“HI.” HANK CLOSED THE door behind him, removed his sunglasses, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the great outdoors. “Was I seeing things, or was that Mrs. McNeer on the back of that kid’s motorcycle that just went by?”
Over the din of her traitorous heart’s happy singing, Maddie noted Hank’s relaxed attire. Khaki shorts, a T-shirt from the arcade, and leather sandals. He’d donned the protective coloration of a tourist. “It was Celeste, all right. Can you believe it?”
“Of her? Yes.” He folded his sunglasses and secured them in his T-shirt pocket. Then he spied the dog and grinned, nearly sending Maddie to her knees, even though the bone-melting smile wasn’t directed at her. “Hey, Beamer. How’s it going, girl?” Hank squatted down on his haunches and ruffled the dog’s head and ears as he spoke affectionately to her. Beamer wriggled her joy and licked at Hank’s hands.
Drinking in the sight of him, giddily happy and mad at herself for being so, as well as half terrified she was only moments away from behaving exactly as Beamer was, Maddie said, “Too bad you can’t keep her with you at the motel.”
“I’m not at the motel anymore. They had some people with reservations come in. I had to move.”
“I see. Um, where’d you move to?” she pried, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear and smiling, faking the attitude of someone merely being polite and only mildly curious.
He looked up at her, his expression unreadable. “Out to that cottage we went to the other night.”
Maddie’s smile faded. “Oh.” He was staying where his grandfather had. “Good.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she ended up saying everything. “Well, I understand you can have pets out there. Obviously. I mean James had Beamer out there. And we saw those other dogs, too. You and I, I mean. So would you like to keep her for a bit with you? She obviously wants to be out there. And now you’re out there.” You’re babbling like an idiot. Shut up. “I just thought you might keep each other company. Or not.”
Hank didn’t say anything. He rubbed the dog’s ears and managed to give the impression that he was thinking and avoiding Maddie’s gaze. Maddie took this opportunity to take a deep breath and to drink in his athlete’s physique and the smooth and graceful way he squatted on his haunches in front of the dog. Then he suddenly looked up at her, causing her to blink. “Thank you for the offer. But I don’t think that would be a good idea, Maddie. I think it would confuse her when I leave. She needs to know her home is with you now.”
Maddie felt thoroughly chastised. “Of course you’re right. It was just a thought.”
His gaze roved assessingly over Maddie’s face, causing her to tense with wondering what he sought to see. Then he nodded, looking away from her to again pet the dog. After a few quiet ticks on the clock, he said, “So, how’d you do after I left the other night?”
Determined to sound intelligent and sophisticated this time, Maddie breezily said, “Well, there was no bloodletting, if that’s what you mean. And I thank you again for giving her a bath while I went to the store for dog food. If you hadn’t taken control, Beamer would probably still be yucky with sand. And starved, as well.” She laughed breezily, today’s modern woman. And caved. “Oh, who am I kidding? The truth is we were both miserable after you left.”
Hank arched his eyebrows. Maddie choked with realization—that whole “we were both miserable after you left” remark. She felt her face heat up. “What I meant was I couldn’t sleep.” She pointed to the dog. “She wanted to sleep with me.”
Hank chuckled, then his dark-eyed gaze bored suggestively into hers. “She’s not the only one around here who does. But probably for different reasons.”
Maddie’s hormonal pulse skyrocketed. She didn’t know where to look, but she did totally ignore his comment and keep right on talking, a bit too loudly. “So it took me a while, but I coaxed her onto the screened-in back porch. But, boy, she let me know how much she hated that.” Hank grinned at her, revealing a mouthful of white, even teeth that looked as if they could chew her up. Darn him, he knew the effect he was having on her. “Okay,” Maddie said. She pulled at her red apron, fanning herself. “Why is it so hot in here? Did the air-conditioning go out or something?”
Hank looked up and around assessingly, then held a hand out, palm up, as if feeling for the flow of air. “No. It’s on,” he said, maddeningly calm as he slowly raked his gaze up and down her figure … then looked her right in the eye again.
Self-conscious, her mouth dry with want, Maddie crossed her arms under her breasts. “So, it’s nice to see you,” she said pleasantly, desperately. “Did you get all moved in at the cottage?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t much of a move. Just my clothes out to a rickety old beach cottage. You ought to see it inside.”
