‘‘I hadn’t gone that far in my thinking. I figured the house had to come first. Then I’d worry about the rest.’’
‘‘A wife and kids.’’ She could see that. He’d be the sort to help his kids build a tree house, and he could fix things around the house for his wife. If he happened to be good in bed, too, then he was excellent husband material. Maybe that explained the interest of the women in town.
He seemed uncomfortable with her wife and kids comment. ‘‘I don’t know. Like I said, the house had to be the first step. Maybe you’re right that it’ll suck me dry and I’ll have to unload it.’’
She leaned forward. ‘‘Count on it, Sean. This isn’t a sensible move on your part. That thing could have structural problems, dry rot, faulty wiring, plumbing hassles, you name it.’’
‘‘You sound as if you know something about that.’’
She threw her hands up. ‘‘Don’t I ever! My parents live in a firetrap like that. It’s not a Victorian. It’s a two-flat brick albatross in Chicago that was built in the 1890s. They don’t have the money to fix it, but they refuse to go anywhere else. I have to hope they don’t die in their bed someday.’’
‘‘Maybe they’re attached to it.’’
‘‘Sure they are. I can’t pry them out with a crowbar, and I’ve quit trying. But you’re not attached to this place yet. Let me do you a favor and buy that property so my company can bulldoze that house. Let SaveALOT save you from the biggest mistake of your life.’’
He was silent for a moment. ‘‘What if I found you some other property that was just as good? Maybe something out by Deep Lake.’’
‘‘According to Denise, that’s mostly state land out there. What’s available is marshy and not suitable for building on. That’s the beauty of this plan. If I nab the abandoned property, MegaMart won’t be able to put up a competing store anywhere nearby.’’
A muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘‘I don’t want you to have it.’’
‘‘Why not?’’ The minute she asked the question, she didn’t want to know the answer. It would complicate things.
‘‘I grew up in that house.’’
Sure enough, she didn’t want to know that. And there was no way she could unknow it now. If she took that place away from him, she’d be stomping on his dream to save his childhood home. If only she could convince him it wasn’t a dream worth having.
Chapter 6
Sean hadn’t meant to admit any sentimental attachment to the house. That made him vulnerable, and he already felt damn vulnerable with his newly acquired bad eyesight and bad hair. He wanted to impress Maggie, not make her feel sorry for him.
When compassion filled her blue eyes, he hurried to repair the damage he’d done. ‘‘That’s only a small part of the reason I want to restore the property, though.’’
‘‘But I get it,’’ she said. ‘‘I grew up in a two-flat in Chicago, and I would love to make it look nice again, although I’ve never personally seen it looking good. It was already a wreck when they bought it.’’
‘‘The Victorian was going downhill, too, but I’ve always had this image of what it could look like. My father—’’ He stopped himself from letting more personal information leak out. She didn’t have to know his father had been a dreamer who’d promised to restore the property to its former elegance. In the end, he hadn’t even been able to keep up the mortgage payments.
Many people in town still remembered that Patrick Madigan had left town the day after his family was evicted from the old house. Sean had spent years convincing everyone that he didn’t give a damn what his father had done. If he wanted to buy the property and restore it, so what? He just hated to see a piece of architectural history disappear.
‘‘I do understand the impulse,’’ Maggie said. ‘‘Really, I do. But are you honestly prepared to devote years to some old building?’’
He couldn’t figure out how to explain his dedication to the house without sounding like an idiot, so he fell back on another argument. ‘‘It’s not only the house. It’s easily the best location in town. From the back you get a great view of Big Knob.’’
‘‘I know. I walked back there. And you’re right, somebody should be taking advantage of that besides the kids turning it into a make-out spot.’’
He sighed. ‘‘Yeah, I know they do that. I—’’ He paused as Dorcas and Ambrose, looking perky as hell, came into the diner.
They spoke to Madeline, who brought them over to a table right next to Sean and Maggie. Sean didn’t think that was an accident. He’d bet they’d been looking for him all over town so they could get a good view of their handiwork.
