Matched by Moonlight

by Gina Wilkins

  “A couple of things. I’ll text them to you. Perhaps Dan would like to ride along with you?” Bonnie suggested, her tone guileless.

  “I’m sure Dan can find something more fun to do than join me running errands,” Kinley prevaricated.

  He smiled blandly at her. “Actually, I’d love to join you. Besides,” he added in a conspiratorial tone, “I’m afraid Mrs. Sossaman might return while you’re gone. There’s really nothing left for me to interview her about.”

  “I’ll try to keep her busy if she does return,” Bonnie volunteered. “It’s my turn, I suppose.”

  “Just keep her away from Logan.”

  Bonnie laughed. “I’ll certainly try.”

  Kinley glanced at Dan then. “You’re sure you want to come with me?”

  “Absolutely,” he said without hesitation.

  Trying to ignore the little ripple of reaction to his deep voice, she turned and spoke rather too brusquely, aware that she sounded a bit more like her brother than she would have liked. “Well, let’s go then. I have a lot to do today.”

  Dan chuckled and fell into step behind her.

  Chapter Six

  Kinley’s tidy rental house was located on the outskirts of Radford, just a twenty minute drive from the inn in good weather. A simple, white frame one story, it featured a covered stoop on which she’d placed a planter filled with spring flowers, plain black shutters and an open carport.

  Rather than pulling all the way into the carport and entering through the kitchen, as she usually did, she parked in the drive and ushered Dan in through the front door. It seemed only polite to invite him in rather than expect him to wait in the car while she retrieved the things Bonnie had requested.

  With the landlord’s permission, she had painted the inside walls a rich cadet blue with bright white trim. She’d polished the wood floors to a warm gleam. The doorways were arched, and a white brick, gas log fireplace was the focal point of the small living room. She had three bedrooms, one of which she used as a home office, two baths, a tiny dining room and a sunny kitchen with new appliances and granite countertops. She’d furnished simply with light colors and clean lines to make the best use of her limited space. She didn’t intend to stay here forever, but it had been a very comfortable home for her for the past couple of years—not that she spent all that much time here.

  “Nice,” Dan said with a look around.

  “Thanks.” She shook her head as she walked to the coffee table on which sat a large box. “There’s the box I forgot. Can’t believe I walked out without it this morning. I usually go through a mental checklist to make sure I have everything I’m supposed to take with me.”

  “Maybe you had something else on your mind this morning.”

  She glanced around to find that he stood very close to her, and that he was studying her with a quirked eyebrow and a half smile. With that particular expression and his longish dark hair breeze-tossed around his face, those jewel-blue eyes gleaming in his tanned face, he looked like the quintessential bad boy—almost impossible to resist, regardless of her better judgment.

  “Or someone,” she agreed slowly.

  The other side of his mouth twitched, tilting up into a full smile. “Eva Sossaman?”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “Very funny.”

  He brushed his lips over that little wrinkle before saying, “There’s something about you, Kinley Carmichael, that makes it very hard for me to remember that I’m supposed to be working. I’ve never been the strictly business type, as any of my former employers could tell you, but I swear I don’t usually forget I’m on assignment every time a pretty woman frowns at me.”

  She wasn’t sure how she felt about his comments. Flattered. Flustered. A little wary. And really? He liked it when she frowned at him?

  As if he’d read the thoughts flashing across her face, he laughed. He traced a fingertip in the faint crease between her eyebrows. “You’re doing it again. Gets to me every time.”

  She poked his very close—and very fine—chest with one finger. “I know your type. You, Dan Phelan, are a flirt. A player.”

  “I’ll grant you the first. There’s nothing wrong with a little lighthearted flirtation, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into offensive. I flirt all the time with my neighbor back home—and she’s eighty-three. Gives as good as she takes. She calls me her ‘fancy boy,’” he added with a laugh.

