Cedar Hollow (4 page)

“Miss St. Claire.” Ben
’s voice came strong and demanding from the other side of the bedroom door.

Cassidy suddenly realized that in her haste to sit up the towel had fallen away leaving her completely exposed and naked, and Ben
Riley was standing just on the other side of an unlocked door. She flushed red and scooped up the comforter pulling it around herself in embarrassment.

“Yes?” She squeaked and mentally kicked herself for sounding so pathetically timid.

“Lucy has prepared dinner, if you’d like to eat.” Ben stated in a slightly softer tone. Then she heard his retreating footsteps as he walked back down the hall.

Quickly she scrambled out of bed and rummaged through her bag for something to wear. She really did need to unpack
, that is, if she was staying. She still hadn’t decided, she hadn’t had time to decide, and she’d really hoped to have a decision before she had to face Ben again.

All of her clothes were horribly wrinkled, so for lack of a better option she re-donned th
e grey skirt and white blouse that she had worn to Mr. Woodard’s office earlier that day. She took her hair down from the sloppy bun that she’d fallen asleep in, but it really was a hopeless mess after having slept with it damp and tied up so haphazardly. Finally after several unsuccessful attempts to smooth out the kinks she just brushed it back into a high pony tail. Feeling horribly overdressed for a casual home cooked meal she opted to leave her heels in her room and padded downstairs barefoot.

The lamp on the side table in her hallway had been lit again, casting a dim glow that led her to the stairs. She looked down into the bleak darkness and felt a sense of foreboding. Why did they keep this house so dark?

She slowly began to descend the staircase into the dark foyer, but hastened her pace on the last few steps not wanting to linger in the shadowy entryway. She hurriedly walked to the kitchen, on the verge of breaking into a jog, and felt an overwhelming sense of relief when she emerged into the brightly lit kitchen.

Ben was seated at the small round kitchen table. He wore a clean pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt. His hair was wet and brushed back from his face and he was freshly shaven. Cassidy hadn’t thought he could get any
more handsome. She had been wrong.

She hesitated in the kitchen doorway feeling awkward, shuffling her bare feet. Mrs. Owens turned from the stove and smiled at her.

“Cassidy, dear, please have a seat.” Mrs. Owens gestured to the small table where Ben sat. Cassidy glanced nervously at him and found him watching her, she quickly looked away and walked to the table avoiding eye contact. It was a small table, not meant to seat more than four, so there really wasn’t a chair that wasn’t close to his. She opted for the one on the opposite side of the small table, which left them face to face.

Mrs. Owens carried a plate of food to the table and set it in front of Cassidy. “I hope you like eggplant
parmesan.” Mrs. Owens smiled kindly down at her.

“It looks wonderful, thank you.” Cassidy answered politely. Truthfully Cassidy had only had eggplant
parmesan once before at a restaurant, she hadn’t been a fan, but it would be horribly rude to admit that now.

“If there isn’t anything else I can get you I think I’ll retire for the night.” Mrs. Owens said sweetly as she picked up a large covered tray.

“You’re not eating with us?” Cassidy asked alarmed.

“No, dear, I take my dinner in my room.” Mrs. Owens explained holding the large tray.

“Oh.” Cassidy hadn’t planned on having to eat alone with Ben, she had counted on Mrs. Owens being there as a buffer.

“Goodnight, Lucy.” Ben said as he picked up his fork and started to dig in.

“Night
, kids.” Mrs. Owens called over her shoulder as she headed up a second flight of stairs at the back of the kitchen. It had been years since Cassidy had been referred to as a kid. She’d been on her own for so long now, it felt strange to have someone taking care of her.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Ben asked gruffly as he continued to devour his meal. Cassidy realized she’d been staring afte
r Mrs. Owens lost in thought.

“Actually I’m starving.” She admitted looking down at her
plate warily. It did look very appetizing. Tentatively Cassidy took a bite.

“Wow, this is amazing!
” She remarked in surprise.

“Just harvested it last week.
Always better fresh.” Ben explained, concentrating on his food and not looking up from his plate. Cassidy felt an odd tension building between them, somewhere between hostility and attraction. Both of them were avoiding eye contact.

“I didn’t realize you had a garden here.”

Ben snorted derisively. “If we didn’t we wouldn’t eat.” He informed her coldly. “Of course I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore if I’m about to be out on my ass.” He challenged finally looking up at her. His eyes burned with hostility. Okay, so maybe the attraction was only on her part.

“Look, I’m sorry for my comment earlier. I was frustrated and overwhelmed, but it was uncalled for. Thank you for the bath.” Cassidy said sweetly trying to ease the tension.

“Whether or not you’re sorry doesn’t change the fact that we’re about to be kicked out of our home, now does it?” Anger radiated off of him, and perversely to Cassidy it only made him more attractive.  