He shouldn’t be upset with them. They’d only done what he’d asked, but he wished they’d given him more warning about their program. He should have asked for references before he jumped into this deal. He should have allowed himself to think about it longer, should have asked a lot more questions about how everything worked. He should have asked if they were planning to shrink his dick, for crying out loud.
And the timing sucked. Right when he needed to charm the pants off a woman, he didn’t have the goods. He could so easily save his property if he looked the way he used to. No woman had been able to resist him before, and Maggie would have been no different.
‘‘Why, Sean!’’ Dorcas pretended that she’d just realizedthey were seated close to each other. ‘‘What a nice surprise.’’
He had no choice but to greet them politely and introduce Maggie. Of course, Dorcas asked what had brought her to town, even though she knew damn well.
‘‘Business,’’ Maggie said, as she polished off her second cinnamon roll.
Maggie is no fool, Sean thought. She’d already discovered that not everyone was in favor of her plan. Come to think of it, the property would have to be rezoned. Sean might be able to drum up some support for blocking the rezoning request. But that would be a last resort. He’d rather talk her out of it the old-fashioned way, while they were both naked.
‘‘What kind of business?’’ Ambrose sounded as eager as a Chamber of Commerce representative, like he had no idea what was going on.
Sean made a mental note that Dorcas and Ambrose were sneakier than they looked.
Maggie still seemed wary. ‘‘I work for SaveALot.’’
‘‘Is there a SaveALot around here?’’ Dorcas asked. ‘‘I don’t remember seeing one.’’
‘‘Not yet,’’ Maggie said. ‘‘I’m scouting locations.’’
‘‘Hm,’’ Dorcas said. ‘‘Found anything yet?’’
Maggie glanced at Sean. ‘‘There’s a piece of property I’m very interested in. In fact, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to go check with Denise at the real estate office.’’ She stood and took her coat and purse off the back of her chair. ‘‘I’ll settle the check on the way out. I can also make arrangements with Madeline about using her guest room.’’
Sean stood. ‘‘I’ll take care of the check. After all, I invited you.’’
‘‘Don’t be silly. I’m on an expense account. Thanks for bringing me over here, by the way. The food was great.’’ Her tone made it clear that their cozy little interlude was over.
Sean wanted to know what Denise had to say about the ownership of the property, but Denise had already said she wouldn’t share that information with him, so there was no point in walking Maggie back over there. He needed another excuse to see her, though. He couldn’t very well talk her out of buying the property unless they became closer . . . a whole lot closer.
‘‘I have to get to work myself,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll walk you out.’’ Then he planned to walk right back in and have a talk with Dorcas and Ambrose. Now that they saw the problem, they had to help him out with it somehow.
Maggie turned to Dorcas and Ambrose. ‘‘Nice meeting you.’’
‘‘Same here,’’ Dorcas said.
Ambrose pulled something out of his pocket. ‘‘In case you need anything while you’re in town, here’s our card.’’
&n
bsp; ‘‘Thanks.’’ Maggie looked at the card and quickly shoved it in her pocket.
Sean remembered he still didn’t have a phone number for Dorcas and Ambrose. He could get it off his cell phone, but he’d never quite trusted that option. ‘‘I wouldn’t mind having one of your cards,’’ he said.
‘‘Sure thing.’’ Ambrose produced another one and handed it to him.
Sean expected to find only their names and contact information, but no, they had a company name and a logo along with their current address. Suddenly they didn’t look so much on sabbatical, or whatever the hell they’d called it.
The company was called Hot Prospects, Inc., and the logo was two intertwined gold rings. If Sean hadn’t known better, he’d say they were in the matchmaking business. But that couldn’t be right. They’d fixed it so that he was no longer attractive to women, so that was moving in the opposite direction from matchmaking, wasn’t it? Nothing made sense.
As he glanced up, Dorcas mouthed silently, We have to talk. No shit. He was beginning to wonder if he’d been hustled. What if they had some scam going where they made people ugly and then charged them a fortune to find them a match? He only had Ambrose’s word for it that he’d revert to his former studliness in two weeks. What if this change was permanent?