  “As for the player part—no. Not if you mean someone who uses women and then moves on. That’s not who I am. I’m always entirely honest with the women I spend time with, and when I’m in a relationship, it’s exclusive. And before you ask, there isn’t currently a relationship and there haven’t been that many in the past. I’ve been pretty busy for the past decade or so.”

  From the brief bio he’d given her, she’d say he had been busy! But why was he telling her these things now?

  “What about you, Kinley? You said there isn’t anyone at the moment?”

  “I was married once, several years ago,” she answered evenly. “It didn’t last long—just long enough to teach me that I’m much better at business than relationships.”

  Dan’s expressive eyebrow rose again. “You gave up after one painful disappointment?”

  “I didn’t give up,” she corrected him immediately. “I redirected my attention to areas I was stronger in. I, um, don’t like to fail,” she added in a mutter. “In anything.”

  “I’d already figured that out about you.”

  She tossed her head somewhat defiantly. She didn’t enjoy openly dissecting her weaknesses, though she would not shy away from admitting them. “Like I said, all business, all the time.”

  “You were quoting someone else at the time. The ex?”

  She shrugged. “Oddly enough, I thought he was focused on career success, too. Everyone, including him, always said we were two of a kind—until he changed his mind eight months after the wedding and decided he’d rather be a carefree bachelor and spend most of his life playing. He said he was sorry, but a wife didn’t fit into that unapologetically hedonistic scenario—another direct quote, by the way.”

  “Wow. Sounds like a real winner.”

  “Oh, he’s still the overachiever he always was,” she said with a dry laugh that didn’t quite mask the shock she still felt whenever she remembered that out-of-the-blue announcement. “The difference is that now he’s determined to be the very best ‘party dude’ ever. Tom was always one to set his sights high.”

  Dan reached out to touch her hand. “He did hurt you,” he murmured, alluding to their conversation in the garden last night.

  It seemed futile to deny it. “Yes. But I got over it.”

  “I’m not so sure you did.” He slid his hand up her arm to lightly tap her shoulder. “There’s a little chip here that I suspect wasn’t there before. Maybe that need for control you’ve admitted to has a lot to do with making sure you don’t get hurt that way again.”

  “I told you,” she said with a swallow. “I don’t like to fail.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re taking too much credit for that particular failure.”

  She moistened her lips and shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Which didn’t mean she wouldn’t do everything in her power to minimize the odds of such failures in the future, she added silently.

  Dan looked thoughtful as he digested the glimpses she’d given him of her past. “I do think there should be a balance between all work and all play.”

  The faintest of sighs escaped her. She pushed the painful memories to the back of her mind where she usually kept them and admitted, “I’ve always had trouble with that balance thing, myself.”

  Lowering his head, he spoke almost against her lips. “Maybe you could use a little help with that.”

  No, she thought, she didn’t need any help balancing her life. She had everything laid out exactly the way she wanted, her career plans clearly outlined, short-term goals defined and satisfactorily underway. She’d tried t
he marriage thing, and it hadn’t paid off for her, but she hadn’t totally ruled out the occasional lighthearted fling. As long as both parties knew from the start that it wasn’t serious, that she wouldn’t allow herself to be derailed again from her long-term plans. Since she doubted that footloose Dan Phelan was any more interested in being tied down than she was, maybe there would be no harm in enjoying his attentions during the brief time he would be around.

  Giving in to temptation, she rose the half inch needed to bring their lips together. Dan gathered her into his arms, and for the first time she was pressed fully against that fit body, keenly aware of every ridge of muscle, every strong angle—and the unmistakable evidence that their kisses were as arousing to him as they were to her.

  She could almost feel her insides melt with hunger for him. It had been much, much too long since she’d wanted anyone this much, since any man’s smile had turned her knees to jelly, since anyone’s kiss had cleared her mind of every thought but of him. Actually, she didn’t think she’d ever reacted to anyone quite the same way she had to Dan—certainly not as fast.