“Look
, I haven’t decided anything yet.” She said defensively, wishing she had her high heels on. They made her braver.

“Yes
, well, we both know how this is going to end, and the longer you take mulling over your decision all you’re really doing is depleting our resources.” Ben shot back at her.

“I can carry my own weight.” Cassidy retorted, offended.
Nobody had been burdened with supporting her since the day she turned eighteen and she wasn’t going to let Mr. Ben Riley make her feel like some sort of free-loader.

“Oh really?”
Ben smirked, and damn if he wasn’t handsome when he smirked. “We’ll see about that.” He smiled cryptically and Cassidy suddenly felt very nervous.

Cassidy looked back down at her plate feeling flushed a
nd having lost her appetite. She picked at her food, her stomach was in knots. She shifted her feet uncomfortably stretching her legs under the table to cross her ankles and her foot brushed his under the table. He was barefoot too. She immediately jerked back as if she’d touched something scalding hot. Ben stiffened at the contact.

“We start early around here.” Ben said standing from the table abruptly and carrying his empty plate to the sink. “Sure hope you packed some pants.” He muttered with his back to her as he washed
and dried his dishes.

Cassidy watched as he put away his dishes and then left the kitchen without another word, retreating up the same steps that Mrs. Owens had used.

She finished her dinner alone and then washed and dried her dishes putting them away just as she had seen Ben do. She hesitated at the threshold of the kitchen. She looked out into the murky foyer and then back at the kitchen stairs. She went through a quick mental debate and then sucked up her courage and sprinted through the dark room and up the front steps, only slowing to a walk once she reached the hall just outside her door. The small table lamp was still lit casting the only illumination on the second floor. She tried to look toward the left wing but all she could see was darkness. She suddenly felt as if she was being watched.

Quickly she entered her room and closed the door behind her, leaning against it and breathing a sigh of relief. This house was seriously getting to her and she had no idea why. She dragged the desk chair back over to the door and propped it under the handle again, for no other reason than it made her feel better.

She changed out of her clothes and slipped on her satin nightgown. She let down her long hair and brushed it out, enjoying the feel of the bristles against her tender scalp. She brushed her teeth and washed the make-up from her face, feeling more at ease as she went through her nightly routines.

By the time she’d climbed into bed she felt absolutely silly for having run up the stairs. She’d never been scared of the dark before, not even as a small child. There was no reason for her to start now.

She tried to slow her thoughts and fall asleep but her mind was racing with everything that had happened. The meeting with Mr. Woodard, the revelations about her uncle’s strange stipulations for inheriting the house, the overwhelming responsibility that came with those stipulations, and Ben Riley. She was dumbfounded by the undeniable attraction she felt for this man who obviously hated her.

As she lay in bed thinking about his scalding green eyes she heard
his heavy footsteps coming down the hallway toward her room. She held her breath and listened. The footsteps got closer, then the light that was coming from under the door went dark and the footsteps receded. Cassidy began breathing again and tried in vain to slow her pounding heart.

Three loud thuds woke her
from a restless sleep. Surely she was dreaming, it couldn’t be time to get up already. It still looked dark outside.

“Miss St. Claire, breakfast.” Ben’s
gruff voice came from the other side of the door then she heard his distinctive footsteps stomping away down the hall.

She sat up groggily rubbing her eyes.
This must be some sort of joke, she thought irritably as she looked at the bedside clock and saw that it was only 4:30 in the morning. She stumbled from bed and pulled the curtains to confirm that the sun still hadn’t risen. She knew what he was doing, trying to get her to admit that she couldn’t keep up with him, couldn’t carry her own weight. Well she’d show him she wouldn’t give up that easily.

She quickly rinsed her face and brushed her teeth, effectively waking herself up. Then she rummaged through her bag looking for something to wear. Ben’s mumbled words from the night before rang in her head “hope you packed some pants.” Of course she hadn’t packed any jeans, not for a weekend business trip. But she did have a pair of black slacks and she supposed those would have to do. She tried to shake the wrinkles out of her white cotton undershirt and then made the spur of the moment decision to unpack. She just couldn’t handle the wrinkles, she reasoned with herself. She could always easily re-pack
when she needed to, she hadn’t brought that much anyway.

There was a small closet that she had found in the bathroom and she hung most of her clothes in there, only placing her undergarments and nightgowns in the drawers of the dresser near the bed. She felt much better when the task was finished, more in control of the situation.
She decided to stick with just the cotton t-shirt and slacks, not knowing what Ben had in store for her today. The real dilemma came when she looked at her shoe selection. She only had heels and she was pretty sure those wouldn’t do.