“I’d love to,” Maddie heard herself blurt. She blinked rapidly and fought to keep a friendly smile, and no more, on her face.
Too late. Hank grinned … like a wolf seeing supper. “Yeah? Well, maybe we can arrange that soon. Right now it’s not presentable for company.”
“I bet. You poor man.” Grateful for this relatively neutral topic of discussion, Maddie stood by benignly and watched Hank and Beamer together. She suddenly became aware of how the two of them filled her shop with their healthy presence. With them here, everything seemed … okay. Good. And warm. Just right, somehow.
Yet she felt like the outsider in this picture. She had to face it: she had no idea how to relate to either one of them, but especially Hank. How was she supposed to think of him? Was she supposed to think of him? And what about all this sexual innuendo, all the things that were not spoken but clearly suggested? The mouth-watering looks. The eye contact. That one hot kiss. The way he always leaned in toward her when they talked. The way she felt when he touched her, when he was simply in the same room with her. The sudden awkward silences … much like this one.
Clearly, they were attracted to each other. Then what was so hard?
But she knew. First and obviously was a lack of trust. She never felt certain Hank’s overtures had as much to do with her personally as they might have to do with him flirting to influence her decision about his going, or not going, to New York to close that business deal and chair the stockholders’ meeting. Whew. It was out in one breath. And too, she had that whole thing with Stanton and being jilted. She was still in retreat from relationships because of that. More out of injured pride, at this point, than lost love, she could now acknowledge. But still, there it was, a real thing in her life.
And on Hank’s part, he had his grief over his grandfather’s passing. The total upheaval of his life. And he’d thought her a gold digger at first. Then he’d found out she was something worse—a threat to him because of his grandfather’s will. And neither one of them had a clue why James had done as he had. Or how this would all work out. So, yeah, Maddie decided, they had some things between them. Big things. Hard things.
Just then, Hank looked up, his gaze locking with hers as he caught her staring. She smiled too brightly and chirped, “So. How are things out at the cottage?”
Hank chuckled and pushed up to his feet. Beamer sat down beside him, as if she’d chosen sides. “I thought we’d discussed that already. But terrible, thanks. That is one ratty place.”
“But more quiet than at the motel with all those kids.” She was remembering their conversation in his SUV as they’d hunted for Beamer.
“Quiet it’s not. I’ve had more visitors today than the White House, I’ll bet.”
“Oh, no. Not reporters?”
“No. The other tenants. Apparently I’ve been adopted into their community. They’re nice people. And I appreciate the food and all the beer and the magazines—”
“Dear God.”
“Exactly.”
Then, out of the blue, the thought becoming words at the same instant, Maddie blurted, “I’ve made my decision about New York, Hank.”
He sobered, his gaze searching her face for clues. “Okay. But not here, Maddie.” He spread his hands, looking around, as if casting about for an idea. “Look, your sign outside says you close at five today. It’s after that now. So how about the Captain’s Tavern again? Dinner’s on me. We can talk there. It’s more neutral, I think. Better for both of us.”
He suddenly looked so young, so vulnerable. Maddie’s heart went out to him, and she smiled to reassure him. She then experienced a sudden appreciation for the fact that this man’s life, his work, the way he thought of himself, were in her hands. But only as long as he allowed it to be. That got her. It was true. After all, and as he’d already told her, he could just say the hell with her and go to New York. He could have kicked about the will, too, and contested it, done something legal to get out of it. Yet he hadn’t. Why? What was really keeping him here? What did he hope to find?
All that took her about three seconds to think. She realized he was still waiting for an answer … while she stood there nervously fiddling with her nametag. “So. The Captain’s Tavern it is.”
* * *
A preserved two-story wooden building painted a bright red, the Captain’s Tavern, with its outside umbrella-covered tables, occupied the broad circular end of the relatively new boardwalk that had been built to link the tourist attractions. The popular watering hole itself overlooked the rocky border that fronted the low sea-grass-topped dunes that in turn led down to the sloping beach. Come the sunset, twinkling rows of tiny lights strung along the overhanging eaves of the weathered building promised a merry time for all, as did the carnival music of the nearby carousel. Add to that the soft glow of an early summer evening and the salt-tinged scent of a gentle breeze, and you had the perfect setting for romance.
