Chapter 5

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       Meriel held the hairbrush high, ready for action, as she reached for the door knob with unsteady fingers. Her head hurt from who knew how many abuses from the night before. Her eyes were burning and probably had sand lodged deep in the corners. To top it all off, she was starving. She'd burned way too much energy over the past couple of days, and the few morsels she'd managed to keep down were long gone. In short, Meriel was not in the mood to entertain at the moment.

       There was no peephole in the door, but there were long, narrow windows on either side of it. All she had to do was take a quick peek. Another knock came while she was working up the courage and she jerked the door open in sheer panic. By the look on his face, she figured the hairbrush had been in mid-swing before her eyes could relay new information to her brain. He seemed to be suppressing a smirk as he gave her a quick head to toe assessment. This was the last person she would have expected to see standing at her door, and in confusion, her arm went slack and the potentially lethal brush fell to the floor.

       "So does this mean that you've changed your mind about lunch?"

       She stared at him with her mouth hanging open, trying to make sense of this new development. Lunch? What time was it? Dylan waited patiently as she tried to find the words to explain herself.

       "How did you find me?" she blurted out.

       A sly grin spread across his face.

       "These coastal towns are pretty small. Everyone knows everything around here." He shrugged. "I only had to ask a few people about a dark-haired beauty who was new in the area and they pointed me in the right direction."

       "What are you doing here?" she asked as she subconsciously pulled her robe tighter.

       The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, but he recovered quickly and held up a large wicker basket for her inspection. Lifting the lid to let her look inside released a variety of tantalizing scents. He cleared his throat and she pulled herself back just before losing her balance and falling head first into the delicious offering.

       "We had a lunch date, remember?"

       She shook away the hunger that was starting to cloud her better judgement.

       "You said you were going to call," she reminded him.

       "I tried, several times. Just kept going to voicemail." He flipped the lid of the basket closed and stared back at her innocently. She thought of her blinking phone and wondered for the second time how late she'd slept. As though reading her thoughts, he continued.

       "It's just after two in the afternoon. I was actually starting to get a little concerned."

       Her eyes narrowed slightly as she considered him. There was something off about him being here, but she couldn't quite focus enough to put her finger on it. Yesterday just looking at Dylan had been enough to set her heart to racing. Now here he was on her front porch, same rougish good looks as the last time, and she was giving him the third degree. Her head was starting to pound again and as a result, her manner turned a bit sharper than she had intended.

       "Why would you think I needed help? Maybe I was just ignoring you."

       For a moment his congenial mask slipped and she thought she could see cold fury lurking just beneath the surface, but it was gone so quickly that she thought it could have been her imagination running away with her again. Pain and hunger were probably beginning to make her a bit delirious.

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