Lowering the smart phone, she glared at the number.
Piedmont’s Pizza.
“Since when did you begin using the phones at pizza houses?” Mockery filled her voice and she knew it.
A chuckle rasped across her senses. Even through the phone lines it had the power to weaken her knees.
“For some unknown reason my caller ID refuses to behave properly,” he drawled. “Perhaps they had the number before me.”
Yeah. Okay. She’d let him get away with it, but she was highly dubious of the explanation.
“What do you want?” She tried for a vein of irritation in her voice, but she couldn’t help the fact that she was pleased he’d called.
And she shouldn’t be. He was bad news and she knew it, especially where her determination to hold on to the secret of her upcoming trip was concerned.
She’d wanted to tell him so badly—him more than anyone else, she was beginning to think.
“I want to know what you’re up to, of course.” His voice lowered, the question carrying an interesting sexual connotation.
Or did she just want to imagine there was something sexual there?
“What do you think I’m up to?” she countered, rather than denying the statement.
He was like her brother: He’d never believe an instant denial. It was their mind-set or something. They knew the sound of a denial in truth and in deception. And Piper wasn’t much of a liar.
She much preferred simple evasion.
“What do I think you’re up to?” Amusement filled his voice.
The sound of it had a smile tugging at her lips.
“Yeah, what do you think I’m up to?” she repeated. “Surely you have an opinion on what it could be.”
He was fun to talk to; she’d known that years ago, after he’d first taken up residence at the inn.
“Sweetheart, when it comes to a Mackay, it could be anything and everything,” he drawled.
“You’re talking about my sisters, not me,” she surmised playfully, though her tone was completely serious. “I’m the quiet Mackay, remember?”
She almost gave in to a light laugh at his disbelieving snort. “Quiet one? Nah, you’re just the sneaky one.”
She shook her head at him as she began folding her silk-and-lace panties and bras and placing them in the small suitcase.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed asleep?” she asked as she noticed the time was well after midnight. “I thought you worked on Mondays?”
“Inspections tomorrow,” he told her. “My foreman and the job supervisor know what they’re doing. I think I’ll take the day off.”
Oh, great. Just what she needed: Jedediah suspicious and possibly keeping an eye on her.
“The job is near completion then?” His company, along with several others, was building the new industrial office park and warehouses outside of town. Jed’s family’s company, Booker and Son’s Construction, had won the bid to build several of the huge industrial buildings.
“About halfway,” he answered her. “You get to put up with me another couple of years whether you like it or not.”
“I think Mom has adopted you,” Piper reflected as she carefully folded one of the frilly skirts and its matching bag that she’d made into the luggage next. “You’ve been here since the inn opened.”
“Yeah, and she gave us a hell of a deal for the long term,” he agreed.
“I’ll tell her to consider raising the rent,” she threatened, holding back her own laughter as his chuckle echoed across the line.