But romance had nothing to do with Hank’s bringing Maddie here tonight to a crowded yet neutral setting. Yet romance was all he could think about, despite the gut-tightening drama of what he thought of as her pending New York decision. But here, in this setting, his mind and his body were not thinking of the bottom line. They were seated outside at one of the tables, which Hank had snagged for them when two couples got up to leave. The table had been quickly bussed and Stephie, the waitress, had again greeted them. In front of Hank now sat a chilled stein of dark beer. Maddie had a white wine.
All of that was good. The problem, though, was that Maddie sat facing the beach. That put the sunset behind her, over her shoulder … her bare shoulder. Hank ached to stroke her skin. He knew how it would feel. Soft. Silky. Warm. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. And it sure as hell didn’t help that her golden hair reflected the sun’s rays and lent her the breathtaking appearance of having a halo. Watching her, and filtering the rise and fall of cheerful conversations around them, Hank could barely swallow. After closing her shop, and while he’d fed Beamer and put her in Maddie’s backyard, she’d changed into a spaghetti-strapped sundress that did nothing to hide her curves. In a complete froth now with wanting her, and feeling as if he were on fire, Hank chuckled self-deprecatingly and shook his head.
“What’s so funny?” Maddie grinned expectantly.
“You, Maddie.” With both hands he gestured dramatically at her. “Look at you. Damn.”
Her smile faded. She looked down at her dress, pulling at it. “What’s wrong? Is something showing that shouldn’t be?” She raised her head, showing him an anxious, embarrassed expression.
“No. Nothing that shouldn’t be. But still … everything. You just don’t quit.”
“So, I’m thinking some of these are compliments, right? But you have to help me out here, Hank. What are you saying?”
Hank assessed her. Should he tell her how she affected him? After all, they were at a pretty delicate juncture right now. One wrong word and … poof. His life as he knew it was gone. Instant rebellion flared in his heart. Sort of an “Oh, really? Well, then, what the hell?” thing. He leaned in over the table, closer to her, and grinned. “You’ll probably shoot me for this—and rightly so—but you look like some kind of a sun goddess. I swear you make my mouth water. And I would like nothing better than to, uh, worship you right now.”
With her mouth open as if she had trouble catching a breath and her blue eyes wide, Maddie sat back abruptly. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“No, I don’t suppose you were. But there you have it. That’s how I feel.”
Her face colored a pretty pink, yet she looked troubled. “I cannot believe you are saying these things. Especially now.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve wrestled with this. And I mean how to tell you exactly how you affect me without making you wonder at my motive. But then I decided what the hell, just say it. So the truth is, you’ve taken me completely by surprise, Maddie. I was prepared to fight you tooth, nail, and claw. And I thought I had you pegged. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact, I think my grandfather—”
“Stop right there.” She underscored her words with a hand held up, palm out to him. “Please don’t say anything more.”
Hank’s passion for her, and speaking it aloud, made him bold. “Why? What’s wrong? You’re not going to tell me that you don’t feel this whatever it is between us, are you? Because I’ve kissed you, and I think I know better.”
Maddie sat up straighter, very serious, her mouth a thin line. “Look, I need to tell you that I’m not sure I trust any of this, Hank—any of what I’m feeling, what you might be feeling. Not in light of what brought us together. And not in light of what we came here to discuss.”
“Okay.” Shot down, Hank sat back and crossed his legs, an ankle resting atop the opposite knee. “So we have nowhere to go with this?”
Maddie sighed dramatically. “Oh, Hank, I don’t know. This is the biggest mess. I hate it.” Frowning, she rubbed at her temple and focused on him. “Okay, here’s the thing. And this is hard for me to say. I feel vulnerable. And I hate that buzz word. I do. But it’s how I feel. And I’m afraid that the only reason you’re flirting with me is…” Her voice trailed off. She stared at her hands in her lap. “Is to try to manipulate me into making the decision you want.” She met his eyes now. “There. I’ve said it.”
Hank rubbed a hand over his mouth and chin and then exhaled. “I appreciate your honesty. But I think you sell yourself short. And me, too. You’re a gorgeous, desirable woman in your own right, Maddie—”
“I’ve been told that before, only to be left at the altar. There I was, wearing a white dress and facing a church full of people. Alone. That blessed event was only a year ago, Hank. A very short year ago. And I’m not over it.”
“Damn, Maddie. I had no idea. But you have to know I’m not that guy.”
