Kate flung her head back in the chair, let her eyes drift closed. Her name wasn’t the only thing that had changed since she’d last seen Danny. “He may expect the best, but he’s not expecting me.”
Chapter 1
Six Years Earlier
Danny Flannery used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his brow and the dust from his goggles when he heard the pong-pong of flip-flops moving toward the staircase. Standing on scaffolding fifteen feet high, Danny looked down and forgot all about the hot sun and the nail gun in his hand.
“Sweetheart,” he said. “You can’t be in here.”
A young woman stood in the doorway, her fall of dark hair swinging past her shoulders. “That’s an awfully big assumption,” she called up to him.
The last thing he needed was another interruption from a curious onlooker, particularly the female kind. Lord knew he’d had enough of those. “What?”
“Your first assumption is that my heart is sweet.” Her words sounded carefully enunciated. “That’s never a safe bet.” She moved to the base of the stairs and stared up at him with her hands on her hips. “Second, how can you be sure I don’t belong here?”
“This is a work area,” he explained. “Unless you’re related to the owners, you need to scram.”
“You mean the Fordhams?”
“Congratulations, kid, you can read. Now out. I mean it. You could get hurt in here.”
“There you go, making assumptions again.”
Danny lifted the safety goggles from his eyes. Without the hazy film of his glasses, he could see long legs showcased by cutoff shorts, high, tight breasts under a strappy tank, and mink-colored hair pulled away from a very appealing face. She was damn-near gorgeous. Having to stop work pissed him off, but his irritation waned as he hopped off the scaffolding and descended the stairs. Her startling bright blue eyes were such a contrast to her dark hair that he really had to work at keeping his scowl in place. “Why don’t you cut to the chase so I can get back to work here?”
“Fordham’s my brother-in-law,” she said. “And this horrific house is on its way to becoming the summer home to my sister and her seriously overindulged daughters.”
“Any more tales you’d like to tell before I kick you out?” He’d seen Fordham and his snooty wife at the site, poking around and making changes. He wondered why they’d bothered to hire an architect when they insisted on changing the plans anyway, especially considering the plans probably cost more than his truck.
“You don’t believe me?” A sly smile snaked across her stunning face.
“Short of a physical description of the guy who owns this place, yeah, I’d have to say I don’t believe you.”
She crossed her arms and struck a bratty pose. “He’s maybe a half inch shy of six feet, dark hair going gray around the temples, and steely eyes the color of…” She poked her finger into his chest. “…this dirt stain right here. He’ll tell you he’s one-eighty, but he’s closer to two hundred, and his Boston accent’s the real deal. He’ll be forty-three in September.” She looked down at her nails before returning her eyes to his. “I don’t know his social security number, but I’m pretty sure I could get it.”
A gorgeous smart-ass. Just what he didn’t need. Danny blew out a breath in concession. “Sorry, kid, but this place draws a crowd. Be careful when you look around and I wouldn’t walk under any power tools if I were you.” He turned and headed back up the stairs.
“If you were me, you’d know how insulting it is to be called a kid when you’re twenty.” She began climbing the boards that served as the staircase.
Dumb girl; the place was dangerous. “The second floor’s off limits until we shore up the floor boards. You’ll have to stay on the main level until then.”
“You’re up there,” she shot back.
“Yeah, Miss, that’s my job. One I can’t finish while I’m talking to you.” He waved her down the stairs with his free hand.
Danny watched as she turned in a snit and headed down the stairs. Sexy from behind, too. He could still feel the chill from the look she’d sent him with her ice blue eyes. He wondered if she had a little tattoo hidden somewhere under those tight clothes. Tattoos were about as rebellious as the rich girls got these days, that and trying to bed a local boy for the summer.
As he methodically nailed the support beams into place, his thoughts lingered on the girl who’d left his line of vision. A girl like that was a distraction. He would’ve felt better if she’d been under eighteen like he’d first thought. Having her legal and poking around the house in those short shorts wasn’t going to help him get through the framing of this house. He hated framing. The finishing work, the detail and steady hand it required challenged him and kept his interest. Not that he cared what he built, but the mansions of Andover meant steady work close to home with decent pay. The money he and his dad made building went a long way towards a better life for his little brother.
