Sudden Pleasures by Bertrice Small

take care of you. I’ll be home a little after four. He’ll answer any questions you may have about the house.” She managed to get past him. “Have a good day, Ryan.” And she hurried off.
    He made himself comfortable on the porch looking out at the blue bay sparkling in the bright June morning. He had made her nervous. Despite her misadventures she was obviously a very proper lady. Interesting. She was past thirty, a businesswoman, and had, in her own words, some small experience with men, but she was basically shy. Was it the situation in which they found themselves? Or was Ashley good at what she did, but clueless where relationships were concerned? He was one to talk, Ryan thought wryly. A discreet cough caused him to look up and find Byrnes standing there.
    “Mrs. Byrnes thought that you had probably not had breakfast before you departed town this morning, sir. She’s prepared you a small repast. If you will follow me to the breakfast room I’ll bring it to you.”
    “Why, that’s most kind,” Ryan said, standing up and trailing after Byrnes. A breakfast room, no less, he thought as he entered the small room with its cheerful bright yellow-and-white striped walls. He allowed Byrnes to seat him, and then smiled as a plump woman appeared to put a plate before him. This, he concluded, was Mrs. Byrnes. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said. “It looks most delicious.”
    “I gave you some of my fresh-baked blueberry muffins,” she replied.
    He looked up at her with a smile. “They smell wonderful, Mrs. Byrnes, but there was no need to go to such trouble for me. I would have been happy with a bowl of Apple Jacks,” Ryan told her.
    “Not in this house!” Martha Byrnes said emphatically. “In my kitchen we cook. Breakfast, sometimes lunch, and always dinner. Now, you eat up while it’s hot.”
    He grinned at her and obeyed her directive. It was almost like having Angelina around, he thought. And then he realized that if the Byrneses were this caring of a stranger, then Ashley certainly hadn’t suffered growing up. It was reassuring.

    Ashley had sped into the village and parked her car behind Lacy Nothings. It was almost nine thirty. From the traffic on Main Street she could see it would be a busy day, and it was. From the moment she had opened the shop for business the little bell over the front door hadn’t stopped ringing. By twelve thirty things had slowed down, and she was just drawing a sigh of relief when she heard the jangle of the bell again. Turning, she saw Ryan entering the shop with a small basket.
    “Mrs. B. thought we might enjoy having a bit of lunch together,” he said. “Where should we eat?”
    “We can go back into my office, if you don’t mind,” Ashley replied. “I don’t like to leave the shop even for lunch. A lot of people shop during that hour.” She led the way into the tiny office, taking the basket from him to set it upon her desk. “Sit.” She pointed to the chair behind her desk, seating herself in the chair opposite the desk. “It’s easier for me to get out if the bell rings,” she explained. Also my desk chair is bigger, and you’re a pretty big guy.”
    All over , he thought wickedly as he folded himself into her chair. Now, what the hell made him think that? he wondered. Why was he getting sexual thoughts about Ashley? But he was. From underneath his dark eyelashes he was considering how she would look in a fuchsia lace bra and bikini bottom, like the one on the plastic dummy in her shop window. That rich purple-pink on her pale skin would be dynamite.
    “Chicken salad,” Ashley said, handing him a sandwich on a paper plate. “Mrs. B. already likes you. She doesn’t do her chicken salad for just anyone.”
    He had gained a glimpse of her full breasts when she had bent over to hand him the sandwich. She appeared to be wearing a plain white silk bra, but nonetheless it was so sexy that he had wanted to lean forward and lick her skin. He closed his eyes