Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 1-16

by Force, Marie

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t be happy to see me here.”

  “What? Why would you think that for one second?”

  “Because this is your world, not mine. I felt like I might be intruding.”

  “Grace… My world is you and me together in our little place on the island. This,” he said, gesturing to the fancy suite Buddy had arranged for him, “is not my world.”

  “It could be,” she said tentatively. “People are talking. You’ve got a huge hit with the song, and I read online that you’re the next big thing. The Grand Ole Opry even wants you!”

  “So what?”

  Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “So what? Are you insane? This is what you’ve worked for your whole life! And you don’t care?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “It’s the Grand. Ole. Opry. Evan.”

  “The Opry ain’t got nothing on you, babe.”

  “What does that mean?”

  How to explain what he didn’t understand himself? “I love the music. You know I do. It’s in my DNA, the same way my family is. It’s who I am.”

  “It’s what you need to be happy.”

  He shook his head. “Not anymore, Gracie. You’re what I need to be happy, and I can’t bear to be away from you for weeks at a time. These last few weeks were excruciating.”

  “They were for me, too, but we got through it, didn’t we?”

  “This time. If I stay on this path, I’ll be gone more than I’ll be home. That’s not how I want to live. I don’t want to live without you by my side every day, with weeks at a time apart. I can’t handle it.”

  “I’ve been thinking.” She pursed her lips the way she did when she had something on her mind. It was one of many adorable things he loved about her.

  “What’ve you been thinking about?”

  “I could sell the pharmacy.”

  He was shaking his head from the word sell. “No way. That’s your dream, and it matters every bit as much as my dreams do.”

  “Hear me out before you say no.”

  Only because she had something she needed to get off her chest did he sigh and relax into the pillows, prepared to listen and then say no again.

  “It’s the only pharmacy on the island, which makes it extremely valuable. Someone will buy it. We’d make money on the sale, even after I pay off what I still owe the Golds.”

  “And what will you do with yourself while I’m on the road?”

  “I’ll be with you. That’s more important to me than anything else, even the pharmacy.”

  He reached up to caress her sweet face, staring at her because he could, because he’d missed her so damned much while he’d been away from her.

  “Evan. You’re staring. Say something.”

  “I love you so much. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything like this for myself, and I’ve had some pretty wild dreams.”

  Her face softened into a smile that made her eyes sparkle. “I feel the exact same way about you. I don’t want to spend weeks away from you, but I also don’t want you to wake up someday and wish you’d taken the next step to find out what happened after you finally had a hit record. We’re young, unencumbered—except for the pharmacy—and free to do whatever we want for a few years until we have kids that we’ll want to raise at home with our family. I could even hire a pharmacist to run the place for me for a few years, and you could pay Josh to run the studio. We’d have jobs to come home to when we’re ready.”

  “You’re serious about this.”

  “I’m so serious. You can’t not do this, Ev. You have to go for it. Our song is on the charts. Don’t you want to know what happens next?”

  “Sort of.” He’d never admit how often he’d had that very thought, but knowing it wasn’t an option for them, he hadn’t allowed it to flourish. Until now.

  “Will you think about it?”

  “Yeah, I will, since you make it all sound so easy.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be easy, but it is doable. I spent a lot of time thinking about it while you were gone, and at some point, it occurred to me that we’re both self-employed. There’s no reason we can’t make some changes that’ll allow us to take this ride together rather than apart. I don’t want to be apart from you.”

  “I don’t want that either. It’s hell.”

  “If I’m with you, then you can relax and enjoy it and come home to me every night rather than an empty hotel room.”

  “I’m very, very tempted, my amazing Grace.”

  “Let’s do it, Evan. Let’s just do it.”

  He shifted so he was on top of her and gathered her into his arms as he entered her slowly and carefully, knowing she had to be sore after the voracious night they’d spent together. But no matter when he reached for her, she was ready for him, which was another thing he adored about her.

  Sighing with pleasure, she raised her hips in encouragement. “You took me quite literally.”

  Chuckling, he kissed her neck and nibbled at her skin. “Oh, so you didn’t mean this when you said we should do it?”

  Smiling up at him, Grace wrapped her arms around him as he lost himself in her. She’d given him a lot to think about, but right now, all he could think about was her and how amazing it felt to make love to her.

  Chapter 4

  After a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, Linda saw to the dishes while Mac went outside to shovel snow off the deck. She rinsed soapy water off her hands, revealing the dazzling new ring from her husband. He was still bowling her over, like he had from the beginning when he’d swept her off her feet with his certainty that they belonged together. It had taken her a little longer to catch up with him, but once she had, she’d never looked back.

  She kept an eye on the weather and the whitecaps in the Salt Pond, hoping against hope that Evan, Grace, Adam and Abby would make it back to the island in time for the party she and Mac weren’t supposed to know about tonight. If the ferries were even still running, the kids faced a rough ride home, not that high seas fazed her island-born sons. The girls might not like it, though.

