“The kitchen.” Her voice squeaked.
He nodded and turned away. She trailed him past the staircase with refinished balustrade and steps. The dining room on the opposite side of the entry looked much like the living room, except a built-in buffet filled much of one wall. That wood, too, had been stripped and lovingly refinished to a fine gloss.
Cait felt as if she’d wandered into a house of mirrors. Noah had said he was remodeling a house, but she hadn’t really envisioned it. The work this had taken had to be monumental. And the house itself was so…traditional. If she’d had to guess on meeting him, she would have seen him in a place like Colin’s: beautiful but modern, simple. Noah seemed like a man who’d demand the best but not be that interested in his surroundings. Instead, he was creating this gorgeous home with his own labor. And love. It had to be.
He wasn’t quite who she’d thought he was. Pieces didn’t fit.
“I ended up painting the kitchen cabinets,” he said, stepping aside so she could pass him. “Maybe I should have hired a cabinetmaker to build new ones, but, uh…” His big shoulders moved in a shrug. “I was trying to stick to the original.”
She could see his problem. Additional cabinets seemed to have been added as the years passed and housewives were dissatisfied with the lack of storage and counter space. He’d unified what must have looked like a mishmash with a soft gray-blue paint that contrasted with the same creamy white wall color, a tiled backsplash and warm wood floors.
“It’s perfect,” she declared, feeling this weird discomfort inside because, well, if she ever had a home she wanted it to be exactly like this. She stayed with her back to him, pretending to keep looking around, so he wouldn’t see the yearning she suspected her face would betray.
Beyond the kitchen proper was a more informal dining space she guessed had begun life as a glassed-in porch. In daylight hours, it would look right out at the river.
“Do you want to see the upstairs?” he asked, voice a notch huskier.
Cait’s stomach tightened.
No. Thanks, but I should be getting going.
She managed an almost casual smile and turned to face him. “Is that the ‘before’?”
“Something like that.” His eyes were dark and unreadable. His very stillness sent a shock of awareness through her body.
“Then…sure.” Oh, heaven help her—her voice was husky, too.
He turned and led the way, but at the foot of the stairs he gestured for her to go first. Cait climbed, pricklingly conscious of him behind her.
At the top she glanced into the first open door and saw…“Before,” she murmured.
“Yeah.” He spoke from so close behind her, she swore she could feel his breath on her nape. “Haven’t touched this room yet.”
Wallpaper with some sort of paisley print had aged to olive-green and mustard-yellow. The wood floor was scuffed and scarred.
Across the hall was what had once been a child’s bedroom. Now yellowed wallpaper decorated with rocking horses hung in tatters. She paused in that doorway, feeling sad.
“Every damn room in the house was papered,” Noah said behind her. “Halls, bathrooms, even some ceilings. Someone went way overboard on the wallpaper.”
As disgruntled as he sounded, she couldn’t help a giggle. “It can be pretty, you know,” she said, turning.
He was smiling, but his eyes were still darker than usual. “In moderation.”
“In a child’s room,” she heard herself say. “Are you going to keep this one as a nursery?”
A muscle jumped on one side of his jaw. “Do I look like father material?”
“You could be.”
He grunted and looked past her into the room, as if seeing it anew. “This house has four bedrooms plus the library downstairs. Five bedrooms before I just tore out a wall.”
It was a family house. He must have known that when he bought it. And yet his expression suggested he wasn’t happy with the reminder.
“You don’t…want a family?” she asked tentatively.
“I can’t see myself.” But he was frowning, his face tight.
After hesitating another moment, she slipped past him. She was getting perilously near to his bedroom, but she was past resisting temptation.