Two
“What do you mean?” Heather asked.
“Did you ever watch ‘The Bachelor?’ One of the girls was a spy who told the bachelor everything they said about him behind his back.”
“Are you suggesting someone among us might be a plant?”
“You never know.” Cupping her chin, Rex tilted her face upward. “Tell me, Heather, do you have a boyfriend?”
Her skin flushed. “No, I don’t, but that’s irrelevant. My personal status has nothing to do with the job that’s required.”
“The rules don’t say anything about our remaining celibate. I’m single, too.”
Lost in Logan’s mesmerizing stare, Heather gradually became aware of a splashing noise. “Do you hear that?”
His head jerked up, his nostrils flaring. “Sounds like water spilling.” Spinning around, he lunged out the door.
Heather followed him two doors down to number six, where she couldn’t help admiring the cherry king-size bedroom suite.
Rex cursed from the bathroom. “The toilet’s overflowing. The floor is flooded. Get a mop.”
Heather raised her hands. “We don’t have a mop. Did you tell Jon to get cleaning supplies?” She watched his butt tighten as he crouched to shut off the water faucet. Nice view, by golly. His sinewy arm muscles contracted while he wrestled off the porcelain tank cover and fiddled with the plumbing.
“No, but I have to visit a hardware store to get what I need anyway. Is there a Home Depot nearby?”
“I’m not familiar with this area. I’ll tell you what, let’s go into town together. I’d like to ask the merchants if there’s a community newsletter and what they do for local advertising. We should get on the national B&B listings and into travel guidebooks, too, but that may take some time.”
“I think Jon planned to pick up a computer at Best Buy. You can check out hotel reservation links on the Internet.”
“We’ll need a Web page, also. I can design a temporary site using WordPress. But Dave has to set up his registration program on the computer. I hope he told Jon to buy Microsoft Office. All this is going to take time to install.”
Rex straightened his spine, shaking out his wet hands after looking futilely for a towel. “Speak of the devil.”
“Hey, what are you guys doing in my room?” Dave demanded, hooking his thumbs into his jeans waistband.
“Take a look,” Heather said.
She backed away from the bathroom door to give him a glance inside, but he stepped behind her and encircled her with his arms. “Maybe you wanted to get me alone, and he butted in, huh babe?”
She shook him off. “Not quite.”
“So what gives?” His lecherous grin turned her stomach.
“Your toilet got stuffed. There’s water all over your floor, and we’ve nothing to dry it with.”
He jabbed a stubby finger at Rex. “That’s his problem. He’s maintenance. Where’s your plunger, man?”
Rex looked as though he’d like to plunge his fingers down Dave’s throat. “I’m going into town to get supplies. I have a feeling this won’t be the last of our troubles.”
She remembered his warning about Logan but thought it more likely that another contestant had tampered with the plumbing, hoping to disqualify Rex if he fumbled. Her glance met Dave’s. “Aren’t you supposed to be working with Michelle on listing our priorities?”
“She’s down by the lake, looking at the possibility for a dock.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rex said. “Maybe I should help her. I know about boats.”
“No way. We’re going into town.” Heather grabbed his arm and pulled him close. Too close. She felt his body heat radiate toward her.
Dave gave them a speculative glance. “You’d better have this, like, fixed by tonight,” he said to Rex. “We don’t want no stains on the floor when our guests get here.”
“Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll have it as good as new.”
On their way downstairs, Heather prodded him. “I’ll bet you already have in mind the kind of sport fishing boat you want.”
“I can show you a picture.” He drew a brochure from his back pocket. Its print had faded, and its creases were worn as though it had been unfolded many times.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” Heather said, studying the sleek craft while alternately watching her footing on the stairs.
“It’s a forty-five-foot Hatteras. Has two cabins, a salon, and a fully equipped galley. Here’s the flybridge, and this is the cockpit. See this? It’s a live-bait well.”
She thought of squiggly creatures and shuddered. “Boating isn’t my thing. I’ve always been afraid of drowning at sea.”
“You’re just a green landlubber. You’d love her if you saw her in person,” he added with a grin.
He spoke of his dream vessel as though it were a woman. “Have you ever been married?” she blurted, wondering if his boat held more importance to him than a wife.
“Nope. You?” At the foot of the stairs, he slanted an amused glance her way.
“No, I’ve been too busy to give time to a relationship. Besides, I haven’t met anyone who—”
“What?”
Could give me the security I need. “I’m still waiting to meet the right person,” she said, shrugging.
“You must have kissed a lot of frogs already. Don’t tell me an attractive woman like you doesn’t have guys asking her out.”
“I never said I don’t date.” Her chin thrust defensively.
“Then maybe you’re picky.”
“Oh, and you’re not?”
His brows drew together. “I don’t want the woman I marry to struggle like my mom. My dad’s business pays the bills, but it doesn’t give him the good things in life.”
And you think fishing for a living will improve your prospects? “My parents live in West Virginia. Mom hasn’t been well lately, and the doctor says a warmer climate would help her. I want to bring them down to live with me. This place would be ideal.”
“So you feel obligated to them, just like I feel obligated to my dad.”
She peered at him closely. “Is that why you haven’t shared your dream with him?”
“I can’t hurt the old man.”
“Then let’s hope he doesn’t watch television.”
“Oh, God, I forgot. We’ve probably been on camera all day.”
After handing Rex back his brochure, she withdrew her car keys from the purse she’d obtained from her room. “Want me to drive? I’ll tell the others we’re leaving, in case they want us to pick up anything else.”
Feminine giggles wafted from the family room facing the rear patio. Walking briskly in that direction, Heather spotted Kim folded around Gary, who’d been measuring the room’s dimensions. Noting her arrival, Gary’s face turned beet red while Kim untangled herself.
