Chapter One

When he stopped himself, then took the bowl out of her hands and set in on the counter, murmuring, "The cookies can wait," Deidre didn't know what to think. Yes, she'd been brazen, teasing him like that, but Jonas was sending out very confusing signals.

Deidre let him lead her to the straight back chair next to the table. When he sat her down and turned to fill an empty bowl with water, she just stared in confusion.

She was surprised when he lowered himself to one knee and put the bowl of water on the floor next to her feet. Her pensive gaze tracked his sexy, hard-working hands as he withdrew a white handkerchief from his pants' pocket and dipped the cloth in the water, his movements measured and precise.

The tense silence between them was killing her. "What are you doing?"

Instead of replying, his warm fingers wrapped around her left ankle and his gaze locked with hers, steady and sure.

Totally perplexed, she let him lift her foot above the bowl. When he glanced at her foot and began to wipe the warm wet cloth along her skin, bathing away the gravel dust, a lump clogged her throat at the personal, almost reverent act.

Tears formed as her emotions rushed to the surface once more. Blinking back the wetness, she swallowed hard and tried to keep her voice from shaking. "In the barn, you backed away from me. I don't understand."

"Let it be, Deidre."

His voice was harsh, cold ... almost angry, but his touch told a different story. While one hand gently bathed away the dirt, the other massaged her calf in a