“Of course I do. But you are a guy, if you get my meaning.”
“Yeah. You’re battle-scarred. No one stands a chance with you. Bitter. Angry. I’ve been there myself. Not as far as the altar, but there.”
She shrugged. “Then you know how hard it is.”
“I do.” He really had no idea what else to say.
Maddie cocked her head, giving him a considering look. She lifted her rounded goblet of wine and sipped at the spirits. “On another subject, where were you going this afternoon when you passed the shop just before Celeste left?”
Glad for this respite from intense subjects, Hank drank from his beer and set it down. “I was on my way to the hardware store. But it apparently closes early, too, on a Saturday.”
Maddie nodded. “Most things do around the town proper. They’ll remain closed tomorrow, too. Except for the businesses here on the boardwalk.” She set her wineglass down. “So what were you going to get at the hardware store?”
Hank chuckled. “If you can believe it, a hammer and nails to pound some stability into the walls of that cottage.”
“Hank, that’s work. You’re not supposed to work.”
“No it isn’t. It’s my new hobby.” He grinned widely. “And hobbies aren’t work.” She was still seriously grim. “For God’s sake, Maddie, if I don’t do something I’ll explode. I’m a workaholic, remember? I need to be busy.”
“Which defies the whole point of the will, Hank. Your grandfather wanted you to relax.”
“Well, in light of that will, Maddie, it relaxes me to pound things with a hammer, okay? And why doesn’t Mr. Hardy fix those old cottages up or tear them down and build new ones?”
“You’re changing the subject, but he doesn’t because he believes that his cottages are one of the few places around here that people who don’t have a lot of money but deserve a nice vacation can afford. So if he went to the expense of fixing them up, or even built new ones, then he’d have to charge more. And that would shut out the very people he wants to serve.”
Chagrined, Hank could only stare at her. “Well, don’t I feel like Little Lord Fauntleroy with my ‘let them eat cake’ attitude.”
Maddie laughed at him. A silvery sound somewhat like the tinkling bell above her shop’s door. “Don’t you mean Marie Antoinette?”
“Probably. But I don’t stand a chance of passing that physical.”
“No one with a head would.”
“That’s true.”
She was intelligent and warm and funny and … everything a man could want in a woman. She was also in complete control of his life. Hank took a long draw of the rich, dark brew in front of him while Maddie sipped again at her wine. If he had any sense at all, he’d jump up from here and go hole himself up in that cottage for the next six weeks. If he lasted that long out there. If he didn’t end up running screaming down the beach or right into the water. Back to nature and solitude wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Thoreau he wasn’t, with all that Walden Pond madness.
Just then Maddie looked out toward the water and smiled some secret smile as she inhaled the salty tang of the air. The tilt of her head, the slender curve of her neck. This sultry setting. Hank swallowed, entranced again despite himself. His body tightened with its aching for her. “You really do love it here, don’t you, Maddie?”
She gave him a dreamy smile that further unhinged him. “Yes. I was born and raised here. Sure, I left for college. Then work. Did the whole ‘big city’ thing. Most of the kids here do. But some of us come back and stay.”
“Obviously. Here you are.” Hank became aware again of the socializing adults on the tavern’s deck with them and of the happy shouts of children in the nearby arcade. But he only had eyes for Maddie. “So tell me about college and work. What was that?”
“Columbia. Art history. Then I worked at the Whitney Museum in the research department. A completely lackluster three years.”
“Then there was the big hurt at the altar with that guy?”
“Yes. Dr. Stanton Fairchild.” She rolled her eyes.
Hank grinned at her expression, then shaded his eyes against the sunset. “Sorry. The sun’s blinding right there on the horizon.”
She smiled … a teasing, sexy smile. “Well, you could put on your sunglasses. But they may not help if it’s really my radiance as a sun goddess that’s blinding you.”
“Oh, man.” Hank ducked his head and put a hand to his forehead. “You’re not going to let me forget that remark, are you?”
She laughed. “Not any time soon.”
They were doing it again. Flirting. And he was on fire for her, dammit. Hank sent her a sidelong glance and acknowledged to himself that he couldn’t get enough of looking at her. She had the most delicate jaw and the cutest little nose. And this was getting him nowhere. “Hey, I promised you dinner. Yet we’ve been sitting here for over an hour talking and drinking. And that’s good. I like it. I’m having fun. But—”
“But we need to get down to business, right?”
