“Down. Alex down,” he demanded.
“That’s the problem with men,” she observed. “They never know what they want. Two minutes ago it was ‘Alex up.’”
“Is he yours?”
“Mine?” Lainie gave a bark of laughter. “Oh no. I’d like to think I’m smarter than that. He’s Stephanie’s kid,” she said, relenting and setting Alex on the floor. “My sister.”
Hadley had zero recollection of anyone by that name, but she’d long since given up trying. “Sure.” She nodded.
“I know, it’s a mob scene, isn’t it?” Lainie observed sympathetically. “We should have everyone wear name tags now that the Trask boys are bringing their women around.”
“I’m not Gabe’s woman.”
Lainie snorted. “Good luck with that one. Judging by the way he watches you, he’s got other ideas.”
“Actually, I was just in here looking for a glass of water,” Hadley said a little desperately.
“The tall cabinet there. It’s well water and it’s great.”
“You sure know the place,” Hadley commented as she got out a glass. “Do you come here a lot?”
“I’ve come to the farm all my life. My dad grew up here.” Hadley stood at the sink to run the water, idly looking out the kitchen window at the maple grove beyond. It was beautiful country, even in the dead of winter. She looked at the trees, trying to imagine them with leaves. And saw. “Good Lord,” she said without thinking.
“What?” Lainie demanded.
“Nothing.” Hadley hurriedly turned away.
“What?” Lainie crowded up behind her at the sink. “Oh my…is that what it looks like?” Out in the maples, Nick took Sloane’s hand and dropped down on one knee.
“I don’t know. We shouldn’t be watching, though,” Hadley said. “It’s private.”
“In this family, nothing’s private,” Lainie declared, and they both watched, round-eyed, as Nick slid a ring onto Sloane’s finger. “Yes!” Lainie crowed, and pumped her fist. “Excellent! That gets me off the hook for at least six months.”
“Gets you off the hook?”
She rolled her eyes. “My parents. You’d think they didn’t have a single married child, let alone five grandchildren. I’m not ready to settle down. I mean for Pete’s sake, I’m only twenty-five. I’ve got a right to date, don’t I?”
Fighting a smile, Hadley nodded. Outside, Sloane threw her arms around Gabe’s brother, laughing. Something twisted inside Hadley. What would it be like to love someone so much, to know that he loved you so unconditionally, that you’d pledge to spend the rest of your life with him? She thought of the way she’d felt in Gabe’s arms the night before. What would happen to her if she let herself believe in that, really believe?
Terrifying. Astonishing. Exhilarating. Swiftly, before a small giddy part of her began to explode with joy, she shut it down. Not now; she couldn’t let herself think about this now.
But she’d let the genie out of the bottle and she was very afraid there was no putting it back.
Hadley watched Nick and Sloane walk back to the house, their hands locked together. The kitchen door opened on their laughter. Nick twirled Sloane around when they got inside.
“So what’s with you two?” Lainie demanded, eyes bright.
“Come on, everybody in the living room,” Nick called, “We’ve got something to announce.”
If possible, the room became even more crowded. Nick linked hands with Sloane and took a deep breath. “You’re my family and friends and I’d like you all to be the first to know that Sloane has agreed to be my wife.” A broad grin creased his face. “We’re getting married.”
A chorus of cheers and hoots erupted. “Oh, Sloane, how wonderful.” Molly hurried over. “Welcome to the family.”
Sloane had a slightly giddy, dazed look on her face as she hugged Molly, then Lainie, then Gabe, then Jacob, then Nick, who appeared to have gotten in line on general principle.
“Let’s see the ring,” Lainie demanded.
Sloane held out her hand to show the flash of fire.
“Nice job, Nick,” Lainie said admiringly. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Didn’t know he had what in him?” asked a familiar voice behind Hadley, and Lainie’s grin turned into an eye roll.
