Chapter Ten
The sun in her face woke Elizabeth. She frowned and stirred, knowing instantly she wasn’t in her own bed.
A deep breath reminded her she was at Hex’s as the scents of leather, motor oil, and him assailed her nose.
She remembered lying on the sofa last night, then nothing else.
He must have moved her to a bed. Eyes still closed she stretched out one hand but found the bed empty.
The hope she’d been harboring fell. He must have put her in the guest room. Not that she could complain. He’d done so much, given her so much. Maybe he thought that was what she would want? It wasn’t like she’d been awake to tell him she wanted him to hold her.
Well, there was no point in lying around like this.
There were a lot of things that needed to be done.
She would need to deal with Mama and Michael, not to mention all the details of the wedding that didn’t happen.
Well, it did and it didn’t, she reminded herself.
She didn’t even want to think about the gifts that would need to be sent back.
With a sigh she opened her eyes and sat up.
Looking down at herself, she realized she was still wearing the night shirt and sweats she’d put on in the hotel the night before.
As she scooted to the edge of the bed, she took in the room for the first time and realized that Kevin hadn’t put her in the guest room.
This was his room. He’d brought her to his bed.
It made more sense that it smelled so much like him, though she imagined the other sheets would too since he likely washed them with his clothes.
But where was he?
Getting up, she used the facilities then went in search of Kevin.
She wandered the house, not finding him, but she did find that the coffee pot was hot, with about a quarter of a pot left.
After a sniff to see if it had scorched, she opened the cabinet above the pot and found a collection of insulated travel cups, but no mugs.
She opened a few more cabinets, assuming they must be somewhere else, but didn’t find them.
Finally, she gave up and pulled down one of the insulated cups, filled it and turned off the warmer since she’d drained the pot.
It took her a moment, but she found the sugar bowl, then made do with the milk in the fridge instead of her favorite creamer.
If she was staying very long, she’d have to see about getting some, but she could manage a day or two without it.
Taking the cup, she wandered around for a moment, noticing that it was a little after six. Where had Kevin gone so early? If she hadn’t woken up in his bed, she might have assumed he’d never made it back last night.
Elizabeth shook her head. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep like that or that she’d slept hard enough not to have woken when he moved her.
At the front door she peeked out and found someone she didn’t know sitting on the porch, as if he lived there and sat there all the time.
With a frown she went to open the door and found it locked.
Curiouser and curiouser. The man on the porch twisted around and looked at the door as she turned the lock on the door, then opened it.
“Good morning. I take it you’re Elle?” said a young-looking man, younger than her at least.
“Elizabeth,” she corrected automatically. Kevin was the only one who had ever called her Elle, and she liked it that way, but that this guy knew it meant that Kevin had at least mentioned her to him. “Can I ask what’s going on?”
“Hex got called to the clubhouse, I don’t know why, but he told me to sit here and make sure no one that’s not part of the club comes near.”
She frowned. “Who are you?”
“Oh, sorry.” He stood, rubbing the palms of his hands against his jeans.
That’s when she noticed he wore a leather vest like Kevin did, but there was something different about it.
She tilted her head as she looked at it and realized it looked …
naked. There was only one patch on the back, where Kevin’s had three, and the one he did have said Prospect.
“I’m Nathan. I’m a prospect.” He held out one hand in her direction.
She took his hand and shook it once.
“Nice to meet you, Nathan. You need more coffee?” She tilted her head toward the travel mug sitting on a small table next to where he’d been sitting.
He glanced that way, then back to her. “I’d love some. I finished what I had about an hour ago, but wasn’t going to leave my post to get more.”
“Grab your cup and come on in. There’s no point in you sitting out here now that I’m up.
I’ll put on another pot then we can figure out what to do next while we wait for Kevin to come back.
” She turned and went back inside without waiting for Nathan to reply, but leaving the door open for him as she went back to the kitchen to start more coffee.