“It also has bats. I see them flying in and out at dusk.”

“It’s too cold now for bats.”

“They’re snug in their beds up in your rafters,” he said, entering the cabin.

Jo stepped inside and set her box on the rough wood floor next to her duffel bag, which she’d already hauled from her car. She wasn’t that sure what all she’d packed. Frustrated, aggravated, anxious to get out of Washington as fast as she could, she’d tossed together clothes, reading material and leftovers with little thought to what she’d need.

Elijah put the flowers on the small drop-leaf table near the window overlooking the lake. Three of her colleagues who’d stayed in the cabins in October had referred to the decor as early junkyard, but they’d enjoyed the setting-the woods, the lake, the hills. They’d hiked, fished, gone canoeing, read books in the quiet.

That was before Jo’s bad week. She doubted any of her fellow Secret Service agents would head to Vermont anytime soon, even if she did fix up the cabins.

She avoided looking at the iron four-poster bed in the alcove-it was the same bed she and Elijah had found so useful fifteen years ago.

“How long are you planning to stay?” he asked.

“Until the dust settles in Washington.”

Jo bent down and grabbed the bananas from the top of her box. How long would she be here? As she stood up straight again, she tried not to wince in front of Elijah, a matter of personal pride, but she knew she’d failed.

“Still hurting?” he asked with no detectable amusement or sarcasm.

“Not really.”

“Baking soda and water might help.”

Now she detected a note of amusement and sarcasm. “Thanks. I’m fine.”

She had heard every conceivable homemade remedy in the past seventy-two hours, ever since she’d fallen victim to a prank orchestrated by the sixteen-year-old son of the vice president of the United States. Charles Preston Neal was a notorious handful. He had invited his cousins and friends over to the madhouse that was the vice president’s residence for an elaborate simulated firefight with realistic-looking fake weapons. Jo was assigned to Marissa Neal, the eldest of Charlie’s four older sisters, who lived nearby and was there for a visit.