But he couldn’t stand around worrying about it and let Maggie get away. He hurried over to the cash register where she was signing the credit card slip and discussing her rooming arrangements with Madeline.
‘‘Come up to the house anytime you want,’’ Madeline said. ‘‘I already called Abe and told him you would be staying with us. Supper’s at five thirty.’’
‘‘Oh, you don’t have to feed me,’’ Maggie said. ‘‘That’s asking way too much.’’
‘‘Abe and I would like the company,’’ Madeline said. ‘‘Sean, you’re welcome to come, too, now that I know you’ll behave yourself and not be doing God knows what with a girl under the tablecloth. I’m fixing your favorite, meat loaf.’’
Sean sent Madeline a grateful smile. She’d just set him up with a semidate, one he needed desperately. ‘‘Thanks. I’d love to have some of your homemade meat loaf.’’
Maggie had a trapped-animal expression in her eyes, but she smiled at both of them. ‘‘Dinner sounds great. Well, I need to be going.’’ She started toward the door.
Sean caught up with her. ‘‘Before you leave, I wondered if you’d like to set up a time today to tour the old house.’’
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind, which most likely he had. Going through that dusty, dirty place was the lamest romantic idea he’d ever had. He couldn’t even say why he’d thought of it, unless he now had a loser brain to go along with his loser looks.
‘‘Why would I want to do that?’’ she asked.
He thought fast. ‘‘By going through it, you’ll have specific information about the place—number of rooms, location of any plumbing fixtures, etcetera. I’m sure the demolition crew would appreciate having your notes.’’
‘‘Well . . . you might have a point. This is the first time I’ve considered a property with a building on it. The other times have been undeveloped land.’’ She paused. ‘‘I guess I should take a look. Is it open? Can anyone just walk in?’’
‘‘No.’’ He’d made sure of that. Whenever a window was broken, he’d repaired it. And the lock on the front door worked as well as ever.
‘‘Then what? We get a key from Denise? Because if that’s the case, she and I can just—’’
‘‘Denise doesn’t have a key. So far as she knows, or anyone in town, for that matter, there isn’t one.’’
Maggie gazed at him. ‘‘But there is one, and you have it.’’
‘‘Yep. How does one o’clock sound? I could pick you up if you want.’’
‘‘That’s okay.’’ She kept her voice businesslike. ‘‘I’ll meet you there.’’
Once she’d walked out the door, Sean pulled out his cell phone and called Calvin Gilmore. He was scheduled to spend the morning working at his house, but that wouldn’t be happening.
First he had to have a chat with Dorcas and Ambrose and find out what their game was. And then he would spend the rest of the morning cleaning the old house. Inviting Maggie there might not have been the most brilliant idea he’d ever had, but maybe he could turn it to his advantage.
Maggie left the Hob Knob with the distinct impression that Sean was putting the moves on her. Of course he would try, because he didn’t want her buying the property out from under him. Maybe he imagined he could seduce her so thoroughly that she’d agree to do whatever he wanted. If he imagined that, he must have incredible confidence in his sexual powers.
Damn it, now she was getting curious about those powers, which was not good. At least she wouldn’t be tempted during the tour of that wreck of a house, and at dinner she’d be chaperoned by the ever-vigilant Madeline, who didn’t allow any goings-on under her tablecloth.
Maggie had never been fondled under the table by any man. She projected the sort of no-nonsense attitude that discouraged groping, and she’d always been pleased about that. But hearing about Sean’s checkered past gave her the feeling she’d been missing out.
As she crossed the street, her BlackBerry played the first few bars of ‘‘Yellow Rose of Texas,’’ H.G.’s assigned ring. She stepped up on the curb before answering it. ‘‘Hello, H.G.’’
‘‘Grady, you’re pushing it, taking off without telling me where you were goin’.’’
‘‘I wanted to surprise you with a really great location.’’
‘‘And where is that?’’ Static crackled, disturbing the connection.
‘‘I’ll tell you soon, I promise.’’
