He glanced at her, puzzled. “Forget something?”
“No,” she responded coolly. “I got finished sooner than I thought. Now I’m tired and I’m going to bed.”
Colin smirked at her. “How’d business go?”
“Fine.” Damn him for bringing it up.
He studied her as she stepped in front of him. Then he put a hand out, surprising her by touching her shoulder gently.
“You look sort of upset.”
“I’m fine,” she repeated. She ran her fingers through her hair, a gesture of frustration. “That is, I will be fine.”
“Listen, I’ve been really stressed this week,” he said. “I noticed you had a bottle of wine, but I didn’t want to open it, especially just for me. Care to join me?”
She hesitated. “I really shouldn’t,” she murmured as she breathed in some of his woodsy-smelling cologne.
“Just to unwind a bit,” he coaxed. “It’ll help you sleep.”
Emily laughed at that. Sit next to this unbelievably sexy half-dressed man, drinking wine in front of a crackling fire…and he thought that was going to make her drowsy?
He had to be joking.
He stroked her arm, distracting her. “Come on. One glass.”
“Just one,” she heard herself say and then found herself sitting on the couch.
Oh, this is such a very stupid idea.
Colin went into the kitchen, opened the fridge and got out the light pinot grigio that she’d been chilling. He poured two glasses and handed her one,
sitting next to her.
“Aren’t you, uh, cold?” she said, nodding at his bare chest. If this kept up, she’d be blushing a permanent pink.
“Huh? Oh. I got sort of hot building the fire up.” He glanced at her. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Uncomfortable is one word for it, she thought. “I wouldn’t want you to get a chill.”
He let loose one of those slow, sexy smiles. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I did an eighteen-month build in Iceland once. I don’t think I’ll ever feel cold again.”
She let her gaze dip down to his washboard stomach…and then lower still, to the dark blue flannel pajama pants.
No doubt about it. The man was definitely hot.
Emily took a sip of wine so hastily she choked on it. “So will the couch be comfortable enough?” she asked when her throat cleared. “You look pretty big.” His eyes widened, and she realized he’d caught exactly where she’d been looking a moment ago. “I mean broad. That is, tall. Well-proportioned!”
He chuckled.
“Oh, hell,” she said and drained the glass, barely noticing when he poured her some more. “I am not usually this stupid. I’ve just had a rough night.”
“Do tell,” he invited, taking a swallow of wine and then putting the glass down on the coffee table.
She surveyed him over the rim of her glass. “I barely even know you.”
“And yet you’re letting me sleep with you—in a manner of speaking,” he said, causing her to laugh. “So what happened?”
She took a deep breath. What the hell. It wasn’t as if he was really a citizen of Tall Pines, anyway. “Promise to keep it a secret?”
He made a gesture of crossing his heart, then held up his fingers in the Boy Scout salute.
“Okay. I was planning on having an affair tonight.” She said it quickly, all in one breath.
He let out a low whistle. “That explains the robe.” he said. She felt the heat of his gaze trace over its contours. It felt wonderful—and after the Joy incident, was a gratifying balm to her injured ego. “With whom, if I might ask?”
“An out-of-towner, someone I’ve been in correspondence with,” she said, shaking her head. The wine was warming her, she thought, letting herself sink back into the plush cushions of her sofa. Or was it the company? “Anyway, it was a disaster.”
“What, was he ugly or something?”
“Worse,” she replied, finishing her wine and putting her empty glass down. “He was a woman.”
Colin choked, then burst into laughter. Reluctantly Emily joined in.
“Serves me right for building up a fantasy around someone I haven’t even met. It seemed like a good idea in theory. Unfortunately the theory got shot to hell.”
“Why did you decide to sleep with someone you didn’t even know?”
“Let’s just say it’s been a while.” She sighed, feeling embarrassment start to swell up again. “And I thought an out-of-towner would be less, you know, complicated.”
He nodded. “This town. A fling with a resident would be like having a fling in the gazebo in the square, complete with the high school band playing accompaniment.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, grateful that he understood.
“So now what are you going to do?” He leaned back, as well, resting his chin on one arm. He looked devastatingly handsome with his hair falling rakishly over one eye. Like some kind of mischievous sex god.
She swallowed, trying to moisten her suddenly dry mouth. “I have no idea, honestly.” Emily closed her eyes, smiling ruefully. “If some gorgeous out-of-town hunk decides to stay and seduce me, maybe I’ll let him. We’ll both have a great weekend or whatever and then he’ll go on his merry way and I’ll go on mine. But I think I’m done attempting to plan for it. If it happens, it happens.”
“Very philosophical.”
She stood up, noticing that her robe had come a little undone. She tightened the belt again. “Thanks, Colin,” she said. “It’s funny, but I really do feel a lot better. I appreciate that.”
He stood, too. “No problem.”
“Good night.” Emily had started to turn and walk away when he stopped her again with a hand on her shoulder. She turned back.
Without warning, he leaned forward, kissing her with slow, deliberate, almost overwhelming intensity. His mouth was firm and hot and amazingly mobile. He didn’t assault her. Rather, he coaxed her. And before she realized what was going on, she was kissing him back with equal desire.