  She slid her hands up his chest, around his neck. Buried her fingers in the back of his lush, dark hair. His hands glided down her back, shaping her curves, holding her more tightly against him. Instinctively, she shifted her weight, moving against him in a way that made a low groan rumble in his chest. She felt his fingers tighten at her hips, which only made her long to feel his hands on every inch of her.

  He took his time exploring her mouth. Nibbling her lower lip, tracing it with just the tip of his tongue, taking teasing little nips until she moaned in frustration and tugged at the back of his head in demand of more. His chuckle was muffled when their mouths fused, and then changed to a soft groan when their tongues met in a demanding duel. Teasing turned to craving, light touches became more frantic.

  For a moment, she thought the sudden vibration she felt was coming from her overstimulated nerve endings. That her ears were ringing with the force of her fully reawakened desire. She realized rather sheepishly that her phone was chiming in her pocket.

  Dan released her reluctantly when she drew back. Blowing out a pent-up breath, he pushed a hand through his hair, giving her a crooked, pained smile as he moved away to give her a little space to answer the call.

  She cleared her throat before speaking. “Hi, Bonnie, what’s up?” she asked maybe a little too brightly.

  “I hope you haven’t ordered lunch yet.” Her sister’s voice held a grim note that made Kinley wince.

  “No, why?”

  “We have a situation here.”

  “What’s wrong?” She almost hated to ask. She already suspected she knew whose name was about to pop up.

  She was right. “Eva called with a last-minute brainstorm.” Continuing over Kinley’s groan, Bonnie explained, “She’s decided she wants big lavender organza bows decorated with white calla lilies on the back of each chair for the rehearsal dinner this evening.”

  “Did you tell her it’s too late to make that sort of request? Not to mention that the rehearsal dinner is the groom’s family’s responsibility?”

  “I tried. She said she checked with the groom’s mother, who told her that would be fine. Probably browbeat the poor woman into agreeing. Anyway, Eva said if we don’t have time to take care of it, she’ll pick up the supplies and come do it herself. She got very insistent. I told her I’d get back with her.”

  “Damn it.” The thought of Eva Sossaman hanging around all afternoon, making a mess of the decorating and insisting everyone else help her, not to mention “supervising” all the other preparations, made Kinley shudder. She didn’t even want to think about how long Logan would be able to hold his temper in check, even though he’d shown admirable restraint with Eva thus far. “Tell her we’ll handle it. Do we have enough organza?”

  “You should probably pick up some extra,” Bonnie suggested apologetically. “I’ve already put in an emergency call to the florist. She’ll send over three dozen of those silk calla lilies Eva wanted us to use in the garlands. Fortunately she had extra in stock. She said something told her she’d better be prepared for last-minute requests from Eva.”

  The whole inn was going to be draped in lavender organza and clusters of white silk calla lilies by the time Eva finished, Kinley thought irritably. Not to mention the real white lilies and lavender sweet peas that would make up centerpieces, bouquets and assorted fresh flower arrangements. Eva had apparently never heard the expression, “Less is more.”

  “I hope you reminded her that she’s adding to her costs by ordering last-minute extras.”

  “Of course I did. She said not to worry about the expense.”

  Which was why they’d all managed to hold on to their strained patience with Eva to this point, Kinley reminded herself wryly. She was a pain in the butt, but she was paying very generously for this wedding.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Dan when she’d returned her phone to her pocket. “I have to go. I’ve got to pick up some organza at the crafts store, then head back to the inn to help Bonnie tie bows on the chairs. A last-minute brainstorm on Eva’s part.”

  He chuckled in resignation. “Yeah, I figured that out.”

  “I’m sorry about lunch.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll find something. I’m not hungry now, anyway. Not for food, at least,” he added in a meaningful murmur that made her cheeks warm.

  It was just as well, she thought, that Bonnie had called at that moment, before she could do something really stupid. She’d been a kiss and a heartbeat away from dragging Dan to the nearest flat surface. And she was fully aware that he would not have resisted. If she were the type of woman who believed in magic and spells, she might have suspected he’d cast one on her, considering how atypically she had behaved since he’d arrived only yesterday.