“Well, if it isn’t Speed Racer,” she said as J. J. Cooper walked in from the kitchen. “Who let you in the country? I thought they had warning posters about you in Customs.”
“Hi, Hadley.” Ignoring Lainie, he kissed Hadley on the cheek. “What’s the celebration?”
“Nick just got engaged,” Hadley said.
“Engaged?” J.J. looked alarmed. “Get out while you can. It’s not safe. The vibes will be zinging around for hours.”
“Wuss,” Lainie pronounced, and walked toward the kitchen.
“You gotta be able to do better than that, Lainie,” J.J. called as he sat down in an empty chair. “What, have you been getting lazy while I’ve been gone? She loves me,” he added to no one in particular.
“Deluded egomaniac,” Lainie called from the kitchen.
“And I love this,” he added, as Molly handed him a steaming mug. He buried his nose in the fumes. “The famous Trask hot buttered rum. You gotta try this, Hadley. People have been killed trying to steal it.”
“Liar,” Molly said affectionately, and handed a mug to her.
The rum was delicious, rich and sweet with just enough kick to send tendrils of heat through her veins. Gabe drifted over and leaned on the arm of her chair, resting a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t recognize pure, uncomplicated happiness because she’d never felt it.
“We should go to Albertville for New Year’s Eve,” J.J. said. “Do a little skiing, go out on the town.”
Lainie walked in carrying a tray of stuffed mushrooms she set on the coffee table.
“Count me out,” Gabe said. “I’ve got to work.”
“You telling me I have to go alone? Now this calls for desperate measures.” He snaked out an arm as Lainie passed by and scooped her onto his lap, ignoring her yelp. “Whaddya say, Lainie? Skiing, gourmet dinners, champagne at midnight?”
She slapped away his hands and rose. “You forget, I listened to you and Gabe practicing your pickup lines out in back of the sugar house.”
“Oh really?” Hadley raised her eyebrows.
“A long time ago,” Gabe assured her hastily.
“Your cousin’s a hard woman, Gabe,” J.J. said. “I just offered her the kind of trip women dream about, and she breaks my heart. She could have turned out to be the one.”
“You mean not counting half the female population of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands?” Lainie asked derisively. “Peddle it somewhere else, Speed.”
“Cruel.” J.J. shook his head sorrowfully and turned to Hadley. “What about you?”
“She’s busy, too,” Gabe said crisply.
J.J. looked from Hadley to Gabe and grinned. “How about that? Looks like I’m going to have to go solo.”
Her empty water glass sent Hadley her back into the kitchen. She looked out at the maples dreamily. Then a touch on her leg had her jumping, and she looked down to see Alex.
“Up,” he said, raising his arms.
“Well, aren’t you just too cute,” she said. She crouched down so that she was eye to eye with him. “You want up?”
“Up.”
She folded her arms. “How do I know you’re not going to change your mind on me? You know what Lainie says.”
“Up,” he insisted.
“Well, I guess you know what you want.” She stood and hoisted him to her hip.
Gabe stopped in the doorway, looking on as Hadley lifted Alex, laughing in surprise at his weight. She rubbed her nose against his. The little boy giggled.
“That’s an Eskimo kiss,” she told him.
“Esmo kiss,” he repeated.
She leaned in to flutter her lash against Alex’s chubby cheek until
he squirmed. “And this is a butterfly kiss.”
“Bufly!” he shouted enthusiastically.
“And this is an honest to goodness kiss,” she finished, leaning in to peck him on the cheek.
And something shifted inside Gabe, like an expanding bubble that threatened to float him off his feet. He should have listened to J.J., he realized. He hadn’t gotten out of the room quickly enough.
He’d fallen for her all the way.
There wasn’t a sound, but suddenly Hadley knew someone was watching. She looked over to see Gabe, and something about his expression brought her to immediate attention. Mechanically, she let the boy slide to the floor, and straightened slowly.
Gabe beckoned her with a finger. “Come here, little girl.”