Her passion leaped to life. She clutched his shoulders, reveling in the feel of the muscles bunching beneath her fingertips. His tongue swept through her mouth, tracing the outline of her lips before tangling with her tongue. She moaned softly.
He pulled away, almost as out of breath as she was.
“Just thought you should know,” he rasped. “Technically I’m from out of town.”
The sentence was like a slap, bringing her temporarily dormant conscience to life. What are you doing? This is Ava Reese’s son! This is the guy who couldn’t even remember who you were a few hours ago!
“Sorry,” she breathed, taking a careful step back. “Technically isn’t going to cut it. And I’ve made enough of a fool of myself for one night.”
With that, Emily beat a hasty retreat to her bedroom, locking the door—not for her sexual safety but for his.
Chapter 2
“Merry Christmas, Uncle Colin!” his nieces and nephews chirped.
“Merry Christmas,” he answered, taking a long swallow of his coffee and trying desperately to jump-start his sluggish system. It was nine o’clock Christmas morning, and he was dragging.
He’d spent the past two nights on Emily Stanfield’s couch and had managed to get perhaps one hour’s worth of sleep total, it seemed. While comfortable, it was still a couch—and worse, a couch that put him approximately seven feet away from Emily Stanfield.
Ever since his first night they’d been the picture of civility, and the only words they’d exchanged were pleasantries and logistics: “Good morning,” “Do you need a key?” or “Please help yourself to breakfast in the dining room.”
It was torture.
“What is wrong with you?” his mother asked as she put a plate of her famous Denver omelet and hash browns in front of him. “You’re acting like a zombie.
You’re not sleeping well at that hotel, are you?”
“No, it’s fine,” he lied. “I’ve just
been preoccupied.”
“I knew she shouldn’t have opened that inn,” Ava fretted. “That lovely home, opened up to God-knows-who. Really a shame.”
“She’s done a great job with the place,” Colin said. “I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, and hers is top-of-the-line.”
“Humph.” His mother sounded unconvinced. “Well, her father’s probably turning in his grave. You know how much Tall Pines and its traditions meant to him.”
“Yeah.” Then, without looking up from his French toast, Colin added, “Seems to me Emily is something of a traditionalist, too.”
His mother didn’t notice his sudden curiosity, thankfully. “Oh, she’s still a Stanfield,” she said, as if that explained everything. “She knows her duty.
She’s on the Garden Club Committee, the Easter Committee, she helps plan the Otter Lodge festivals and parties.” She smirked, nudging his father. “She’s dating the mayor, you know.”
Colin’s eyes widened. “Actually, no, I didn’t know that.” And it was something of an unpleasant surprise, he realized as he felt temper start to simmer in his bloodstream. Was she hiding it from him? And what about that whole sob story about not being intimate for a long time? “How long have they been together?”
“Well, now, I wouldn’t exactly say they’re together,” his father corrected.
“Perhaps not technically. But they’re perfect for each other,” his mother continued, frowning at his father. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Colin instantly felt at ease. It was matchmaking, not an actual relationship.
Which meant Emily was still available.
And why exactly does that matter to you? She’s already shot you down once, and you’re only in town till tomorrow, anyway.
It was dumb. But for whatever reason, Emily’s availability did matter to him.
“Enough about that,” his mother said, sitting down next to him at the kitchen table. “So. You’re single again.”
He sighed, finishing a last forkful of the savory breakfast like a man enjoying his last meal. “Alas, yes.”
“You’re not thinking of marrying a French girl, are you? That’s an awfully long way to travel for a wedding.” She brightened. “Unless she’d like to live here.”
His father chuckled. “In which case, you have our blessings, sight unseen.”
Colin rolled his eyes. His father understood his mother’s relentless nature and obviously sympathized with his son, but he also knew enough to stay out of it.
After all, the man had to live here. “I’m still a bit young to worry about marriage, Mom.”
“You’re thirty-four,” she corrected. “Before you blink, you’ll be forty, and that’s going to be hell on your system when you get to 2:00 a.m. feedings.”
“Let me worry about the wife first,” he grumbled, “before stressing about our kids.”
“You need someone who can give you the stability and comfort of small-town living,” she said. “I know that you haven’t always enjoyed living in Tall Pines….”
Understatement of the year, he thought, taking another jolt of coffee.
“But I can’t help but think you’re not giving it a chance. Just like you’re not giving marriage a chance.” She crossed her arms.
This was more than her usual pestering, he noted. She was genuinely upset.
He sighed again. “Mom, we’ve had this conversation before,” he said quietly. “I love you, and I’m glad you and the rest of the family want me to be settled and happy. But I need to travel. I need adventure. I can’t explain it,” he finished miserably. “It’s not that I don’t want to be happy. I seem to need…I don’t know…something I can’t find.”
“Well, maybe you haven’t been looking in the right places,” she pointed out.
He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. On top of very little sleep, this conversation was more than he could handle. “Let’s watch the kids play with their toys, okay? I’m only in town till tomorrow morning—I’d like to enjoy it.”
