Blonde Heat

Chapter 1 It occurred to Lily, as she stood on her cabin deck gazing out on Burntside Lake, that she should have known she'd made a mistake the time she'd brought Brock here. He'd looked out at the sparkling water and majestic pines, the perfect blue sky dotted with perfect fluffy white clouds, ignored the eagle with the eight-foot wingspan soaring overhead, swatted the mosquito on his arm, and said, irritably, "I hope that doesn't stain linen. As if there'd be a decent dry cleaner in this godforsaken wilderness anyway." He'd gone inside muttering and hadn't come out again until it was time to leave two days later. One damned mosquito. She should have gone with her gut feeling then. It would have saved her a helluva lot of trouble. Not to mention a divorce. But, hey, she was here now and he wasn't and that was good. More than good. Now if she could only figure out how to turn on the water, she could wash her hands after hours on the road from Chicago and life would be great. The phone rang, the world intruded on her mini therapy session, and she walked back inside. "Welcome home, Juju." Lily leaned against the kitchen counter and smiled at the greeting from long ago. "How did you know I was here? I just walked in the door." "Myrtle Carlson saw you pull into your driveway and called her sister Olga who called my aunt Bernie who called me. And I would have phoned sooner but my aunt had to tell me about her tomato plants and the last Eastern Star meeting that almost ended in fisticuffs when Addie Montgomery and Blanche Kovar both wanted to be president. When are you coming over?" "After I figure out how to turn on the water." "Hurry, because Serena's on her way now. Call Bianchich's. They'll send someone over." "Serena's home too?" "Reluctantly. You know how she hates this town. But her mom broke her hip and needed someone to run the store for a few months. We'll fill you in when you get here. Dumped the Brock, I hear. About time." "What happened to 'I'm sorry your marriage didn't work out. You must be distraught.' " "I met the Brock, hon. I repeat, about time." Lily sighed. "How did everyone know but me?" "You're way too sweet, Juju. That's always been your problem. You believe what people say. But hey, Serena and I will show you the true path. She's in purdah here till fall and I'm at the lake all summer as usual. Now call Bianchich's about your water. If you're lucky our local hero will make the house call himself. Darling Billy still works in the hardware store every off season." "I wouldn't recognize him if I saw him. He's years younger." "He's also, I think the term is, good enough to eat. And if you came to your cabin more often, you'd know it." Lily laughed. "Your libido is cranked up notches higher than mine. And I'm only just divorced. Don't talk to me about men right now." "You know what they say about falling off that horse . . ." "Give me a break. Unlike you, I've actually gone more than a week without sex." "Bite your tongue. I'm on day six. Now, call the hardware store. We'll see you in an hour." The phone went dead. Ceci had never been good about waiting for anything--which accounted for her very active sex life. Lily didn't hear the truck pull up; she was unpacking in the bedroom. And if there had been a knock on the door, she'd missed that too. What she didn't miss were the very broad shoulders on the tall man with spiky black hair who was filling the doorway into her utility room when she went in search of more hangers. She actually squealed when she saw him, which was embarrassing enough in itself, but when he turned around, he had such a look of aJohnson, Susan is the author of 'Blonde Heat' with ISBN 9780553582550 and ISBN 0553582550.