“I see you’ve been hard at work,” Heather said in a sarcastic tone. “Rex and I are going into town. He needs some hardware supplies, and I want to talk to the merchants about advertising. Do you guys want us to get anything for you?”
“Telephones,” Gary replied. “Jon is supposed to call the phone company to set up service, but we need phones in each of the guest rooms in addition to the kitchen and entrance hall. Michelle has some lists from the others as well.”
“Fine.” She took his requisition sheet, afraid she’d get stuck shopping when she had to advertise their new business venture. Was this a ploy to sabotage her role?
Tanya waylaid her and Rex when they emerged outside. “You have to take a cameraman with you,” the co-producer said. “Everything you do this week is fair game for our viewers.”
Heather exchanged guilty glances with Rex. Just how much of their interaction upstairs had been videotaped?
That evening after dinner, they had a chance to see the first takes. Watching a monitor set up in the living room, Heather’s jaw dropped when she saw the angle at which she and Rex were caught on film while in the bedroom. It looked as though he were about to kiss her. Her cheeks flushed as the others ribbed them.
“Whoa, looks like you two couldn’t wait to have fun,” Kim said with a snide undertone. Wearing a leopard tank top with black biker shorts, she lounged on the sofa with a languorous air.
“You and Gary got pretty close together in the family room,” she couldn’t help snipping back. “We’re in confined quarters here. We’re bound to interact with each other more quickly than under normal circumstances. It’s our teamwork that counts, not what we do on our personal time.”
As the camera continued to follow them on their trip into town, it focused on their excursion to Lake Osceola where a tour boat ran every morning. Rex had insisted on the detour after they’d completed their tasks. The small body of water wasn’t the ocean that he longed to sail, but she’d seen the yearning on his face. Unfortunately, the way the camera captured the scene, his head angled toward her.
“Let’s go over what we each accomplished today,” Rex said, and Heather threw him a grateful glance. “Sarah?”
The short blonde, sitting in an armchair, grinned happily. “I’ve planned our meals for the entire week and created menus for breakfasts when the guests arrive. I’ve made another shopping list for whoever goes into town next. We’ll need a griddle and an electric skillet. Otherwise, I think we’re okay with all those things we bought today.”
“Did you do what I asked?” Gary said. “Draw up an assignment sheet for each of us to rotate doing dishes? And what about the table linens, did you figure out how frequently they’d have to be washed, and if there’s a commercial linen service that can handle our needs?”
Sarah’s petite face creased into a frown. “I can’t find out about the linen service until our phones are operational.”
“Well, then you should be helping Jon tomorrow. He’s our supply man.”
“I’ll be busy in the kitchen all day. I won’t have time to do anything else.”
Gary half rose from his seat, but Rex waved him back. “She’s right,” Rex said. “Sarah should focus her abilities where she can be the most use. Michelle has been prioritizing our needs. Now we’ve got our basic supplies in stock, what should we do first thing tomorrow morning?” he asked the dark-haired girl.
Heather liked Michelle. They’d talked earlier, and Michelle had confided how she wasn’t happy in her current job as an assistant in an accountant’s office. If she won the house, she’d sell it and use the money to set up her own stationery store. She did calligraphy and already made money on the side doing party invitations.
“Jon said apparently the TV studio had arranged for our phones to be activated on Monday,” Michelle said. “Our cable service will be connected tomorrow. That makes things easier. Heather, keep working on your logo design, and then we’ll see about ordering custom-made products for the guest rooms. Sarah, I understand every Saturday morning there is a farmer’s market by the train station. I think you should meet the vendors.”
“And what will you be doing, besides making lists for the rest of us?” Kim said in a syrupy tone.
“Speak for yourself,” Michelle shot back. “You’ve been so busy coming on to all the guys that I don’t see what you’ve accomplished.”
“Gary and I measured the rooms. He said we need to get some area rugs and lamps for better lighting.”
“Gary’s good at telling everybody else what to do but not at getting much done himself,” Dave kicked in, grinning from his position on the floor.
“Oh, hell, I don’t see how we’ll pull it together the way you people act.” Running a hand under his collar as though the room were too hot, Gary shot to his feet and stalked off.
“Now see what you’ve done,” Kim snapped to no one in particular.
“Look, people, let’s all be nice,” Heather inserted. “We have to get along, and we should appreciate what each of us brings to the table.”
They continued their discussion, during which Sarah excused herself to make a pot of coffee. She took an unusually long time to return with a plate of cookies. Kim went upstairs to use the bathroom, while Dave left with a mumbled excuse about looking in the garage for chemicals to clean the pool. The water would turn green otherwise, he insisted. Since his ambition was to open his own pool service, he volunteered for this duty.
“I’ve just thought of something else,” Rex said. “We don’t have any locks on our doors. Each guest will require a room key. We’ll have to call a locksmith.”
“I’ll go count all the doors, including the ones outside,” Michelle offered. “Is this place wired for a security system? While I’m at it, I’d better check the rooms for smoke alarms.” She hastened away, refusing Sarah’s offer of a coffee mug.
“Heck, you know what we forgot?” Rex said to the remaining three of them. His rangy body leaned against the fireplace mantel. “We’ll need a business license.”
“City offices won’t reopen until Monday,” Heather pointed out. Another problem popped into her mind. She turned to Logan, who’d just strode through the front door, his usually plastered hair in wild disarray. “Do we have insurance for the house, liability coverage, that sort of thing?”
“That’s your group’s responsibility to arrange,” he said, smoothing his head and tugging his sport coat into place. “Isn’t Tanya here yet? She’s supposed to interview each one of you.”
A chilling scream pierced the night before any of them could answer.