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Chester.”
    “I offered him several hundred dollars for it,” Luke said. “But he said it absolutely was not for sale.”
    Cassie laughed. “No. He’s become quite attached to it.”
    “That’s why I came out to the festival that day. He told me who you were and that you had a lot of little critters for sale.” Luke met her eyes then, and Cassie got warm all over from her stare. “But I fell in love with your eagle. I never even looked at your smaller carvings.”
    “I feel something for eagles, I think,” Cassie said. “They’re my favorite subject, by far. So powerful, their stare so intense,” she said quietly. She turned and followed Luke’s gaze to the eagle standing guard by the windows.
    “I would love to see the one you’re working on now,” Luke stated. “The one in flight.”
    “I’ve finished it,” Cassie said. “Though it will be difficult to part with. I want someone to have it who loves it for what it is. I don’t want someone to just fork over a bunch of money and put it on disŹplay somewhere because it looks good.”
    Luke laughed. “All artists are the same. I’ve become that way myself. At first, I would design a home just as ordered, plowing down all the trees and making a nice, flat area to build. But I can’t do that anymore. Homes should blend with the environment and
     
    be a part of the land and add to it, not merely sit upon it as if they’re some sterile structure that doesn’t really belong there.”
    “What was the house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed? Falling waterfall something or other?”
    Luke stared at her again. “Fallingwater,” she said. “1936, in Pennsylvania. Totally unbelievable. He was the master, of course. But that house is what inspired me to design as I do. In the summer, when the leaves are all out, you can hardly tell there is a house there. It’s built nearly on top of the waterfall, and it appears the water is coming right out of the house.”
    Cassie smiled. “You love your work,” she stated.
    “Yes. As do you.”
    Cassie again felt warm from her stare, and she had to look away. She carried her bowl to the sink, just now noticing how dark it was outside, but the rain had slowed to a steady drizzle.
    “I think the storm’s let up,” she said.
    “Yes,” Luke said from directly behind her. Cassie jumped, starŹtled. She had not heard Luke get up. Cassie turned, their arms brushing and Cassie’s skin burned where they had touched. She moved away as Luke set her own bowl in the sink.
    “I can run you home, if you like. Or you can sleep here, and I’ll take you to get your van in the morning,” she suggested.
    “Oh, I couldn’t,” Cassie said quickly. “I’ve imposed enough.”
    Luke watched her intently. “You really are scared of me, aren’t you?”
    Cassie swallowed. “Of course not,” she lied. But yes, she was afraid. Afraid of Luke, afraid of herself. Afraid that this time, she wouldn’t be able to ignore this attraction? Afraid? How about terrified?
    “Okay. Let’s see if we can get you home, then.”
    Cassie sighed with relief. The sooner she left her company, the better. Her relief was short-lived, however. The tiny creek they had to cross, normally just flowing at a snail’s pace, was now a raging river out of its banks and Luke’s headlights locked on the rushing water as it flowed across the road, carrying small limbs and branches with it.
     
    “Wow!”
    “Shit,” Cassie murmured. “I didn’t realize it had rained that much.”
    Luke turned in her seat and Cassie could see her smile in the soft glow of the lights. “Well, guess I’m stuck with you for the night.”
    Cassie clutched her neatly folded shorts and T-shirt to her and watched as Luke carefully turned them around and headed back to her house. Cassie stared straight ahead, not daring to look at this woman whose nearness affected her so.
    She sat on the rug beside the fire and watched quietly as Luke stirred the logs, sending sparks up the