Danny saw a flash of dark hair swing by as she made her way through the house. Probably had her nose in the air. His dad had warned him repeatedly to stay away from the summer girls. Patrick Flannery always said Danny’s good looks would be more of a burden than a pleasure. So he’d heeded his dad’s advice and steered clear of the young summer beauties. Most of the time. But a man could look, as Danny did as she passed.
He watched her stroll into the kitchen and stop at the open wall facing the ocean. The Fordhams didn’t have any taste in architecture, but they sure had the prettiest lot in Andover.
* * * *
Kat Fordham paused to look at the stunning view from the rear of her sister’s house, then smirked over her shoulder at the man who’d borne the brunt of her boredom. When she’d first entered the house and glanced up the sprawling spiral staircase to the second story scaffolding, she’d seen work boots and stained jeans molded to a lean butt. The summer, she’d thought with a grin, might not be a total wash.
She’d been out since dawn on the beach bike she’d found in the garage of the small rental cottage she’d call home for the summer. She had heard the South Carolina coast could be muggy, but nothing could’ve prepared a Boston girl for the kind of heat she’d encountered. As she’d pedaled her bike along the streets of Andover Island, sweat inching down her spine, she’d wondered what had possessed her sister Julia to build a house down here. But the quasi-Italian villas and European gabled stucco mini-mansions she passed explained it all.
The under construction Fordham house sat along a stretch of beach past the private club where the marsh met the ocean in a seamless wedge of beauty. With its baroque detailing and monstrous size, the house provided the finale in the true parade of prosperity. In her sister’s usual haste to impress, Julia had directed the architect to create the most pretentious beach home in all of Andover.
The overbearing heat and how much time she’d have to spend in it was another negative on her ever-growing list of reasons not to spend the summer in paradise. And then she’d seen the builder. Beneath all that grime was a serious hottie. He’d shoved a pair of protective goggles onto his forehead and gripped a nail gun as if he could use it on her as a weapon. His sea foam green eyes were so brilliant she could make out the distinctive color from ten feet below. When he’d shaken his dirty blond hair to dislodge the wood dust, Kat had actually felt her mouth go dry. What was it about a man with a tool belt?
He’d called her a kid, but she could practically feel those green eyes admiring her backside. She didn’t flaunt her looks like a lot of her college classmates, and she certainly didn’t tuck them neatly into the sweater sets and tennis outfits her sister preferred. The fact that her wardrobe grated on Julia’s nerves only heightened Kat’s enjoyment of dressing as she pleased.
She looked at her watch and grimaced. Julia would undoubtedly be beside herself when she realized Kat had disappeared. It was time to get back.
She meandered through the bare studs and tried to sneak a peek at the builder before she left. Kat breezed under the s
taircase, thankful the nail gun had ceased firing, and looked up into eyes as mesmerizing as the ocean view out the window. “See you around.” She waved and couldn’t help but smile at his frank appreciation of her.
“See ya, kid.”
Kid, again! From the looks of him he couldn’t have been much older than her.
As she mounted her bike, Kat thought about the next two months of her life, stuck on the small island all summer. Her only reprieve was the part-time job she’d already secured at a local bar. Her tips would go a long way towards earning her freedom from Julia and Len. The babysitting depressed her the most, because until she’d stumbled upon the gorgeous guy she’d just sparred with, she’d had no more to look forward to than hours of beach and pool time with Alexis and Grayson.
Kat felt a twinge of guilt at passing her nieces off as brats. They were spoiled, yes, but they weren’t brats. As much as Julia lamented having to care for Kat as a child, she doted on her trophy twins, proudly parading them around as the chosen children of wealthy industrialist Lenard Fordham IV.
As soon as she turned the corner at the end of the street and saw an unfamiliar car in the cottage drive, she remembered Julia’s appointment with the decorator. Shit. There’d be hell to pay for being late.
The Accidental Encore Page 23