It Started at Christmas...

by Jo McNally

  She was proud of how the magnificent old house looked, but Blake was quiet as she showed him around. His only display of emotion was a crooked smile when he saw the iron chandeliers sporting their fresh coat of shiny paprika paint. Three Persian silk rugs divided the large main hall into a trio of distinct spaces, with the formal dining table occupying one end, a sitting area in front of the fireplace, and another near the library.

  Blake’s future office was still very much a construction zone, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and cabinets being constructed the length of one long wall.

  The living room was almost completely furnished. She’d managed to snag an enormous leather sectional off the floor of a design center. Several low-slung chairs sat by the windows, with a game table and chairs on the opposite end of the room. That’s where the second flat screen was hanging, set up for video games and movies.

  Blake still had nothing to say. He hated it. She was sure he hated all of it.

  He stopped abruptly in the doorway of his suite upstairs. The massive bed was now washed with a cream-colored finish. All of the formerly dark wood trim in the room was painted to match the bed. The walls were soft blue, reflecting the lake outside. Blake stood in the middle of the room in stunned silence.

  “Say something, Blake. You’re killing me.”

  “You painted the bed...” He put his hand on it, then turned with a perplexed look on his face. “I couldn’t envision this. But you did.”

  He went to one of the windows looking out over the lake and ran his hand down the knobby raw silk drapes. Elegant but natural. Rich and rough. Like him. That’s why she’d selected the material, but she’d never tell him that. She was still holding her breath when he turned to look at her.

  “It’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

  She almost laughed out loud in relief. “I’m so glad you like it.”

  He gave her a strange look, then shook his head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Amanda. I knew you had talent, but what you’ve accomplished here in basically a month is mind-boggling. I should stay here and send you to Bali to manage the resort opening. You clearly know how to get things done. And your taste is flawless.” He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Her skin tingled at his touch. “When this house is done, I want to talk to you about doing some redecorating at some of the resorts.”

  Her mind started to spin. Stay in Gallant Lake and work for Blake. Stay here with Zach. Wasn’t that what she wanted? But that kiss...

  “We can talk about that later.” She needed time to process everything. “Right now, Zach needs dinner so we can get him to bed. It’s a school night.”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  She swatted at him and he ducked, laughing. He spun her by the shoulders and nudged her toward the door.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amanda leaned against one of the two stone pillars flanking the driveway, wishing she’d grabbed a jacket before coming down to meet Zach’s bus. It was almost November, and the air was chilly and damp.

  Blake had been back at Halcyon for a couple weeks now, and they were settling into a comfortable routine. They kept their relationship professional during the day, and carefully platonic outside of work hours. They made it work by making Zach their priority. It took a while for uncle and nephew to really warm up to each other. Zach resented his uncle’s arrival. Not only because of the argument he’d witnessed, but because he felt Blake betrayed Zach by sending him away, first to Blake’s brother, then to boarding school. At least, that’s what Zach told the school counselor. The counselor recommended Blake give Zach time to start trusting. That Blake would have to earn it.

  It was sports that had finally broken the ice a few days earlier. When Amanda showed them Zach’s redecorated room, complete with pinstripes and life-size decals of his favorite athletes on the wall, Blake was almost as excited as Zach was. Amanda tried explaining her paint and curtain choices, and realized they weren’t even listening. They were busy studying a poster of the home football team, debating their chances in the play-offs this year.

  During dinner in the solarium that night, the two moved on from football to discover more things they had in common. They liked the same computer games. They liked Star Wars and Star Trek and anything else that started with star. And they both loved her dark chocolate cake. Zach was still wary of Blake, but at least they were talking.

  Blake worked from his office at the resort every day while Zach was in school and Amanda was supervising the work at Halcyon. Then he’d help his nephew with homework while Amanda prepared dinner. The three of them would gather in the living room after the meal for television, a movie, video games or a hotly contested game of cards.

