Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux

What in the world was wrong with her? She’d had a very
    romantic date with the man, the one Miss Edi said was to be the love of her life. But somehow, she’d ruined it.
    She didn’t know how, but she had. Of course her lame jokes about marriage didn’t help. It’s a wonder he didn’t
    run out the door. What was it he’d said on the phone? That the last time a woman talked to him about marriage
    D:/…/Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.…
    42/176
    3/16/2010
    Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.html
    they’d had to call an ambulance.
    She looked at her watch. It was only nine-thirty. So much for her “date.” In spite of the early hour, she
    yawned. Maybe the problem was that she was exhausted. Meeting new people, seeing the house, having a date
    all in one day was too much for anyone.
    She left the dirty dishes on the table, flipped the switch to turn out the awful kitchen lights, then started
    toward the stairs to go to bed. It was when she passed the back door and heard it click that her heart leaped into
    her throat. Someone was at the door! And he was trying to break in!
    Jocelyn’s mind raced as she tried to remember where her cell phone was. Upstairs. Or was it downstairs?
    She couldn’t remember. Had a landline been hooked up? In the busyness of the day, she’d never even looked
    for a telephone.
    Someone pulled on the door, and she plastered herself against the wall, her heart beating hard. Bending,
    she moved under the window by the door so the intruder couldn’t see her as she crawled past. If she could get
    to the front door before he did, she could get out.
    As she got past the door, she saw a shadow, then the moonlight showed her a figure. He was big. He had
    dark hair. He…
    She stood up straight. It was Ramsey. He must have forgotten something. She grabbed the doorknob and
    pulled it inward—and came face-to-face with Luke.
    “What are you doing?”
    He looked more surprised to see her than she did him. “Checking the doors,” he said. “I thought you might
    forget to lock them, so I—”
    “Sara leaves her door unlocked. I thought this was one of those towns where no one locks their doors.”
    “Don’t kid yourself,” he said, then took a step back. “Look, I’m sorry. There weren’t any lights on, so I
    thought you’d gone to bed.”
    “Were you watching the house?”
    “That’s what I do,” he said. “That’s my job, remember? Weren’t you told about me? Or are you still mad
    about the mustard?”
    She dropped her hostility. “No, I know that was an accident. Would you like to come in and have some
    tea?”
    “With you and Ramsey?”
    “Like you don’t know that he left ten minutes ago,” she said.
    He gave her a crooked smile, then stepped inside. The quilt and the candlesticks were still on the floor,
    along with the chocolate pot and some strawberries. “So did you kick him out?”
    “No, I did not kick him out. He had to go home to work.”
    Bending over, he ran his finger inside the still warm pot, then put his chocolate-covered finger in his mouth.
    “That makes sense. I guess that’s why he went to Tess after he left you.”
    Joce stopped walking and turned to look at him. He had the pot in his hands and was running a strawberry
    through it. “He did what?”
    “Went to see his assistant, Tess. She lives next door. She runs his life.”
    “I’ve already been told that. But he’s there now?”
    “Sure,” Luke said, raising his eyes to hers. “Who told you about Tess? Not Rams, that’s for sure.”
    “What does that mean?” She started for the kitchen again. “Come on,” she said over her shoulder, “and
    bring that if you want.”
    “Thanks,” he said as he followed her, the cord to the pot dragging across the floor. “I thought that maybe
    tomorrow you and I could talk about what you want to do with the garden.”
    “I don’t know anything about gardening.” She was opening cabinet doors, looking for a teapot or tea