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“No one knocks at The Homestead” Webb dismissed that idea and looked intimately at Lilli “We’ll simply have to learn to be more circumspect”

“I’d like us to be friends,” Lilli stated with an openness that Ruth found difficult to dislike “May I call you Ruth?”

“Of course,” she agreed But she needed time before she could handle that kind of relationship

“You ca?” Webb realized he hadn’t asked the reason Ruth had come to the house

She used the excuse she hadbetter”

“I’lad to hear it I’ll look in on him later,” he said

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m sure you’d rather be alone” Ruth’s voice nearly broke Neither raised an objection, saying the nor before she left the room

A brief silence followed the closing of the front door Webb’s hand rubbed absently along the curve of Lilli’s waist while he looked thoughtfully at the open doors of the den Lilli couldn’t tell what he was thinking

“Is so?” she asked

His glance swung around to run war sensation in his look “No The only way things could be better is if you were already htened around her, then relaxed to let her go “I’ll bring your things in and show you where you II be sleeping”

The e bed with an elaborately carved headboard was covered with a goosedown quilt Besides a dresser and a chest of drawers, a pair of chairs and a srouped to create a sitting area around the fireplace When Webb set her worn satchel on the floor, Lilli was forcibly res

“While you get settled, I’h that door, there’s a private bath I stoked the heater earlier, so there’s hot water if you want to freshen up before dinner” He noticed the way she was looking around the roo “Do you like it?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Lilli countered with a wry smile

His gaze lingered an instant on that s her “I’ll be back,” he promised huskily and walked to the door

Alone in the room, it all seemed unreal to Lilli for a moment She was reassured by the sound of his footsteps descending the stairs, and the large roo, opening up drawers that would s herthe softness of thein the chairs She paused at thethat faced the south, like the front of the house, and watched Webb walking to one of the buildings When he disappeared inside it, she let the curtain drop and turned back to the room