“I like how you think.”
“Before you go carving that in stone, I want to ask you something.”
Hank spread his hands wide. “Fire away.”
“All right. How’d you know the other night that this business deal of yours had come to a head? I mean, you were already here in Hanscomb Harbor and presumably not in touch with your company. The stockholders’ meeting I understand. I assume they’re scheduled way in advance?”
“Exactly. But about the other, I had just found out that morning of the will reading that it would all come together quickly. I just didn’t know when.”
“Until…?”
“Until I went back to the office that afternoon and was informed.” Hank began to wonder where all this was headed.
“You went back to the office before Jim whisked you here?”
“I did. No matter how unreasonable my grandfather’s will is, Maddie, Jim isn’t. He knows he couldn’t just cart me away and not tell everyone where I was. And he knew I had to go back and talk with my board of directors and explain things. Thank God I have a supremely competent board that I can trust. But where’s this coming from, Maddie? What’s your point?”
“I just wanted to be sure that you’ve been actually relaxing and not working. You know: phone calls, faxes, people flying in and out.”
He chuckled but not because anything was funny. “You don’t trust me.”
“I just want to do a good job,” she demurred. “And make sure that, in light of this development and up until now, you’ve been living up to your end of the bargain.”
“You sound like a lawyer. But I have been, Maddie. It’s just me and the sun and the surf.”
“Good. So how are you holding up with all this relaxing?”
Hank shrugged. “Like I said, I should be dead inside of a couple weeks. But don’t start counting the money yet. I might pull through.”
“That isn’t funny.”
Hank crossed his arms atop the table. “Well, what do you expect from me? I don’t like being questioned like this. And you have to understand that in my normal life I don’t answer to anyone on a daily basis. Just a couple times a year to stockholders.”
“In my normal life I wouldn’t be asking you any of these questions. They’d be none of my business. But being in the same boat with you right now, well, I’m trying not to rock it. So if you say you’re not working, you’re not working.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So what do we do now?”
“I tell you my decision, I guess.”
“Okay.” Hank stared intently into her blue eyes. His heart pounded dully in anticipation of her answer.
She grinned. “I say yes.”
Hank sat up straight, tense, his heart pounding. “Yes? What does yes mean, Maddie? I don’t want to make a mistake here.”
“I’m saying that I think you should go to New York. For the stockholders’ meeting and to ink your business deal.”
He was afraid even to breathe. He gripped the table and stared at her. “And if I do—‘no harm, no foul’ with respect to the will?”
She shook her head. “No.” Then frowned. “I mean yes. Yes, there will be no harm, no foul. Is that clear?”
“Very clear.” Sheer relief robbed Hank of strength, or he would have jumped up and hugged her and swung her around. “Thank you, Maddie,” he said simply. She didn’t say anything, just stared at him. Suddenly troubled, maybe even alarmed, Hank sobered. “Wait. What am I missing here, Maddie? Something to do with your decision? Something you haven’t told me yet?”
“No. I told you my decision.”
Hank thought about the way she said that. Her voice was flat of tone. She didn’t like her decision. And he didn’t like that she didn’t. “Okay, Maddie. Tell me where you are in your thinking. What brought you to this decision, I mean. I need to know.”
“I don’t know why you would. What difference does it make?”
He was right. She hated her decision—and most likely him for forcing it on her. Hank wanted very much to take her hand, yet he didn’t dare. “It makes a lot of difference to me, Maddie.”
She focused on her wineglass, which she was gently twirling by its stem. “Okay, bottom line. I don’t think it’s fair what your grandfather did to you. Disrupting your life like he has. I just don’t think someone who is—forgive me—dead should be allowed to dictate his heir’s behavior.”
“So far we’re on the same page. We both know that’s exactly what he did.”
Maddie met his gaze. “Yes. Speaking of legally, I didn’t call Jim Thornton. No courage, I guess. I pretty much didn’t want to hear his answer. So if he hears about your going, it won’t be from me. I’m assuming he’s not a stockholder and won’t be there, right?”
“Right.” As busy as his mind was with the myriad details of all the financial plates he had to get up in the air, Hank still worried what this decision in his favor had cost Maddie in honor and honesty. “So, are you okay with this decision, Maddie? I mean really? You don’t look like you are.”