She walked toward him. “What?”
“A little more.”
She frowned and took another step. “What?”
“I’ve got your present.” He reached in his pocket.
The box was small, about the size for jewelry. Flushing, she pulled off the wrapping and opened it. Inside, nestled in cotton, lay a shiny key on a Mount Jefferson key chain. “It’s for the office,” he said. “I thought you deserved one of your own.”
It was simple, it was practical. And it was a statement of more trust and faith than she could have dreamed of.
He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. For long moments, the kitchen receded and it was only the two of them, together in their own world.
“Gabe.” Jacob’s voice came from behind them. “Ma wants—oops.” He spun and retreated hastily.
Hadley broke away, flushing. “All right, you promised none of this in front of your family. That makes it twice now.”
“I couldn’t help it.” Gabe gave an innocent shrug.
“Couldn’t help it?”
“Nope. It’s the rules.” He pointed to the doorway above their heads. “We’re under the mistletoe.”
It was dark by the time they headed home, the Explorer’s headlights’ shining cones of blue-white light through the night. “So did you have a good time?” Gabe asked.
“Outside of being so stuffed I can’t breathe, it was wonderful. Your family is great.”
“Yeah, I figure I’ll keep them. You were a hit. I noticed you even got Jacob talking.”
“Hard not to,” she told him. “He reads my favorite authors.”
“Oh, Jacob’s always been a big book guy. What else are you going to do when you’re stuck up here in the snow all winter?”
“He’s really very nice when you get to know him.”
“Jacob? Sure. He just takes his time making decisions about people. Once he likes you, you’re in. Until then…” He drove for a few moments. “Not to bring up ugly reality, but what’s the plan for tomorrow morning? We’ve got the meeting to negotiate the final price on the ski area. Are we going through with it?”
Hadley stared out her window and finally turned to him. “Yes. I’ve thought about it and I say we go ahead just as we would have before I talked to my father.”
“And you’re confident about the board? We’re not going out on a limb here?”
“Of course we’re going out on a limb, but it’s a calculated risk. I wouldn’t be willing to put my money behind it if I thought they’d say no.”
He nodded slowly, the dash lights throwing his eyes into shadow. “All right. I’ll buy that.”
Hadley hesitated. “Gabe, we never really talked about what happened last night.”
She saw the gleam of his teeth. “It happened this morning, too.”
“Yes, it did.”
“I thought we did pretty well at it.”
She couldn’t quite prevent the smile. “You’re right, we did. But we’re working together and there’s a whole lot more going on than just having a good time.” Calm, matter-of-fact, that was the way to deal with it.
“There’s a lot to be said for having a good time.”
“Yes, but that’s not what we’re being paid to do. We’ve got a tough profit bogey to meet. We can’t let this affair affect that, especially since we don’t know where things go from here.”
Gabe was quiet for a moment. “Does that mean where our relationship goes or where you go?” he asked carefully, ignoring the knot that formed in the pit of his stomach.
“My life isn’t here, you know that. This is just temporary.” It was a fact. So why did it sound defensive? She stared out the windshield at the winding double yellow line.
“Well, let me tell you what I think.” Eyes on the road, Gabe reached out and took her hand. “I love…being with you, making love with you. I don’t want to let this go. We’re both adults. If we start having problems, we should be able to handle it. As far as the staff goes, what happens in Cortland House stays in Cortland House. And I’m hoping it’s going to happen a lot.” He grinned.
“You make it sound simple.”
“It is.”
Hadley managed a smile and looked out the window. It was a mistake to take it this lightly, she was certain of it, and yet—and yet it was so tempting to let it go on. The giddy part of her had grown since the morning, harder to subdue, like a large, noisy, happy puppy. It had been such a long time since anything had felt so good to her.
Was it worth taking a chance? She thought of Angie and Hank, of Nick and Sloane. She thought of the hours she’d just spent in a house overflowing with joy, a house full of people who lavished affection without emotional price tags. A house full of people who loved.