  Thinking of rough seas had her remembering her first trip to Gansett Island, which still ranked as one of the worst ferry rides she’d ever endured. Poor Mac had been convinced that she’d never speak to him again after she’d gotten sick on the boat.

  She poured a second cup of coffee and took it with her to turn on the Christmas tree lights and sit in the rocking chair that overlooked the deck so she could watch Mac shovel. Even after all these years, she never got tired of looking at him. And she remembered that first trip to Gansett as if it were yesterday.

  Murmuring sweet words of comfort, he’d held the hair back from her face while she retched over the side. “We’re almost there. I can see the bluffs now.”

  They’d taken a midafternoon boat, and he’d been riding high since closing on the marina earlier in the day, proclaiming himself the “poorest future rich man” she’d ever meet.

  After meeting him the day before and being steamrolled by his persuasive charm, she’d expected him to be less appealing today. But he’d been so excited about the marina he now owned and so thrilled to take her to the island that his appeal from yesterday was eclipsed by the excitement of today.

  She felt like she was raining on his parade by getting sick, but he was endlessly patient with her.

  “Happens to a lot of people the first few times they make the trip,” he said.

  “If you say so,” she muttered.

  “A few more minutes, and we’ll be good to go.”

  “And then we have to get home.”

  “One thing at a time.”

  She kept meaning to tell him he shouldn’t be holding her so close or stroking her back and hair so tenderly one day after they met, but she couldn’t seem to muster the wherewithal to protest, not when he smelled fantastic and made her feel so safe despite the heaving seas.

  “This is all my fault. I wanted you to see the island
so badly that I never gave a thought to what the seas would be like today.”

  “It doesn’t bother you?”

  “Nah,” he said with a chuckle. “I kinda like it.”

  “Figures.” Despite how miserable she felt, she didn’t want to be a downer on his big day, so she tried to rally, standing upright only to have her head spin.

  “Easy, honey.” He held her close to him so she wouldn’t topple over. “Hang on to me. I’ve got you.”

  Oh, he was something, this Malcolm John McCarthy. Handsomest guy she’d ever laid eyes on, with rich, dark hair and eyes so blue they took her breath away. Yes, she’d noticed him, too, standing next to his equally attractive brother on the porch of Frank’s house. The way he’d overwhelmed her on their walk yesterday afternoon should’ve been off-putting. Any other guy who’d tried to pull such nonsense with her would’ve been sent packing. But there was something different about this guy—and his nonsense. Though she’d only just met him, she’d believed every outrageous word he said.

  She might live to regret that, but for right now—seasickness notwithstanding—she was determined to enjoy the moment and not ruin his big day.

  “Few more minutes,” he said in that soothing tone that drew her attention from her queasy stomach to focus on the deep, rich sound of his voice.

  Closing her eyes, she breathed through the nausea, focusing on the scent of his cologne.

  “Look,” he said. “There’s my island.”

  Linda opened her eyes and blinked the rugged coastline into focus, committing her first view of the island to memory. Wild, untamed, beautiful… Her heart fluttered with excitement and anticipation. With the island acting as a buffer for the wind, the seas calmed, and so did her stomach.

  The ferry cut through the water, heading for a harbor that she could now see through the fog.

  “Come on.” He took her by the hand to head for the stairs. They were on their way down to where they’d left his truck when the crew made an announcement that car owners needed to return to their vehicles. Clearly, Mac had done this a few times and already knew the routine.

  He was like a little boy on Christmas, vibrating with eagerness as the ferry backed into port and the first cars began to drive onto the island. His fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel.

  Linda felt the impatience coming off him in waves until the car in front of them finally rolled forward.

  “Every single thing you buy or eat or drink on this island comes off these boats.” He pointed to pallets sealed in plastic that lined the ferry’s cargo area. “They even bring the mail.”

  “From what I see, a lot of beer gets consumed here.”

  “Oh yeah. You know it.”

  “By you?” she asked with a smile.

  Winking at her, he said, “I’ll never tell.”

  They drove off the boat onto the island, and Linda’s excitement faded slightly at the sight of the town, such as it was—two hotels, a few shops, a restaurant here and there, but not much of anything else.

  “That’s The Beachcomber, which is a restaurant and hotel,” Mac said of the huge white building that served as the heart of “downtown” Gansett. “And that one there,” he said, pointing to a weathered Victorian-style building, “is the Sand & Surf. I’ve gotten to know the owners, Russ and Adele Kincaid, and their daughter, Sarah. Good people. They’ve owned the Surf for almost ten years, and they love it here.”

  “They live here year-round?”

  “Yep. About four hundred people do, believe it or not. We’ve even got a K-through-twelve school out here with twenty-five students.”

  She noted his use of the word we, as if he were already firmly entrenched in the local community.

  “So we came in at South Harbor, which is a manmade harbor.”

  “How does man make a harbor?”

  “Did you see the breakwater made of huge rocks?”

  “I did.”