  Once Zach was in bed, Amanda and Blake would watch television or read before retiring to their rooms. Conversation was usually at a minimum when they were alone together, but their time was still comfortable and relaxed, except for that pesky sexual tension that always made her heart race in his presence.

  There was still some work to be done at Halcyon, but it was on hold while the cherry wood needed for Blake’s office was on back order. In the meantime, Bobby’s crew was working on the outside of the house, ripping up the overgrown shrubbery and beginning repairs to the old fountain. Today they were up the hill, working on the old carriage house, now a garage.

  She was glad to have them out of the house for a while. Especially that one guy, Russ. He put her on edge. It felt like he was watching her all the time. No one was allowed to smoke inside, but the room always reeked of cigarettes when he was in there. Maybe that’s why she took such a dislike to the man—he reminded her of the guy who’d assaulted her in the city. She shook off that train of thought with a shudder.

  She was still fighting off little panic attacks, although she’d been better since Blake’s return. The nightmares were less frequent, but not gone. With all this stress, starting any kind of relationship with Blake right now would have been a bad idea. Besides, Zachary needed a stable home, free from drama. That was why she’d begged Blake to dial it back. It was the right thing to do.

  He wasn’t making it easy to ignore the sizzling energy between them, though, making a habit of appearing at odd times throughout the day. She’d turn around from cleaning the grout in the solarium, and find him standing in the doorway, watching her with that crooked grin. She and Bobby would spread the plans for the office on the dining table to determine what to do next, and suddenly Blake would be leaning over the table with them, discussing the options. He’d stand so close she could feel the heat from his body, but he was careful not to touch her. She’d be sipping her morning coffee on the veranda, and there he’d be, steaming mug in hand, joining her silently to watch the autumn sun rise above Gallant Lake. She wasn’t sure if he was testing her willpower or his own, but she had no doubt the seemingly casual appearances were very intentional.

  The rumble of the school bus broke her reverie. When Zach saw her standing there, he started waving before the bus even stopped. He jumped off with a football clutched tightly in his hands. Several boys shouted goodbyes to him as the bus pulled away.

  “Miss Amanda! Look, Kyle gave me his old football so I can practice with it!” Zach held it up for her to admire, which she did while giving him a quick hug. He squirmed away, but not until she’d held him for a few seconds.

  “A football? That’s awesome, Zach!”

  “You wanna see how I can throw?”

  She laughed at his eager expression. “Sure! I’ll run up the driveway and you throw me the ball!”

  She caught his first pass with ease. She tossed it back and ran farther up the driveway as he followed. Rain from earlier in the week left the center of the circular drive wet near the fountain, with a huge puddle of standing water at the edge of the paving stones.

  When Zach threw the next pass, it veered to the side. All those childhood memories of playing to
uch football with the neighborhood kids came flooding back to her. She kept her eye on the ball and leaped for it. Her fingers wrapped around the ball and brought it down, but she lost her footing.

  And landed with a splash in the midst of the muddy water.

  * * *

  Blake was chatting casually with Jamal in the surveillance room as they reviewed some of the new camera locations at Halcyon that had been added to the resort’s security feed. Jamal cleared his throat and grew serious.

  “I was talking to Julie yesterday, and she said some of the employees are being harassed around town.”

  He stiffened. “What?”

  “Julie had some guy ask her if she worked here. When she said yes, he spat at her feet and called her a money whore, then took off.”

  “Jesus...”

  “Yeah. A few other employees have reported incidents, too. And in the past couple of weeks, we’ve had some cars vandalized in the employee lot. Key scratches and crap like that.”

  “And you’re looking into it?” Jamal gave a sharp nod.

  “I’ve got Tim doing some recon around town to see if he can ID the guys. Julie didn’t recognize him. We brought the deputy sheriff into the loop, and he’s on it, too.”

  “Oh, great.” Sheriff Dan, who grew up in Gallant Lake, wasn’t a fan of his casino plans.