“Maybe,” his mother continued with her trademark determination, “you could even look right here. Locally, I mean.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” he snapped. “I’ll just go and marry Emily Stanfield tomorrow and give you a dozen more grandbabies, how about that?”
“Colin, don’t be ridiculous,” she chided. “There’s no need to be snide.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I’m a little tired.”
“Besides, Emily’s not right for you,” she said in a tactful tone.
Colin blinked. That wasn’t the response he was expecting.
“She means Emily wouldn’t have you in a million years.” His brother Ted entered the conversation. “Mom, where are the batteries? Kasey’s remote-control pony needs them.”
“Well, that’s insulting,” Colin said. “What’s wrong with me?”
“She’s small-town right down to her marrow,” his father pointed out. “And as is painfully evident to everyone including yourself, you’re nothing of the sort.
Beyond that, she’s known for being somewhat discriminating when it comes to beaus.”
Even his father thought Emily would have nothing to do with him?
Well, if their kiss was any indication, she might not want to marry him, but she certainly approved of some aspects of him.
Of course, she did turn you down.
He grimaced.
“She wouldn’t be your type, anyway,” his mother continued, her tone obviously meant to soothe the affront. “And like I said, she’s dating the mayor.”
“She isn’t dating him,” Colin growled.
His mother’s eyebrow went up quizzically. He could just imagine her maternal-matrimonial radar beeping to life.
Damn it. “Listen, all this talk about marriage and stuff is giving me the heebie-jeebies,” he said. “I don’t mean to be cranky. I’ll be on my best behavior. I just want to play with the kids and enjoy my family on the holiday, before I have to go. Okay?”
She sighed, finally relenting. “All right,” she agreed, hugging his shoulders.
“But I wouldn’t pester you so much if you didn’t worry me, kiddo.”
“I know,” he told her, hugging her back as they went over to the living room.
They watched the kids enjoy their presents all morning, and by lunch Colin was feeling more like himself. However, he had a new problem to deal with.
“It’s been ages since I’ve been over to the hotel,” his mother said. “You never mentioned—how’s your room?”
“Great.” Which was true. “Very comfortable.”
“Queen-size bed or king?”
He had no idea. “Er…queen.”
“She’s a good manager, from what I’ve heard. A very hard worker. She’s been obsessed with the place ever since…” His mother paused, frowning. “I’m sorry.
You’re probably bored with Tall Pines gossip.”
But when it came to Emily, Colin was hanging on every word. “Ever since what?” he asked.
She smiled the satisfied smile of a storyteller who knows she’s got her audience hooked. “Ever since her father died and her mother remarried shortly afterward,” she said dramatically. “Her mother told her that she’d sell the place because she was tired of upholding the Stanfield family traditions. There was no way Emily could manage a building that size by herself, but she knew her father would have hated to lose it. So she came up with a plan to use her trust fund and turn it into a hotel.”
Colin was riveted. “That’s a lot of work.”
“I didn’t agree with it,” his mother said. “It’s not the same, having the Stanfield house open to strangers. Paying customers.”
“What was she supposed to do?” Colin defended. “Give up and get rid of it?”
His mother wrinkled her nose. “Well, if she’d gotten married to someone rich, she could’ve kept the house.”
Of course marriage would be the solution his mother came up with.
“She was e
ngaged, you know,” she added. “Years ago. To Richard Gaines.”
“That jackass?”
She glared at him. “Language, please.”
Colin fell silent, but he was still shocked. Ricky Gaines was a jerk. A rich jerk, granted, but still a complete waste of space.
“They were engaged as soon as she graduated from Amherst,” she said. “But they never did get married. The town was pretty divided on who was at fault.”
“So what was your vote?” It was unheard of for Ava Reese not to have an opinion.
“I say he was.” She sniffed. “Since he got married and had his first baby a few short months after. Some rich blond girl from Boston. Of course, if Emily had been a bit more attentive when they were dating, he might not have strayed, but that’s neither here nor there. Richard and his new family lived here for a year, and it was very awkward for Emily.”
Poor Emily, Colin thought. No wonder she didn’t want to get involved with anybody from town.
His mother put her hand over his. “She’s a lovely girl, and I’ve always felt like the right person might help make her happier. She always seems sad to me, for some reason.”
He’d noticed that, as well. “Poor kid.”
His mother sighed. “She could use a good husband.”
Colin had to change the topic away from marriage—and Emily—in a hurry. “You know,” he finally said, “I thought maybe I’d stay here. One last night with you guys.” Even though the cot was even less comfortable than the couch, it would probably do wonders for his peace of mind. He’d been fixated on Emily for long enough.
“Oh, we’ll miss you, but I think you had the best idea,” his mother said breezily. “It’s far too crowded here with your brother and your sister and the grandkids. As long as you have the room at the inn, you might as well stay, right?”
“I suppose.”
“You know,” she added speculatively, “you’re right.”
Colin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. He knew that look on his mother’s face. “I’m right how?”
“Emily isn’t dating the mayor yet,” she said, smiling mischievously.
He saw the light of hope in her eyes…and calculation.
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