She exhaled and looked away from him, closing her eyes and firming her mouth. From where he sat, she looked as if she were trying not to cry.
“Oh, man,” he muttered too low for her to hear. “Maddie? Look at me.” She did, her heart in her eyes … proud, defiant. Compromised. “Shit,” Hank again muttered under his breath. “Look, forget it. I won’t go. It’s not worth it. Not with what I’m seeing right now on your face. You’re right. It’s only money. Just a deal. Who cares?”
Her stunned silence crept over them in much the same way that the evening’s shadows were. Maddie’s blue eyes stared holes in him. “Excuse me? You put me through hell for days with this decision—and now that I’ve made one you say forget it? Hank Madison, have you lost your mind?”
“Not yet. And yeah, somewhere inside me I know I have to go to New York and do this. It’s not only my money—or yours—at stake here, but a lot of my investors’ money, too. This whole deal is about jobs and economic growth. Gross national product stuff. But once I got to thinking about it, too, I realized that nothing is signed yet. Nothing’s been done that’s not undoable.” He held her gaze, making sure he had her attention. “I want this deal, Maddie. Very much. But I don’t want it at the expense of that look on your face.”
Maddie’s throat worked, her expression softened. He’d gotten to her. Then he realized how awful for her he felt inside … and knew the truth: she’d gotten to him. Something inside Hank died … and something else was reborn, something he couldn’t name or even explore at this time. If ever.
“I appreciate your concern, Hank,” she said. “But we can’t lose sight of the important issues here. I mean about not upholding the will and then having to lie to Jim about it. For me, it was a case of ‘do the means justify the end?’ And I had to say yes. Which got me into situational ethics. God. And then I decided it’s not the end of the world—unless you don’t go. Like you said, it’s jobs. And that makes it people’s lives and livelihoods balanced against poor timing and a sweet old man’s concerns for his grandson. Put like that, my decision was easy and could only be the one I came to.”
Hank stared at her, seeing her in a new light. “Wow. I’m impressed. Do you have any idea how brilliant you are, Maddie?”
That earned him a smile. “You’re just saying that because I gave you the answer you want.”
Hank shook his head. “No. Now don’t sell me short. I have never surrounded myself with yes-men. Or -women. I want to be told the truth straight up, no matter how much I might not like the news, and no matter what someone might think I want to hear.”
“Very admirable.”
“Hey, my first true compliment from Maddie Copeland.” Hank was more amused than insulted. “You don’t think much of me, do you? I mean for the most part.”
“But I do. I think of you a lot.” Her eyes widened. “I mean, I think a lot of you.”
He stretched across the table to squeeze her hand affectionately. “And I think I liked your first answer better.” His gaze met hers for an intense second, then he sat back, still feeling the imprint of her hand in his. “Can I ask you something now?”
Looking a little off kilter, and maybe a bit wary, she nodded. “Sure.”
“What the hell do you really make of this will? I can’t get a handle on it.”
“Thank God. I thought it was just me. I think this whole thing isn’t fair to you at all, Hank. Or to me. But here we are, and I think it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe Jim would even write it up. But the fact that he did makes me think there is something behind all this that has nothing to do with your taking a vacation.”
Hank sat back, staring at her, admiring the quick intelligence that shone from her eyes. “I know where you’re going with this. The other night out at the cottage, when we went looking for Beamer, you said something that makes a lot of sense.”
“Well, please tell me. That will be a first.”
“Hardly.” Hank loved her self-deprecating humor. “You said you wonder if my grandfather did all this to get us together. You and me, I mean.”
“Oh, God, I can’t believe I said that.” Maddie put a hand to her forehead and sent him a sidelong glance. “But yes, I said it, and you blew me off. You were right to. How conceited of me to even think it.”
“Not at all. And I was just in a weird place the other night. But after thinking about what you said, I think it’s something, well, to think about.” Hank chuckled. “Could I be more vague?”
“I understand you. But I think I was wrong about that, Hank. I mean why would he do that? He didn’t have to go to these lengths. He could have just brought you along to meet me at any point in the three summers he came here.”
“That’s true. Except being a workaholic, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time. What a jerk, huh? My sick old grandfather.” Hank stopped, took a breath. “Anyway, I certainly can’t come up with any other reason why he’d choose Hanscomb Harbor, not that it’s not wonderful. But I mean, you’re here. Still, maybe this is something we can put on the back burner until everything else is settled. What do you say?”
