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place. In the summer, I can usually manage almost a month here.”
    “A whole month? That sounds marvelous.” She glanced behind him to where the fire burned brightly in the lovely fireplace, the reddish light giving the gleaming wood floor and comfortable furniture a warm glow. “This is a lovely retreat. Time to myself is also a luxury I don’t have.”
    She was intruding on his time that was for certain.

    34
    Kate Watterson
    “Take it from me, you have to make it for yourself,” he told her with an ironic lift of one dark brow. “I could work twenty-four hours a day if I wanted to, but I refuse to burn out before I’m forty.”
    “That’s probably good advice.” Kerin reached for her third glass of wine, knowing it was a little dangerous to mix stress, fatigue, and alcohol, but not concerned enough to keep from taking another sip. In retrospect, now that she had relaxed a little, she realized that she couldn’t be safer than where she was right at this moment. The roads were impassable. Her cell phone and beeper didn’t work. She was entirely isolated from the world except for the very intriguing, attractive Mr. McCutcheon.
    He smiled, showing the gleam of his white, even teeth. “If you notice, I don’t even have a television, Dr. Smith. If you want to unwind, the place to do it is a North woods cabin where there is nothing to do but eat, sleep, fish a little, and enjoy the quiet.”
    Kerin smiled back. “A man without a television? You must be a new species. And I’ll keep the advice in mind if you will please call me Kerin.”
    For someone who didn’t cook much, he had a nicely outfitted kitchen. Rummaging around to find a pan for the pasta, she found the cupboards as neat and tidy as the rest of the place, which gave her another bit of insight into his personality. He liked order, she decided, lifting out a suitable pot. Control was something she understood pretty well, since she was a bit of a freak about it herself. Maybe that’s why her current situation had her so rattled.
    He helped her find the spaghetti noodles, sorting through a well-stocked pantry loaded with canned goods, probably against just such an emergency. While the pasta cooked and the sauce simmered, he got out plates and silverware and opened a second bottle of wine.
    Instead of sitting at the counter, he suggested they sit by the fire, and when the sauce and pasta were done, they both took their plates and sat on the floor, using the low coffee table as an impromptu casual place to eat.

    Blindsided 35
    Legs folded under her, Kerin sat down, the delicious smell of the food mingling with the comforting scent of the fire. He sat across, the dancing light reflecting off the planes and hollows of his face, highlighting the clean cut symmetry of his features. How on earth he’d never married, Kerin wasn’t sure. Whether it was the wine or her current state of relative safety after so many weeks of fear, she was sure he was one of the most attractive men she had ever met. What’s more, he also seemed polite and intelligent, which was a combination that simply didn’t happen often in nature in her opinion.
    If the circumstances were different, she would definitely consider Jesse McCutcheon in a romantic way. No woman with a breath in her body wouldn’t.
    Why the hell she was thinking about that was a mystery, because her life was in chaos, but it was a relief to actually feel some emotion besides apprehension and dread.
    “That was wonderful,” he remarked as he took a last bite, his plate clean. His tone was sincere and his smile a slow, rueful curve of his mouth. “As if you can’t tell, I liked it. If I hadn’t happened on your car, I would be eating chili out of a can or something from the freezer.
    Would you like more wine, Kerin?”
    She only known him…what, a few hours? The sound of her name, said in his deep voice, made a small quiver of excitement clench in her stomach. The way he said it seemed intimate and warm,