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too.” She turned abruptly, her shoulder bumping against his bicep. “The kitchen alone would cost you at least fifty thousand. Then there’s the furnace and air conditioning, and it will also most likely need all new electrical and plumbing.”
    “How much are they asking?”
    Doing her best to tamp down her continuing awareness, Eve showed him the listing information left on the kitchen counter. “One point five million, but that’s too high for the condition of this house.” She led the way up to the second floor. There were four nice-sized bedrooms and two full baths, one off the hall and one off the master bedroom.
    Derek continued to look around with real interest. “What do you think it should be going for?”
    Eve studied the worn carpeting and cramped, outdated bathrooms, the dingy walls and lack of adequate closet space. “One point two million, max. And that’s mostly due to the location.” She turned back to Derek, in full business mode, but found herself temporarily blinded by his brilliant blue eyes. “I’d, uh, be tempted to go in at one point one million, and then let them talk you back to one point two, as the most you would pay. Although, with your time frame, wanting to be in before Christmas, I can’t recommend you take this on.”
    Derek stood, legs braced apart, hands on his waist, still looking around. “Surely you know contractors who would be willing to do whatever it took, particularly if bonus pay was involved.”
    He really was serious. “I do.” Despite herself, Eve began to get excited, too.
    Derek walked around some more, as if dreaming about what a good infusion of cash and a little tender loving care could do for this home. He swung back toward her. “Could you get it done in a week?”
    Good heavens, the man was demanding! But all of a sudden willing to be ambitious, too, Eve straightened her spine and replied, “Maybe two, if we come to terms with the sellers right away, and you’re willing to pay time and a half for the entire job.”
    He shrugged off the problem. “I’m okay with that.”
    They finished looking around the bedrooms and went back downstairs. “Why this house?” she asked curiously, turning off another bank of lights.
    Derek shook his head. He prowled the first floor, his expression thoughtful. “I don’t know. Something about the way it looks. Feels.” He turned to her with a grin, certain now. “I want to put an offer in tonight.”
    Eve studied him. She hated snap decisions when it came to something this important. “You’re sure this is what you want?” she asked finally.
    Derek nodded.
    The light in his eyes, his sheer enthusiasm, were irresistible. Okay, then. They went back to her office again.
    Eve called the other Realtor to let her know an offer was coming in, and then wrote up the contract. She had barely faxed it over when her cell phone rang. Derek’s offer, to take the house as is, without inspection, had been accepted.
    He grinned. “Looks like I just bought myself a house!” he said, wrapping Eve in a warm, Texas-style hug. It was the kind of embrace people gave each other after the winning goal in a football game. Yet the brief expression of exaltation left her tingling and on edge long after they broke apart.
    Eve congratulated Derek again, more formally this time, and then bid him good-night. It was a good thing her business with Derek McCabe was almost over. She was going to have a hard enough time forgetting the powerful attraction she felt for him as it was.
    * * *
    E VE WAS STILL thinking about the congratulatory hug from Derek—and her unprecedented reaction to it—when she went to the hospital the next morning to help with her mother’s transfer.
    As expected, even though the facility was bright and cheerful, Marjorie was less than enthusiastic about her upcoming stay in the cardiac rehab unit.
    “I’d rather just go home,” she grumbled, accepting the bag of comfortable clothing Eve had brought her.
    Aware of