“Did it help?”
“We could hardly believe it when she came home,” Brad said. “She was...Mom again.”
Zack nodded. “It took Dad a while to pay off the credit cards, but it was worth every penny. I kept imagining what kind of magical place could do so much, and it seemed a marvelous thing to design and build. Especially if I was the one who made it happen.”
“You wouldn’t believe how into it he got,” Brad added. “He even made model buildings and tiny swimming pools with hot tubs. It was very eclectic, with a sky rail and everything from South Seas elements to a dash of Mad King Ludwig’s castle.”
Zack laughed. “Hey, I was ten. I tried to get it passed off as a science-fair project, but my teacher didn’t buy it.”
The story made sense to Jamie, and explained Zack’s passionate zeal regarding Mar Vista. In a way she’d looked for a retreat to recover from her marriage. She couldn’t have afforded a place that pampered her, but she’d created her own little oasis in Granddad’s house.
“You never talked this way when we were in college, Zack,” Kim said curiously. “I figured the resort was simply part of your overall business plan.”
Zack raised an eyebrow. “Give me a break. I was a guy. A college student with an image to protect.”
“Right, and twenty-year-old guys don’t talk about ideals, just success. Male pride strikes again.”
“I don’t mind talking about it now.”
Kim lifted her water goblet and made a small gesture with it. “That’s because you’ve accomplished everything you dreamed of and more. Case in point—this goblet is fine, lead crystal, right?”
“It had better be.”
Jamie hid a smile.
Zack’s resort was a truly amazing place and she could see how helpful it could be for someone who was ill or traumatized, or just needed to recover their spirits for another reason. But from what Zack had said about paying off credit cards, it sounded as if his family hadn’t been wealthy when he was a kid.
“Could your parents have afforded a place like Mar Vista?” she asked without thinking.
Zack seemed startled. “What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Forget it.”
“No, I—”
The wine steward came to the table and spoke to Brad. “Sir, I’ve chilled another bottle and apologize for the poor quality of the first. Would you like to sample it?”
“Sure.”
Brad tasted the wine and gave his approval. The wine was poured all around, and shortly after that, the first of Gordon Chen’s fabulous appetizers made it to the table.
Jamie noticed that Zack seemed distracted, then he shook his head and rejoined the conversation.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A VAGUE DISQUIET nagged the back of Zack’s mind, but he pushed it aside. At the moment it was more important to focus on the evening. The server set small fine china dishes in front of them for the appetizers. Jamie put a stuffed mushroom on her plate, cut off a piece and ate it.
He swallowed hard as she delicately licked her lips. Was she being deliberately provocative? She saw him staring and raised her eyebrows. The next time he was sure she was doing it deliberately, as she followed the bite with an inscrutable little smile.
“This is incredible,” she declared. “Can you believe what Gordon does with a mushroom and a bit of cheese?”
“Downright sinful,” Kim agreed.
Zack couldn’t stand it and stood. “How about another round or two, Jamie?” he asked. “They know we’re using the dance floor, so they’ll slow the delivery of our food.”
“Your staff is well trained.” She stood with an enticing twist of her body. Hell, who’d have guessed a seductress was hiding at the Little Blue Fruit Stand?
The band was playing a faster piece, giving him less of a chance to put his arms around her waist. On the other hand, her supple movements were a feast for the eyes, and he wasn’t the only man who thought so. One of the single men staying at the resort stood at the side of the floor, watching with appreciation. As the music switched to a slower selection, Zack twirled Jamie to the opposite side to prevent her admirer from cutting in.
“That man looked nice,” said Jamie with a saucy look. “You could have introduced us. You did with everyone else the other night.”
“That particular introduction wouldn’t enhance the image of us as a couple.”
“Anything for the cause, I suppose.” She snuggled closer.
A pained humor went through Zack; she knew exactly what she was doing...and was enjoying torturing him.
“Careful,” he muttered. “Remember what happens to girls who play with fire.”
“Been there, done that,” she answered, her exuberance fading as she withdrew a few inches.
“Something wrong?”
“Hmm. Bad memory. It doesn’t matter.”
He tugged her close again to distract her, wanting to lure the seductress back. “Tell me something. You’ve heard stories of my spicy childhood. What about you?”
“I’ve already told you I spent every August in Warrington with my grandfather. What else do you need to know?”
“Well, was there ever anything between you and Curt Saldano? You seem to have a history.”
“We were buddies as kids and engaged in a little heavy kissing as teenagers. He didn’t dare try more than that with Granddad standing guard.”
“That must have been frustrating.”
“We were never serious. It was an experiment to see if we were friends, or something else.”
“Being friends won?”
“Don’t knock it. I’m a big fan of friendship.”
“So am I, but I’m also a big fan of...that something else.”
“Really?” Her eyes glinted. “I would never have guessed. Of course, maybe it depends on how you define it.”