And suddenly it felt as if all the blood were draining from her body, leaving her weak. How had she not noticed? How had she not seen? But it had happened so gradually she’d hardly been aware of it. He was the constant in her world, the one irreducible part. In the past weeks the deal had absorbed her days, and at every step of the way was Gabe. The hotel had encompassed her world and at every turn Gabe was with her. He’d shown her its quirks and its magic, and somewhere along the line she’d fallen in love with it.
And somewhere along the line she’d fallen in love with him.
Chapter Seventeen
They sat around a glossy walnut conference table, Hadley, Gabe, Roderick Miller and a supporting cast of lawyers and accountants. The ice in the water pitchers had melted; the coffee had long since grown cold. It had taken the better part of six hours, but they’d finally negotiated through every discrepancy, and the final offer was on the table.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have a deal.” Miller leaned back in his chair, just as self-satisfied and no more likable than he’d been the first time Hadley had seen him. “If we can make all the changes we discussed, we can close whenever the funding is ready.”
“The funding is in place,” Gabe said. “We’d like to execute on this by the end of the week.”
“I’m leaving town Wednesday so it’ll have to be soon.” After knowing for nearly two weeks that they needed to close by year end, he picked now to tell them? Hadley took in a deep breath. “Jason, how quickly can we turn it around?”
Keating looked up from where he was consulting with the Crawford Notch accountant. “I’ll stay here and work on it as late as we need. It’ll be in your in-box by ten tomorrow.”
“So we’re looking at tomorrow afternoon,” Gabe said thoughtfully. “Say, three?”
Miller stirred. “Four would be better.”
“Four it is.” Gabe rose along with Hadley. “Until then.”
“So are you still okay with this?” Gabe asked her as they drove the narrow highway to the hotel.
“Which ‘this’ are you talking about?”
“Oh, the deal. Using your trust fund, going up against your dad. All of it.”
“Sure.” In the list of heedless risks that she’d taken in the past week, decimating her trust fund and making a decision that could well amount to professional suicide seemed minor.
The decision to let herself love felt far more dangerous.
Panic—sure, there was still panic, but
underneath there was elation, certainty. It was a risk, a risk bigger than any she’d ever taken, but the payoff was a chance to live within an intensity of joy and hope that she’d never dreamed of. It was like being given a stupendous gift, one she’d never for a moment expected.
And what did she do with it now? Savor it, inhabit it, certainly. Did she tell him? Did she wait? It seemed absurd to say anything so soon, and yet she felt as though it were spelled out on her forehead with lights for anyone to see.
“Do you want to come to dinner tonight?” she asked aloud.
“What, you’re going to cook?”
She blinked. “I hadn’t thought, really. I can get takeout…”
“Salad from the corner grocery? I have a better idea. I’ll cook and you can supervise.”
“All right.”
“Naked.”
“Naked?”
“I’ll draw the drapes and turn up the heat,” he said with a wicked smile. “I think we deserve a nice long evening together.”
And maybe, if it felt right, she’d try to tell him what was in her heart. Maybe tonight she’d tell him how she felt.
And trust to love.
“Lobby,” Lester said cheerfully, taking them up from the service level. Gabe glanced over at Hadley. It took his breath away sometimes how beautiful she was. How much he loved her.
When the doors opened, she turned to him, eyes bright. He suppressed the urge to kiss her. “I want to stop by the front desk to see if anyone’s heard from Angie,” she said. “I can do a walk-through while I’m at it.”
“Perhaps you need company on that walk-through.”
Her smile was dazzling. “Maybe I do.”
He started toward the desk with her just as Susan hurried up behind him. “Mr. Trask, thank God you’re back. You’re needed in your office immediately.”
Concern was immediate. “What’s wrong?”
The cool, capable Susan looked desperate and on the edge of tears. “I tried to call you but your phone kept saying you were out of range.”
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