  “That was built over a period of two years. The idea was to make it so the ferries landed in town, where most of the businesses are. My place is over in North Harbor on the other side of the island. North Harbor is also called the Great Salt Pond, and it’s well protected from the elements. I’d much rather be over there than in town, especially when it’s storming.”

  As he drove, Linda took in the sights. She noticed a small grocery store, an even tinier post office and a place called Gold’s, which she realized was a pharmacy as they went by it.

  “That’s the island’s only liquor store,” Mac said, pointing to a red building. “They do an extremely good business there.”

  “I imagine they do,” Linda said, chuckling.

  “I would’ve wanted in on that business if they didn’t already have a liquor store here.”

  “From what you’ve said, the business you have is going to keep you plenty busy enough.”

  “It is, and before we get there, I just want you to know… Don’t look at it the way it is today. Look at it and see the possibilities.”

  “Okay…”

  “It’s in pretty rough shape, but I have a plan, and I’m going to make it happen. I swear to you, Linda. I’m going to make a go of that place.”

  She found his fierce determination and ambition extremely appealing. When these qualities were combined with his handsome good looks, they made for quite an overwhelming young man. None of the other boys she’d dated were anything like him. They were interested in partying and getting laid. Mac was thinking of his future.

  “Do you think less of me because I never went to college?” he asked. “You can be honest.”

  “I was actually just thinking how different you are—in a good way—from all the other boys I know. None of them think beyond next weekend.”

  His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I bet a lot of boys want to be with you.”

  “But which one am I with today?”

  The smile he directed her way told her he liked her answer.

  “If I have my way, you’ll never date anyone else ever again.”

  “Well, tell me how you really feel.”

  “I just did.”

  His self-confidence was another thing she found wildly attractive about him. He put it right out there and didn’t hold back. He didn’t play games or act like a fool the way so many twenty-year-old boys did. No, this twenty-year-old was already a man and fully in control of his own life.

  “So here’s the marina.” He drove around deep potholes in the parking lot and brought the truck to a stop outside a barn-shaped building with a sagging roof, peeling paint and broken windows. Next to it, two smaller buildings were in similar disrepair. Beyond the buildings, an equally dilapidated pier slanted precariously in the middle.

  The Great Salt Pond seethed with whitecaps as the wind whipped across the water, making Linda’s stomach turn at the thought of the ride home later.

  “Like I said, it’s not much. Yet. But it will be. I’ll be working until the first snow to renovate the buildings and then, in the spring, I’m going to rebuild the main dock. We’ll be ready to open for business by next June.”

  “It’s…” Linda didn’t know what to say.

  “I’m crazy,” he said with a sigh. “It’s okay. You can say it. It’s nothing my dad hasn’t already said.”

  He sounded so dejected that Linda leapt immediately to his defense. How dare anyone, even his own father, crap on his dreams? “It’s going to be beautiful.”

  Brightening, he asked, “You think so? Really?”

  “I know so. The place has good bones. Sure, it needs some work, but I can see the potential.” She released her seat belt. “Show me around.”

  He met her at the front of the truck, holding out his hand to her.

  As she joined her hand with his, she noticed his fierce expression. “What?”

  “What you said, about seeing the potential… That means so much to me. Thank you for saying that.”

  “I mean it. With a little TLC, it could be magnificent
.”

  He raised his free hand to stroke her cheek, setting off all sorts of fireworks inside her. “I think you’re magnificent.”

  Linda had never thought of herself as the kind of girl who swooned, but damn if he didn’t make her feel capable of such theatrics. “Thank you. You’re quite magnificent yourself, with all your lofty dreams and ambition.”

  “I’m glad you think so. I was afraid after the way I came on to you yesterday that I’d never see you again.”

  “It takes more than a little intensity to scare me off.”

  “What would scare you off? Tell me so I never do it.”

  “Making promises you have no intention of keeping would scare me off.”

  “I’ll never promise you anything I can’t deliver. What else?”

  “A wandering eye would scare me off.”

  “Why would I look at anyone else when I have you to look at?”

  He said this as if it was the most preposterous thing he’d ever heard, and she lost a tiny piece of her heart to him right then and there.

  “What else?” he asked.

  “I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.”

  “Let me know if you think of any other deal breakers.”

  “I will.”

  Mac released her hand to withdraw a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door of the main building. They stepped inside, and he flipped a switch on the wall. Nothing happened. “Aw, come on. The power was supposed to be turned on today. Hang on a second.”

  While Linda stayed by the door, he ventured into the building. She heard rustling before a flashlight beam cut across the darkness.

  He went to another set of doors to unlock and open them. They were huge garage doors that opened most of one side of the building to the pier. “There. Now at least you can get a sense of the place.”

  She saw dust and dirt and a lime-green countertop and spiders that scurried out of the light. Linda moved a little closer to Mac.

  “Let me guess,” he said, sliding an arm around her. “Spiders will run you off.”

  “They aren’t my favorite thing.”

  “I’ll get rid of them. Don’t worry.”

  “What’s behind the counter?”