“You want to get together and compare dictionaries?”
She closed her eyes as if in ecstasy. “Gosh, an evening discussing semantics. You really know how to wow a girl.”
Laughter and desire stirred together in his gut. It was a potent combination.
The music finished and they started back to their table while he cast about for another topic as a continued distraction. “What about you and your brother...David, is it? Did the two of you get along?”
“Same as kids in a candy shop. David’s a few years older than me and we squabbled because there wasn’t anyone else to fight with. We’re good friends now.”
“If he had a chance to tell a ‘taco’ story on you, what would it be?”
Her smile peeped out again. “There was the time when he was a senior in high school. I sneaked out and tied a just-married sign to his bumper right before he went on a date. He didn’t see it for a few days and his friends were congratulating him for weeks.”
“Bet that took the spice out of his dating life for a while. What did he do to deserve it?”
“He read my diary.”
“Ouch. I don’t have a sister and even I know that’s asking for trouble.”
“I must admit, the just-married sign was only the first of several calculated moves I made for vengeance, especially when I found out that he’d told my boyfriend a couple things from my diary.”
At the table, Kim and Brad were starting on a new platter of appetizers.
“We should get started,” said Zack. “They’ve got traction on us.”
The salads arrived as they finished nibbling their way through a plate of “tasty bits,” as Gordon called them. After the main course, they all went to the dance floor and didn’t return to the table for quite a while, at which point they were presented with a tempting array of desserts.
“No, thank you,” Jamie said. “I�
�m full.” Kim was shaking her head, as well.
“How about sharing some of mine?” Zack asked.
Jamie cocked her head. “Maybe a bite or two.”
So of course, Brad suggested the same to Kim.
“Another dance?” Zack asked as they sipped on coffee.
Jamie made an expression of regret. “It’s been wonderful, but it’s getting late and this has been a long day.”
Damn. For a while he’d forgotten—she’d started her workday with the discovery of more vandalism. She had to be exhausted.
“Of course,” he said. “Let me get you home. Kim, Brad, will you excuse us?”
They started to rise and Jamie waved them down. “Don’t cut your evening short on my account. It was lovely spending time with you both.”
“Good night,” they said, almost in unison.
Satisfaction settled deep in Zack, at least on his brother’s behalf. Brad and Kim seemed to be getting a clue that they could be a couple.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Kim stretched and rolled onto her side. As with everything at Mar Vista, the beds and linens were top-of-the-line...even more comfortable than her mattress at home. She had to find out where to get one like it.
She turned over again and smiled when she saw her gown from the previous night lying across a chair. Dinner as a foursome had proved to be both fun and surprising.
So, Jamie and Zack were getting cozy.
Maybe it was inevitable for two lonely people to hook up after spending several nights together in a tiny trailer. But given what Kim knew of them, they were as mismatched as lovers could get and the long-term outlook was questionable.
Too bad. Zack was a great guy who’d probably spend the rest of his life having brief affairs and being buried in ledger sheets. She’d long since realized they were never truly in love, which was a good thing since his business goals were his one true passion, even back in college. Mar Vista was undeniably a marvel, but hardly a substitute for home and family.
Of course, Zack wasn’t the only Denning with a single-minded passion—Brad was pretty passionate about being a marine. For his sake, she hoped his military career hadn’t ended. But even as she thought it, her stomach dropped.
Kim glanced at her watch, trying to push the sensation away. It was early. In the afternoon she was going over to see Jamie, who’d promised to close the stand early and show her the jewelry she’d been working on. Lots of time until then.
Brad was likely on his morning trek...maybe she’d sleep awhile longer, and see if she could catch up with him later.
She closed her eyes again, yet she kept remembering how good Brad had looked while they were dancing—healthy, the lines of pain on his face nearly gone...and very, very handsome. In his own way he was even more attractive than Zack, and that was saying something. They were so different, sometimes it was hard to believe they were brothers.
Kim smiled sleepily. She’d really enjoyed dancing again...and Brad was awfully good company.
* * *
JAMIE FIXED BREAKFAST and ate on the porch where she could watch the sun rise over the hills in the east and admire the ocean in the west. Her great-grandparents couldn’t have chosen a better location for their home.
It had been a quiet night, and in the early-morning sunshine, any anxieties hardly seemed worth the effort. Of course, she hadn’t seen the fruit stand yet, but that could wait. The glow from the evening at the Sunfish Grotto still lingered. Who would have believed she could have such an enjoyable time in Zack Denning’s company? And what fun to flex her feminine power; it had been disappointing when fatigue took over despite everything.
When they’d arrived at the house, Zack had tried to initiate a kiss, but she’d shied away, knowing where it could lead. But he still insisted on checking every single window and door for security, and waited on the porch while she bolted the front locks...as if she needed to be told that it was smart to secure her own home.
