The woman gave orders like a general.

“One of us should stay with you,” Sara said.

“Why? I’m not going anywhere.”

Sara exchanged a look with Reece as she pushed to her feet, and tried not to smile. Miss Greer must not be in too bad a shape if she could still be ornery.

Sara had only been in Miss Greer’s bedroom a couple of times in all the years she had worked there. Her landlady was intensely private. The room was as neat and clean as a monk’s cell. Sara hunted around until she found an overnight case on the top shelf of the closet.

She reached for it, but it was a few inches too high.

“Let me get that.” Reece came up behind her and stretched his arms over her head, easily reaching the case. She felt the heat of his body almost, but not quite, touching her back, and her skin tingled with awareness.

Whether he meant to or not, he’d tempted her since he and his two cousins had moved into the B and B a few weeks ago to deal with an inheritance from their uncle.

Reece handed her the small, cloth-covered case. “Here you go. Do you know where her purse is?”

Sara looked around. “Ah. Hanging on the hook on the back of the door.”

She opened the dresser and haphazardly filled the suitcase with nightgowns, underwear and socks, because Miss Greer’s feet were always cold, even in summer. Reece, the fake alligator purse clutched between his large hands, watched her.

“What?” she said. “You think I’m doing it wrong?”

“She might like her clothes folded.”

“You think I should fold Miss Greer’s underwear?”

“She obviously likes things neat. Maybe you should pack a robe, too. And a toothbrush.”

“You want to do this?” she asked Reece, who seemed not entirely comfortable amid all the accoutrements of an old lady. He looked excruciatingly out of place surrounded by cabbage roses, lace doilies and the faint scent of violet water.