“Okay. Gladly.” Maddie smiled shyly at him.
“Good.” Her smile pleased him to no end. It was such a simple expression. But it made his heart sing. He couldn’t even say why. Nor could he remember ever dealing so gingerly with a woman before. This wasn’t how he behaved. He usually moved in a much faster set, much faster women. Ah, but there it was. Maddie wasn’t a fast woman. Or like any other woman he’d ever known. And furthermore, Hanscomb Harbor wasn’t the big city. This was small-town America. Hank wondered if he was beginning to see inside his grandfather’s motives here. Next thing I know, Hank thought wryly, I’ll be coming around in the surrey with the fringe on top and using terms like court and woo.
“Hank, what would you have done if I’d come to a different decision?”
She’d certainly pulled him back to present times with that question. “I know where this is going. You think I’d just go do what I wanted anyway, don’t you?”
“It crossed my mind, especially since you’d already said as much. And that being so, all I had to do was see if I could live with your decision, really. And it turns out I can.”
“I’m glad, Maddie. But I wouldn’t have gone if you’d had serious reservations.”
“I do have serious reservations, Hank. But they’re mine, not yours. So go to New York. Do what you have to do, and then get back here to your vacation. You have a cottage to repair and some relaxing to do.”
To Hank’s utter surprise, that all sounded appealing. Good God, he was loosening up. High spirits grabbed him. “Come on,” he said, standing up and fishing some bills out of his pocket, which he tossed onto the table to pay for their drinks. “I promised you dinner. How do a hot dog and some cotton candy sound?”
“Wow,” Maddie said, coming to her feet. “You really know how to treat a girl.”
“Normally we’d get all dressed up and I’d take you out to a swanky joint. But since I’m supposed to be taking a load off and, from what I’ve seen, there are no swanky joints here, this is as good as it gets. But stick with me, baby, and I may even win you a great big teddy bear in the arcade.”
Maddie sent him a look of mock outrage. “Excuse me, Mr. Macho? I have a pretty good arm myself. Maybe I’ll win you a bear.”
“Be still, my heart,” Hank quipped, holding his arm out as she rounded the table and drew even with him.
For the second time this week, Hank put his arm around her, pulling her close to his side as they walked off. And for the second time, she didn’t pull away. Still high on emotion and a renewed sense of well-being, Hank told her, “By the way, two things. The meetings in New York are set for next Friday, but I need to go to the city on Wednesday to make sure everything is still on track. How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged. “I said, do what you have to do.”
“Good. And you’re coming in Friday, right?”
She stopped. “Wrong. I am not. What do you need me for?”
“You’re the acting chair, remember? You signed the papers at Jim’s office on the day of the will reading.”
“Oh, God. I can’t. I have a fear of speaking in public. I couldn’t even perform in drama productions in high school, Hank. I get sick in front of crowds. And I mean physically. I will lose not only my decorum but also my lunch.”
“You can do this, Maddie. You have to. Your name right now is the valid one.”
Maddie stared at the candy store directly in front of them. “I don’t like this at all.” She then directed her gaze to Hank. “You said there were two things.”
“Yes. I don’t want you worrying about Jim finding out. So I’m going to tell him myself. I’ll call him once I get there.”
Maddie clutched at his shirt. “Oh, Hank, don’t. What if he calls a default, or whatever it is he’d have to do?”
“I don’t think he will. He was reasonable last time about my having to go to the office. We’ll just have to take our chances, though. Besides, I think he’d find out anyway because there will be a huge media hype when this deal is inked. And since Jim is like family to me, I’d rather he know up front from me than find out from another source.”
“Well, that’s commendable.” Maddie relaxed a bit and let go of him. “But that’s what you need—more media attention.” As if she didn’t realize she was, she absently straightened and tugged at his shirt where she’d wadded it in her fist.
It was a small thing. But such an intimate gesture. You wouldn’t touch someone like that if you weren’t involved with him. Hank grinned down at Maddie. “I have a third thing to say, Maddie.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Sure you do. If I mess up before the six weeks are over—and I mean after New York and if all the quiet and clean air gets to me—and you end up with everything, then my plan is simple. I’ll marry you to get it all back.”