When the clock ticked to 7:00 a.m., Jamie knew it was time to face whatever was waiting at the fruit stand.
And it was bad.
She surveyed the damage bleakly. Cleaning up would take a while and it was questionable how well she’d be able to function that day. The display stands were in pieces again, but this time they were broken beyond repair. The canopy was down and ripped, with Bitch scrawled beneath the Get Out message. Her eyes burned. She swallowed and clenched her jaw. No asshole would make her cry uncle. Bullies didn’t deserve to win.
She took a deep breath. Nothing was going to get cleaned up and fixed by standing there and looking at it. She snapped numerous pictures to document the damage, and called to leave a message for Curt, telling him what had happened and that she hoped to have pictures to help the investigation. The dispatcher told her not to touch anything until an officer came by.
A sheriff’s car pulled up ten minutes later and the young deputy she’d met weeks ago climbed out.
“Gosh, miss,” he said, studying the mess. “That’s just plain wrong.”
An ironic humor struck her, but she knew he wouldn’t understand if she laughed. “No one could have said it better,” she agreed.
He quickly took his own set of pictures, and dusted the door of the trailer for prints. Jamie removed the memory cards from the video cameras and the young deputy carefully put them in evidence bags and labeled them. “I’ll get these to the sheriff,” he promised. “But maybe I could help clean up first. That is...gosh, I hate to leave you with it.”
“No,” she assured him. “Your job is more important. Help Curt catch the guy who’s doing this. That’s what I need most.”
As he pulled out of the long gravel driveway, two vehicles passed him coming in. The first was Zack’s SUV, the second a Mar Vista maintenance truck with three men in the cab.
Zack climbed out, his face darkening with anger as he surveyed the message written on the canopy. The three men in Mar Vista uniforms nodded politely at Jamie.
“Okay,” Zack said. “Let’s get this cleaned up as fast as we can. Ms. Conroe will have deliveries coming soon and will need new displays. Jack, you’re good at things like that. Can you build something with that lumber we brought over?”
“No,” Jamie said. “Don’t worry. I can do it.”
Zack exchanged a very male glance with the other men and gave her a hug. “Of course you can, but you shouldn’t have to.”
“But—”
“Go ahead, fellows,” Zack said, then leaned close to her ear. “Here comes Brad,” he whispered. “This will really cement the belief we’re a couple in his eyes.”
She didn’t dare say anything or she might have let him have it, in more ways than one. He appeared genuinely upset on her behalf, but he was also using the situation for his own benefit.
Leaning down, he kissed her cheek, for all the world to see, as though he were comforting her.
“Anything I can do?” Brad asked when he arrived, looking grimly at the mess.
“I beat you to it today,” Zack told him. “It’s a shame all the work the two of you did yesterday has been undone.”
Jamie jerked, seeing one of the maintenance men go inside the trailer. “No, I will clean up in there,” she said, but Zack held her arm and wouldn’t let go.
The man came out of the trailer after a minute. “Not much mess inside,” he said. “Bet he was scared off. A curtain has been jerked down and the mattress is slashed on the bottom bunk.”
“Ah, hell,” Zack whispered in her ear. “I was rather fond of that mattress.”
She almost smiled. “That’s not funny,” she murmered instead. “This is serious.”
“Believe me, honey, I was completely serious.”
“You’re hopeless.”
“Not in the least. I’m full of hope.”
Brad stood with the men who were working on the displays, showing them what to do and how large they should be.
“Can’t anyone in the Denning family let me handle things on my own?” she muttered.
“That’s not very gracious,” Zack answered.
“No,” she said. “I’m a bitch, and now I’ve got a sign to prove it.”
* * *
ZACK SIGHED AS he watched Jamie stalk away to greet the farmers bringing deliveries. She wasn’t about to surrender her determination to keep her fists raised to the world.
Her sophistication from the previous evening was gone, though not the sexy allure, peeking out from a tight T-shirt beneath worn overalls. They were loose enough to make a man want to slip his hand down inside to explore... Zack shut his eyes and counted to ten.
The night before, he’d emailed instructions to the maintenance supervisor to have three men on the early shift ready to go with him on a special job. When he’d met them at the maintenance yard, he explained that they were driving over to help their neighbor who’d been having trouble with vandalism. They hadn’t asked questions, just cheerfully followed. They were fast, too. Some of the repairs were temporary, such as the duct tape over the tear in the canopy. But the stand was in functioning condition in less than an hour. Jamie, of course, tried to pay them, which they refused, though they left with baskets of fruit she’d pressed on them.
When everything was put back in order, Brad continued his walk. Jamie rounded on Zack once they were alone. “I did not need you to rescue me.”
“Hey, it made a good show for everyone. And it got you up and ready for business, so why complain?”
“You just don’t get it, do you?”
Harlequin Superromance January 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Everywhere She GoesA Promise for the BabyThat Summer at the Shore Page 74