if a little masculine. There was a king-size bed and again, the colors were beige and brown. The bed frame was large, the headboard tall and tufted with a wheat-colored fabric. There were two bedside tables and a bench at the foot of the bed. That was it for furniture. She glanced over her shoulder at him and he indicated a couple of pocket doors. She slid them apart and they opened into a master closet that was very large. And of course empty, since he wasn’t living here.

“Wow,” she said.

“Yes. When I built it, I robbed the bedroom of some space to make the closet larger—I always had a lot to store. Everything from camping gear and art supplies to linens. There’s a small stackable washer and dryer right there, too. If you have to wash something large like a rug or comforter, my washer is larger and available. The spare room is just down the hall two steps. It was my shop or studio, whatever your preference. It’s only a room. There’s no closet, no bath, nothing but a space.

“There’s a back door off the kitchen but not much of a back porch. There’s a path into the woods and a stream back there. Oh, and there’s bear repellent under the kitchen sink...”

“Bear repellent?” she nearly shrieked.

He laughed. “And you were worried about the dogs. By the way, I rarely get a dog who doesn’t play well with others. I mean, it has happened, but... Enough said, the dogs won’t be a problem for you.”

“What’s the rent on this house?” she asked, a little afraid of the answer.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve gotten five hundred before, but I’m willing to consider an offer. It’s been sitting empty for a while.”

Five hundred? she thought in shock. That wouldn’t get a one-bedroom and closet in Newport. In fact, she couldn’t rent a room in a house for that! “That sounds more than fair,” she said. Even without a fireplace it was so much bigger and nicer than the places the Realtor had shown her. Here, she could put her laptop on the dining table or sit in the living room with it on her knees. She might even get an outdoor chair with ottoman and do some work on the front porch. “You’re sure about the dogs? Because I don’t know anything about dogs except that they make me uncomfortable. I have friends who put their dogs outside or send them to bed when I visit...”

“It’s guaranteed. I could put it in the lease if you like. By the way,