She wrapped her hair into a tight, efficient bun and applied some light make-up before heading downstairs, barefoot once again. She hoped Mrs. Owens might have a pair of shoes she could borrow.

She passed through the dark entryway quickly and headed straight for the kitchen. She found Ben lounging at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. He looked up expectantly when she entered and examined her from head to toe. She squirmed under his scrutiny, wishing she could control the blush that was rising into her cheeks.

“Like omelets?” Ben questioned.

“Sure.” She agreed smiling. Maybe today they could start fresh without all the animosity.

“Good.” He said standing from the table and picking up a basket which he thrust into her arms. “The chicken coup is through that door and to the
left, we’ll need about ten eggs.” He instructed pointing to the kitchen door, laughter and challenge dancing in his eyes.

“I don’t have any shoes.” Cassidy admitted reluctantly, they both looked down at her bare feet. He looked back up, one eyebrow raised in question. “
I only brought heels. I was hoping Mrs. Owens might have some I could borrow.” She explained feeling foolish.

“
Mrs. Owens doesn’t get up until five.” He told her then turned and walked into a room off the kitchen. He returned shortly carrying a pair of work boots. “You can use these.” He offered handing them to her.

She placed the basket on the table to take the boots. They were huge. She looked back up into his expectant face. He was watching for her reaction, a smile playing around his lips. She glared back and plopped down into a kitchen chair pulling on the boots. She didn’t even have to unlace them to pull them on.

She stood and grabbed the basket then stomped out of the kitchen without another word. She clomped her way across the back yard looking for the chicken coup. The boots were ridiculously large causing her to have to take exaggerated steps. “Mrs. Owens doesn’t get up until five,” she mimicked to herself as she searched for the coup. Apparently she was the only one he felt the need to torture this early in the morning.

She found the coup easily. There was a small door on the front
; she examined it a moment before opening it and crawling inside. Two rows of chickens lined each wall, each chicken sat on a nest. She considered her options for a minute before approaching the first chicken. It eyed her warily. Slowly she reached out toward it wondering if it would allow her to simply reach beneath it and pull out an egg. Apparently not. As soon as her hand was in striking distance the chicken pecked at her viciously, squawking and flapping its wings. The other chickens followed suit and in no time the coup became a mass of swirling feathers, flapping wings and angry chickens.

Fearfully Cassidy covered her face an
d backed out of the coup with images from the movie
The Birds
playing in her head. She scrambled backwards on her hands and knees falling back onto the ground once she was outside. She looked down at the spot of blood on her hand from the vicious chicken. 

She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t return to the house without the eggs, that’s what Ben wanted, but she’d be damned if she
’d crawl back into that coup again and feed herself up to those blood thirsty birds. She wandered around the structure examining it and found that the back wall had two skinny doors on each corner. She opened one and saw that it led to a narrow hall that ran behind the row of chickens. Wire fencing safely separated her from the birds so she entered the aisle. Once inside she noticed the wooden drawers built into the wire wall. She pulled one open and bingo, it was full of eggs. Proudly she reached down and plucked up four eggs putting them in her basket. She moved to the next drawer and found three more, and some more in the one after that.

She sauntered up to the house proudly carrying the eggs. First challenge
completed, she mentally ticked off the scoreboard in her head “Ben 0 Cassidy 1”. She smiled as she entered the kitchen and placed the basket of eggs on the counter. Ben looked up surprised.

“Any trouble
, Miss St. Claire?” He questioned innocently.

“None at all
, Mr. Riley.” Cassidy met his challenge with one of her own. She was determined to show him that she was stronger than he thought.

“Good morning
, children!” Mrs. Owens sang as she came into the kitchen and broke the hostile standoff. “Oh good, you got the eggs! I’ll get started on breakfast right away.” She smiled, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room and immediately began her breakfast preparations.

“Ben, why don’t you get Cassidy a cup of coffee?” Mrs. Owens suggested and grudgingly Ben stood from the table and poured her a cup.

He set the cup of black coffee in front of Cassidy and she looked up at him with a sugary sweet smile. “Cream and sugar please.” She requested coyly.

His eyes narrowed at her request but obligingly he retrieved the cream and sugar and set them in front of her on the table.
She set about making adjustments to her coffee, smiling and feeling quite proud of herself for being a point ahead of him on the mental scoreboard she was keeping.

Mrs. Owens made a wonderful breakfast of veggie filled omelets, again taking hers with her upstairs to eat alone. Cassidy found it odd that Mrs. Owens and Ben didn’t eat together
, but she didn’t comment.

They
ate in silence. As soon as the meal was finished Ben rose from the table and washed the dishes, this time grabbing Cassidy’s empty plate as well. Once the clean dishes were put away he turned to her with that same mischievous grin she’d seen the night before.