  “Dan’s good people, Blake. He doesn’t want this kind of trouble in town.” Blake looked at the camera feeds coming from Halcyon, and Jamal rushed to reassure him. “The so-called preservation society swears it’s not one of theirs. We’re keeping a tight eye on the house. The new cameras will help.”

  On one of the monitors, Blake saw Zach jump off the school bus, running toward Amanda. Their quick, tight embrace was such a simple thing. Such a moment of very normal, everyday joy for a little boy. Blake had never in his life ridden on a school bus. He’d never been greeted at home like that. Amanda was right. Zach needed this. It was everything Tiffany wanted for her boy.

  Amanda took off running and disappeared from the view of the gate camera. Then Zach threw the football. Jamal was watching the same action, and he tapped a few keys to switch the view to the feed from the cameras on the front of Halcyon, looking down the driveway.

  Amanda was running, her eyes firmly on a well-thrown football. He could see what was going to happen, but there was nothing he could do to warn her. She leaped for the ball and fell into about five inches of muddy water. He held his breath until she sat up, unhurt, her ponytail hanging down her back in a soggy mess. And clutching the football in her hands. He couldn’t stop from laughing out loud, and Jamal chuckled, too.

  Zach was running up to Amanda now, and even without sound it was easy to see he was laughing hysterically. He dropped to the driveway and howled with glee, arms wrapped around his stomach as Amanda sat there in the water eyeing him. She held out her hand for Zach to help her up. He stood and walked over.

  “Don’t do it, Zach!” Blake and Jamal both called out at the same time. Even from that distance, they could read Amanda’s expression and body language.

  Zach couldn’t leave her there. He couldn’t see this damsel in distress was plotting revenge. As soon as she clasped Zach’s hand, Amanda yanked him into the puddle alongside her. Water and mud went flying when he landed on his hands and knees. He sat up and looked like he was sputtering. Not satisfied, Amanda smacked the heel of her hand onto the water and splashed Zach. They were both laughing now, and Zach splashed her back. Amanda tackled him into the thick mud at the edge of the water. He grabbed a handful of mud and rubbed it into her face. Blake winced and laughed out loud again.

  Those two were having too much fun. In a mud puddle. Something else Blake had never done. A memory of Tiffany came back to him in a rush, which had been happening a lot these past few weeks. Tiffany was about Zach’s age in this particular memory, and she was dancing on the back terrace of their house on Long Island in the pouring rain. Her long dark hair clung to her skin, her clothes were drenched, and still...she danced. He could hear her laughing voice, begging him to join her. But he didn’t. He was too afraid of what his father would have said.

  There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his vivacious sister would have been right there in the mud today with Amanda and Zach. He watched as they scrambled for the now slimy football. Eventually they both got to their feet, still laughing and wrestling with each other. That’s when Blake identified one of the emotions coursing through him. He was envious.

  He was envious of these two people finding that much joy in a mud puddle. He was envious of Zach being able to hear Amanda’s pealing laughter while Blake watched a silent monitor. He was envious of Amanda planting a big, muddy kiss on Zach’s face. He was even more envious of Zach for receiving that kiss. He stood abruptly and left the room without saying a word to Jamal.

  He needed to get to Halcyon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Amanda and Zach climbed the stone stairway laughing and gasping for breath. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed this hard. It wasn’t until they reached the door that she realized they had a dilemma.

  They were covered in mud and dripping wet. They couldn’t go inside like this. Not across those newly polished marble floors and hand-knotted silk rugs. Amanda pressed her lips together. That’s what she got for cavorting in the mud like a teenager. She looked at Zach.

  “Okay. We need to get you into a bathtub, but I don’t want to bring this mess in the house. Take off your shoes and socks and leave them out here. I’ll run and get some towels from the laundry room and I’ll be right back to wrap you up and get you upstairs. Okay?”

  Zach nodded with a shiver. She should have been more practical and kept him out of the puddle. She toed off her muddy sneakers and rolled up her jeans.