‘‘What’s that? You’re cutting out on me, Grady.’’
‘‘I’ll tell you soon!’’
‘‘Damnation, woman, why won’t you tell me right now? Are you working for me or not?’’
Maggie’s heart rate picked up. She hadn’t wanted to accuse anyone of anything, but now she had little choice. ‘‘I am working for you. But I think you have someone on the payroll who’s working for MegaMart.’’
‘‘What are you saying? I can’t hear you worth a damn.’’
‘‘Three times I’ve lost out to MegaMart, and each time they seemed to know all about SaveALot’s plans to secure a particular location. That gave them an advantage.’’
‘‘Say that again. I didn’t catch it all.’’
‘‘I think you have a spy!’’
‘‘The hell I do!’’ He sounded furious. ‘‘That kind of crazy accusation won’t cover up your ineptitude, young lady.’’
Maggie took a deep breath to keep from saying something she’d regret. ‘‘Please let me work out this location on my own without anybody in the company knowing about it. I need the chance to prove myself.’’
The static crackled again, creating spaces in the transmission. ‘‘. . . tell . . . where . . . are.’’
She didn’t want to. His son, Kyle, worked for the company, and H.G. told his son everything. Maggie had strong suspicions about Kyle, who smiled all the time but had the hardest eyes Maggie had ever seen on a human being. She thought Kyle resented his highly successful, workaholic father.
‘‘I’ll tell you soon,’’ she said to H.G.
The reception cleared. ‘‘Tell me now if you value your job.’’
Maggie gulped. ‘‘Whoops! Gotta go! I’m late.’’ And she hung up on her boss. Worse yet, she hit the off switch, blocking all calls. Well, he couldn’t fire her if he couldn’t get in touch with her. By the time she turned on her phone, she’d have a location that would make H.G. drool, and he couldn’t very well fire her then, could he?
Slipping the BlackBerry into a pocket in her purse, she walked into the real estate office to find Denise on her hands and knees under the desk.
Maggie cleared her throat. ‘‘Uh, Denise? Anything wrong?’’
‘‘Stupid computer! Stupid electr
icity! I was on the Internet, looking for that e-mail, and then I guess there was a power surge and the screen went blank. I’ve been trying everything, and just now I plugged into a different outlet, but that doesn’t seem to make any difference. That’s why I didn’t call you.’’
About that time, the lights went out.
Denise groaned and crawled out from under the desk. ‘‘What next, a pipe giving way?’’
‘‘Believe me, I know about old buildings.’’ Maggie was determined not to let this glitch hold her up. ‘‘I’ll get my laptop out of the car. It has a good battery in it.’’
‘‘Great.’’
As Maggie headed back out to her car, the office lights came on again. Good. She’d hate to depend entirely on her laptop battery. But at first, just to get the necessary e-mail, she wouldn’t plug into the building’s dicey wiring.
Back in the office, she took her laptop out of its case, opened it and pushed the power button.
‘‘Here, use my desk.’’ Denise gestured toward it. ‘‘I’m sure glad you brought a computer. I could have borrowed one from somewhere, I guess, although there aren’t as many computers in Big Knob as you might think.’’
Maggie was beginning to get the picture that Big Knob was a decade or so behind the rest of the country. ‘‘Just hook me up to your DSL and we’ll be good to go.’’
‘‘I don’t have DSL.’’
Maggie sighed. Keeping a positive attitude was becoming tougher by the minute. ‘‘Then who does?’’
‘‘Nobody. We just haven’t felt the need for it in Big Knob. Dial-up works fine for us.’’
Maggie fought the urge to scream. She’d let go of dial-up ages ago, so her laptop was useless. H.G. was in a firing mood, and she needed to work fast to get back in his good graces. She pulled her BlackBerry out of her purse. ‘‘Then we’ll try this.’’
Ten minutes later, she gave up on the BlackBerry. Although she could get her phone calls, an Internet connection was trickier, and it was obvious she wasn’t going to access e-mail with her BlackBerry while she was in Big Knob. ‘‘How about looking for someone else with a working computer?’’
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