“Hope you’re not afraid of a little work
, Miss St. Claire.” He challenged.

“Not at all
, Mr. Riley.”

“Good
. Follow me.” He instructed heading out of the kitchen through the back door. Cassidy clomped after him. Unfortunately Mrs. Owens feet were several sizes smaller than hers so she was forced to wear the ridiculously large clown shoes that Ben had given her.

Ben led her through the backyard, past the dreaded chicken coup and around to the west side of the house. Cassidy couldn’t believe her eyes. An enormous vegetable garden sprawled before her. She’d imagined a small personal garden, this was a veritable farm. Trellises were draped with vines, and rows upon rows of plants of various shapes and sizes extended out in front of her covering several acres of land. Her eyes widened in surprise taking it all in. She hadn’t even realized Ben had left her side until he rejoined her carrying two five-gallon buckets.

“Since you demanded a bath last night the well was emptied filling the hot water tanks.” He informed her coolly. “Which meant no water was left to fill the irrigation system for the gardens.”

“Oh.” Cassidy flushed with embarrassment.

“These troughs are designed to catch rain-water and supply a secondary irrigation system.” He explained
, pointing to the long metal troughs located at the far end of the garden, opposite the large water tanks. “First chore, fill the troughs.” He said smiling and handing her the buckets.

His smile was
sexy and distracting, for a moment Cassidy was lost.

“The well is over there.” He turned from her and pointed to a small well house about an
acre from where they stood.

“If there’s water in the well why do I need to fill the troughs?” Cassidy challenged
suspiciously.

“Because t
he pumps to fill the irrigation system are programmed to run at night. The well was emptied last night, so the tanks didn’t get filled, but the plants still need water today.” He shrugged maintaining a bland expression except for the light that was dancing in his eyes. He was enjoying this.

Cassidy glared at him and snatched the buckets trudging in the direction he’d pointed.
The extra work it took to lug the heavy boots on her feet had her winded by the time she’d reached the well. She examined it closely and saw that there was an old fashioned hand pump next to the well. It was practically medieval.

She placed the first bucket in front of it and began pumping the handle, after a few pumps water flowed from the spigot and filled the bucket. She filled the second bucket and then lifted them both to carry to the troughs. Wow, were they heavy! She had no idea water could weigh so much. She only made it a few steps before she had to put down the bucket she was carrying with her left hand. She used both hands to carry the remaining bucket across the
yard to the troughs.

Her arms were already burning by the time she got there. She hoisted the bucket and poured it into the trough. It barely made a puddle. She looked dejectedly back across the field at the bucket she had abandoned. This was going to take all day.

Slowly and steadily for several hours Cassidy trudged back and forth across the long field carrying buckets of water. She felt like a child clomping along in the too big shoes. Water sloshed all over her as she became more tired and clumsy. Her white shirt was soaked through, her black slacks muddy and ruined. She was sweaty and dirty and miserable. Grudgingly she gave Ben a point on her mental scoreboard.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, s
he took a break to catch her breath and sat down on an overturned bucket. She hadn’t seen Ben since he’d left her to her chore. Irritably she surveyed the gardens trying to find him and see what he’d been doing all morning. The sun was high in the sky now and she had to shade her eyes with her hands as she scanned the fields.

After a moment s
he spotted him in the distance. He’d removed his shirt and she could see his tan muscular back as he bent and worked the soil. His jeans rode low on his hips and she was mesmerized by the way the muscles in his back flexed and moved as he tilled the soil. She sat for quite some time just enjoying the view. Suddenly he stood straighter and turned towards her as if he felt her gaze boring into him.

Quickly she stood gathering up her bucket and hurrying to the well. She felt like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She hastily filled her bucket and began hauling it across the field. Her arms felt numb at this point, her hands burned with blisters. Her legs ached from lugging the heavy boots. But she wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t give up.
She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Ben reached the trough at about the same time she did.
Thankfully he’d put his shirt back on, all those muscles were just too distracting. She didn’t look up at him, she just poured her bucket of water and turned to head back to the well.

“It’s time for lunch.” He told her, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned to face him, putting the empty bucket on the ground at her feet. He was staring into the metal troughs, and his expression was incredulous. She followed his gaze to the nearly full troughs. He hadn’t thought she could do it, she realized. She’d proven him wrong. One point for Cassidy. She smiled as smugly as possible in her exhausted state.

“Is it lunchtime already?” She asked casually.

He smiled a genuine smile and momentarily she forgot that she was supposed to be very irritated with him. He really did have an amazing smile.

“We can keep working if you like.” He challenged, calling her bluff.

“Well if Mrs. Owens is expecting us for lunch…” She trailed off hoping she hadn’t pushed him too far. She needed the break.