  “I’ll be right back—stand close to the building to stay out of the wind, okay?”

  “I’m cold, Miss Amanda.”

  “I know—I’ll hurry.” Amanda wrung the water out of her ponytail—she must have looked a sight—and dashed into the house. She ran to the laundry room next to the kitchen, grabbed two big towels and ran back into the main hall. She slid to a stop when Blake walked through the front door with Zach in his arms. Uh-oh. Surely Randall men didn’t believe in playing in the mud. She braced herself for a scolding.

  But wait—he was grinning. He winked at her as he walked by. Winked!

  “I’ll take care of this little mud puppy. You get yourself into a hot shower, Miss Amanda.”

  “But your clothes...” He was holding the filthy little boy against his white dress shirt and gray pants. The shirt was surely ruined. Zach looked up at Blake mischievously and slapped his hand against Blake’s cheek, leaving a perfect muddy handprint. Amanda couldn’t hold back her giggle.

  “Nice,” Blake said with resignation. “It’s a little late to worry about clothes at this point. You both need to get clean, warm and dry. Upstairs. Now.” His words were demanding, but his brown eyes were twinkling with humor. She threw a towel around Zach and draped the other around herself to catch the dripping water as she followed them upstairs.

  Steam wrapped around her in the shower and she sighed as her body warmed up again. When she stepped out to dry herself, she could hear Blake and Zachary laughing in Zach’s room next door. She could only imagine what that bathroom was going to look like when they were done. The deep timbre of Blake’s laughter made her skin tingle as she pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a sweater. He stopped by her room and called through the door that he and Zach were headed down to the living room, and he was going to light a fire. She told him she’d join them shortly.

  But first, Zach’s bathroom.

  She got on her hands and knees by the bathtub and scrubbed the remaining dirt from the sides. Blake may have cleaned the boy, but he was predictably blind to the mess he left behind. She reached across to wipe down the far side b
efore rinsing it one last time.

  There was a sharp intake of breath behind her. Blake stood in the doorway. His clean shirt was still unbuttoned, leaving a wide swath of chest exposed. She forced her eyes away from that sight to make eye contact. But his eyes were focused elsewhere. They were fixed on her behind, which, from his angle, must have been quite a sight with her in this position. She blushed and sat back on her heels quickly. His eyes flickered to hers.

  “Hey, you just ruined my view.” He grinned and tipped his head toward the door. “Come down and enjoy the heat from the fireplace. We have staff to clean bathrooms. Although I may rethink that after the sight I just had...”

  She threw the sponge at him playfully and turned on the water to rinse the soap away.

  “You’re such a diva, Blake. How did you ever become so successful in the hotel business when you can’t even clean up after yourself?” She held out her hand for him to help her up. He ignored her question and asked one of his own.

  “Isn’t this how Zach met his fate outside? Helping you to your feet?”

  He read her confusion and laughed as he pulled her up to stand directly in front of him.

  “Security cameras. I was in the surveillance room.”

  “They’re watching us from the resort?” She knew there were cameras, but it never occurred to her that someone was sitting around watching her.

  “Relax. Exterior views only—the entrances and the gate. Today’s episode of Life at Halcyon was highly entertaining.” He was looking at her intensely now, a look that didn’t match the playfulness of his voice. The air evaporated from her lungs when he slid his arm around her back and pulled her close, brushing her damp hair away from her face with his other hand. His fingers lingered on her cheek. “Actually, I find everything you do to be highly entertaining.”

  Since his return, they’d carefully avoided touching each other. It was all a wonderfully played performance. But now they were too close. He smelled like soap and something intoxicating. She found herself leaning into him rather than pulling away. Unbidden, her hands rested on his forearms, then slowly slid up past his shoulders, stopping with her fingers behind his broad neck. He stared at her silently, waiting for her to decide what would happen next. With a groan of surrender she pulled him down to her mouth. She wanted this. She needed it. Right now.