“You’re leaving out Tess,” Joce said without cracking a smile, but then her face softened. “When you get to know Tess, you’ll like her. She’s had a tough life, and she tends to be hostile to newcomers.”
“I guess I’ll always be a ‘newcomer’ because my job here is temporary.”
“Are you kidding? Luke said that both Colin and Tris were about ready to go into one of Mike’s horrible kickboxing bouts over you.”
“Far, far from it,” Gemma said, but she couldn’t help being flattered. “Tris and I are becoming friends. He likes me because I don’t have any raging lust for him.”
“Raging lust? Interesting choice of words. Do you save that for Colin?”
“I give it all to my job—which I want to keep. Fooling around with my employer’s son isn’t something I plan to do.”
“I’m glad you know your own mind. When I first came to Edilean I was a mess. The most important person in my life had recently died and left me an old house I didn’t even know she owned.”
Gemma looked down at the two babies on the bed. “You look like you found your way.”
“Yes, but I had help.” She paused at the doorway. “Gemma, if you have any problems, personal or work related, you can come to Sara or me. And you may not believe it, but Tess is also a good listener.”
“Thanks,” Gemma said. When she was alone with the babies, she set herself to making them laugh and was quite successful.
“Mind if I join this party?” Colin asked from the doorway.
Gemma took a breath before she looked up at him, and when she did, all she could remember was the two of them together and naked. But it was obvious that he remembered nothing. So much for Joce’s words about two men being interested in her! She’d gone to bed with one of them and he’d completely forgotten the experience. She looked back at the babies.
Colin sat down on the side of the bed. Instantly, little Edilean put her arms up to him and he picked her up. Gemma remembered that Ellie had said he was a Pied Piper to the kids.
“How long are you going to keep ignoring me?” he asked.
“You and I were seen together so often that people started gossiping about us. I don’t like that and I think it should be stopped.”
“People in Edilean gossip about everything. Your breakfast with Tris, and the way you two leaned toward each other and whispered the whole time, has eclipsed whatever they thought about us.”
“Tris is okay; you are not.”
“Why . . . ? Oh. Because of Jean?”
“That’s right,” she said as she played patty-cake with David. “You’re practically a married man.”
“I’m not, really.”
This conversation wasn’t going the way she wanted it to. The homey setting, even the babies, was making her relax, and she couldn’t allow that. She frowned at him. “Is this where you tell me that Jean doesn’t understand you, and that you and I should go out to dinner to talk about it?”
Colin blinked at her a few times. “Is that what you think of me?”
“I don’t think of you one way or another,” she said. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d stop showing up at my house before dawn, then running around naked. If you want something on the side, find someone else.”
Colin’s face showed his shock at her words. “I . . .” He got off the bed, still holding the baby, and stood up. “Forgive me, Miss Ranford. I was presumptuous. I—”
“Is everything all right in here?” Luke asked from the doorway.
Colin put Luke’s daughter in his arms. “Everything is fine. Great. Couldn’t be better. Is there any beer downstairs?”
“Gallons of it,” Luke said, looking from Colin to Gemma and back again.
“That’ll be a start.” He moved past Luke and went down the stairs.
“What was that about?”
Gemma was so angry her jaw was aching, but she didn’t want to show that. “I’m not feeling well. Could someone drive me home—I mean to the Frazier estate?”