Page 39 of Renard's Deliverance

She shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

“I don’t like that.”

Yeah. She didn’t like it either. “Must have been faulty or something.”

He raised his eyebrow in disbelief. Not that she blamed him. She had trouble believing that herself.

“Who took the rest of it down?” he asked. “It can’t have all been on the ground.”

“Oh, I did.”

“How the hell did you reach it without a stepladder?”

“Uh, by using a kitchen chair, of course.”

He started muttering something to himself and she felt sure she heard him say something about foolish women and breaking her neck.

But that couldn’t be right.

“Hey, you were the one that insisted on doing this,” she told him grumpily. “You can’t complain about me not having the right tools for you.”

“That is not what I’m complaining about and you know it. Complaining that you were foolish enough to climb onto a chair instead of using a stepladder. Don’t you know that you could have slipped off? Please tell me that you didn’t do that in those heels.”

“Honey, I do everything in heels,” she drawled. “And as you can see, I’m fine so there’s no need to get your knickers in a twist. I didn’t fall over, didn’t hurt myself. These aren’t even my highest ones.”

He just grunted.

But she could hear the disapproval in that grunt.

“Where’s the chair?” he demanded.

* * *

Damn woman.

What was she playing at? She needed to learn to let other people help her. There was no need for her to do everything when he was here.

Calm down.

She’s not your woman.

You don’t even want a woman, remember?

But for some reason, this one was getting under his skin. He’d thought he’d never be interested in another woman after Mary-Anne left him. She’d ripped out his fucking heart and left a ticking time bomb in its place.

And he’d vowed that no one else would be able to hurt him that way. Love and relationships and all that bullshit weren’t worth it.

So why did he care if this fool woman broke her fucking neck climbing up onto a chair to change a fucking light?

He didn’t.

Liar.

“I’ll go get it.”

She was gone before he could protest that he’d get it. When she returned, he was frowning.

“Thanks. Stay over there. Out of the way.”

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