Guarding Raine Part 3

deal with that phobia.

This man was different, though.

He caused more than nerves, he forced.

an awareness of him.

She didn't recognize it, couldn't identify it, but it was there,

nonetheless.

And the unfamiliarity of that feeling heightened her confusion.

You are certainly in a state today, she scolded herself.

Without a second thought, she took two large steaks from the freezer

and set them in the microwave to thaw.

It was easy to see that her customary light dinner of a salad or soup wouldn't go far in filling Mac up.

She snuck a glance at him.

He'd helped himself to one of the beers languis.h.i.+ng in the back of her

refrigerator, and he was watching her over the top of the bottle.

Those cool, pale eyes seemed to look right through her, as if he could read her apprehension and divine his part in its origin.

That steady gaze of his was positively unnerving.

"So," what's your real name? " she blurted, trying to distract him.

Waiting for his answer, she took out the steaks, seasoned them and set

them under the broiler before readying some potatoes to bake.

He c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her.

"You think I'm using an alias?"

With a quick smile, she shook her head.

"No, I mean, what's Mac short for?"

"What makes you think it's short for anything?"

he countered.

She put the potatoes in the microwave, set the timer and began to fix a

salad.

"Because I can't imagine any mother in her right mind holding a newbornbaby in her arms, looking down at him lovingly and calling him Mac."At his silence she glanced at him."Is it a secret?"Her light tone belied her interest.He surprised her and himself by answering reluctantly."My full name is Macauley. I go by Mac.""Macauley,"she repeated softly, pausing in her preparations for a moment."Macauley O'Neill. Sounds like a poet."His lips twisted with something that could not pa.s.s for a smile."Hardly."She had the food on the table a short time later, and Mac tasted the steak cautiously.

She was watching him with amus.e.m.e.nt in her odd-colored eyes, and he knew she recognized his wariness.

Finding the steak edible, .

he dug in.

Actually, despite Sarah's remark, the meal wasn't bad, he thought

judiciously.

Of course, it was hard to ruin a steak or potato, and his appet.i.te hardly ran to the finicky.

He'd had to exist too long on field rations to be difficult to please, even after four years out of the military.

Mac made no.

attempt at conversation during the meal, and after a few stilted efforts, Raine, too, fell silent.

She watched as he ate with swift, economical movements.

Something told her that he wasn't used to sharing a meal with another person.

That much, at least, they had in common.

When Mac had finished eating.

and had declined the rest of her steak, she carried her plate off the

table.

He surprised her by doing the same, setting his plate down on thecounter.She shot him a surprised smile."Thanks. You're handy to have around.""I intend to be,"he informed her."And I may as well get started. I'd like to get my things unloaded before dark."

She blinked.

"You mean to leave some equipment here?"

Shrugging, she said, "Sure, I guess so. You can put everything in the

garage. It can be locked."

"It can also he unlocked pretty easily,"

he said.

"Along with just about every other door and window on your property. As

a matter of fact, Miss Michaels, I'd say you're in desperate need of my

services. This house isn't the least bit secure."

Setting the dishes in the dishwasher and wiping off the counter, she agreed evenly, "Obviously I've reached a similar conclusion myself, or you wouldn't be here.

So tell me, Mr. O'Neill, just what are you going to recommend, how much is it going to cost me, and how long will it take to get done?"

He watched her move gracefully around the kitchen.

H~r words were very bottom-line, and completely at odds with the attack of nerves he'd observed earlier.

"Oh, I think most of it will be pretty painless stuff. We'll have toreplace the doors completely, as well as all the locks, and set up anew alarm system. That will include new gla.s.s in all the windows,"

~-he added, "because they'll need to have alarm wires running through

them, too."

She didn't react until he spoke of the windows, and then she looked up, instantly wary.

"I bought this place for the view, and I won't have that spoiled. If

you're going to recommend bars over the windows, you can forget it."

Security bars were common in the larger cities of California, but Raine wouldn't consider them.

Their sight always left her uncertain whether they worked to keep

others or made prisoners of those inside.

It wasn't until she'd mentioned the bars that Mac realized he hadn't planned to suggest them, He barely knew this woman, yet he'd instinctively known she'd refuse the idea.