  “I think I’m in the mood to write this afternoon,” he added, sliding his hand down her arm. “Not an article, but the book I’ve been itching to write. Maybe you’re my muse, Kinley.”

  She smiled faintly. “I’ve never been called anyone’s muse before.”

  “And I’ve never met anyone who inspired me so quickly.” He brushed one last kiss across her lips before making himself move back.

  She reminded herself firmly that he was scheduled to leave tomorrow evening, despite his hints that he wouldn’t mind staying a little longer to get to know her better. It would surely be best for all involved if they stuck to the original schedule. Hadn’t she just told him, and reminded herself, that she wasn’t particularly successful when it came to romance? For someone who hated failure as badly as she did, that meant she should especially avoid getting involved with someone who affected her as strongly as Dan did.

  “We should go,” she said gruffly, heading for the door. At least she would be too busy the rest of the day to get into further trouble with him. From this moment on, she would focus strictly on business, making no more foolish mistakes.

  “Um, Kinley?”

  Her hand was already on the door. “Yes?”

  “Weren’t you going to take this box with you?” He motioned toward the coffee table with barely hidden amusement.

  Exhaling impatiently, she nodded and moved toward it, but Dan had already picked up the big box. “I’ve got it,” he said, grinning.

  Biting her lip, she turned and walked outside, then waited for him to pass her so she could lock the door behind them.

  * * *

  After helping Kinley carry in the supplies they’d brought, Dan hung around to assist with the frantic changes to the decor. Kinley reminded him that he had planned to write that afternoon, but he seemed in no hurry to return to his room. He appeared to enjoy spending time with her and Bonnie, getting a peek behind the scenes of the wedding preparations. He didn’t actually tie bows, laughingly claiming to be all thumbs when it came to that sort of thing, but he cut the required lengths of ribbon and then tucked silk lilies into the loops as Kinley directed, freeing Rhoda
and Bonnie to take care of the many other daily details of running the inn and preparing for a wedding.

  Setting out cutesy little place cards in the holders Kinley had retrieved, Bonnie looked up to smile at Dan. “You never imagined you’d spend an hour today playing arts and crafts, did you?”

  Handing Kinley the last length of measured ribbon, he smiled. “Well, no. But it’s been interesting. I can say now that I’ve seen the hard work that goes into a wedding.”

  “You’ve only seen our part,” Bonnie corrected him. “The florist is making bouquets and arrangements, the baker will have many hours invested in decorating the wedding cake and the groom’s cake, the caterer has been preparing food for tonight and will provide the meal after the wedding tomorrow, the musicians are practicing, photographer and videographer are coordinating…”

  Dan laughed and held up a hand to stop her. “Okay, I get the picture. Weddings are a hell of a lot of trouble and expense.”

  “They can be,” Bonnie agreed, carefully referring to the seating chart as she moved to another table. Kinley knew her sister would check all the tables again when she’d set out all the place cards. Neither of them wanted to deal with Eva’s wrath if her painstakingly coordinated seating arrangements weren’t exactly as she had specified—even though, as she reiterated piously, the rehearsal dinner was up to the groom’s family to manage. “Personally, I’d like a small, simple ceremony if I ever get married. Just family and my closest friends.”

  “I had two weddings like that,” Rhoda said with a reminiscent sigh, carrying an armload of snowy napkins into the room. “One on the beach, one in a mountain meadow. Back in the seventies. First marriage lasted ten years, the second one only two, but the weddings were beautiful.”

  Dan met Kinley’s eyes with a grin. “And how do you feel about weddings?”

  “We at Bride Mountain Inn strive to provide the most beautiful wedding experience any bride could hope for,” she recited almost word for word from their advertising materials. “From simple, intimate ceremonies to luxury affairs for up to 150 guests, we do our best to make a bride’s dream wedding come true.”