‡‡
“Well,” Megan said when they’d made some small talk and all the brothers gathered around. “What’s it going to be? Am I selling a hundred and twenty-one houses? Or are you really going to make me sell a whole town at once?”
That was the second time someone had mentioned the idea in front of Amanda. Carter knew that if they didn’t stop, she’d be scared off for sure.
“Sell the whole town?” Amanda repeated, looking to Carter for clarification.
“She’s talking about Blake Warrington, the guy who’s building a resort on the other side of the Ridge. He wants to buy our entire property, but he knows it’s not for sale.”
“Not yet, anyway,” Gage said.
Megan’s smile disappeared. “I thought you wanted to stay,” she said to him.
“What I want and what’s going to happen are two different things. We’ve got a loan to pay off in just over a year, and we’re struggling to keep workers at the mill. We haven’t even started the logging operation yet, which means we’re going to run out of logs to turn into lumber at some point. I’m being practical. This probably isn’t going to work.”
“Ah,” Megan said. “You must have been running ragged trying to fix all those problems. Is that why I haven’t heard from you in over two weeks?”
Hudson guffawed. “Gage? Running ragged? Hardly. He hasn’t set foot in the mill—or near the logging equipment. Seems to me like he’s on vacation.”
Carter swallowed a smile. Gage looked disconcerted, something that rarely happened. Megan’s expression darkened.
“So you haven’t been too busy to call me about those listings you promised. What’s your excuse?”
What she didn’t say was clear to all of them. She’d expected Gage to ask her out after the way he’d flirted with her at Cindy Glendale’s wedding last month, and she was wondering why he hadn’t. They’d all attended, except Nate, who wasn’t home yet. They knew Cindy from school. Carter had enjoyed catching up with other acquaintances at the reception. After the way Gage had singled out Megan for his attention that night, it was clear she was angry he hadn’t followed up.
Before she could give Gage a piece of her mind, Carter headed her off.
“We’re still waiting to hear about the subdivision, but our answer should come any day now. As soon as it does, we’ll be ready to give you those listings. Amanda, here, will be our first buyer,” he added.
“You will?” Megan turned to her. “Which house are you buying?”
“Number twenty-three, on Second Avenue,” Carter said.
“For a dollar,” Gage said.
“A dollar.” Shock slackened Megan’s features before she pulled herself together. “You’re selling her a house for a dollar?” Her voice rose. “We haven’t even signed a seller’s contract. You sold a house without me—for one lousy buck? Did you list it with someone else?”
“No.” Carter wasn’t sure why he felt guilty when he knew it was Gage Megan was angry with.
“I don’t understand what’s happening here.” Megan’s face was growing red. She turned to Gage again. “You said you wanted me to be your real estate agent. You promised those listings to me in front of my boss! But you never followed up. If you lied, just say so.”
“I didn’t lie.”
When he didn’t go on, Megan shook her head in disbelief. “Were you drunk at Cindy’s wedding, Gage Elliott? I suppose that would explain a lot.”
“I wasn’t drunk. I just got… carried away.”
“Carried away?” Her disgust was clear. “All you had to do was give me a call and say you’d changed your mind. You didn’t have to make me feel like a fool.”
She spun on her heel, stalked to her truck, got in it and slammed the door. Her tires kicked up a spray of gravel as she punched the gas and spun her way out of the parking area. They all watched her taillights disappear around a bend in the road.
“That went well,” Lincoln said.
“Did you think Megan was going to work for free?” Hudson asked Carter.
“It’s just one house. Besides, Gage is the one who talked to her, not me.”
Gage kept looking after Megan’s truck long after it was out of view.
“Hell” was all he said.
“Want to tell me what that was all about?” Amanda asked Carter when the others trudged away toward the mill.
“Gage being Gage.” His older brother could be as stubborn as anything when he wanted to be. “He flirted with Megan all night at Cindy Glendale’s wedding last month. She was desperately looking for listings, and he told her she could sell the Ridge one way or the other—either the subdivision houses or the whole shebang next year if we can’t manage to keep it. He didn’t look drunk to me that night, but maybe Megan’s right. Maybe that explains why he never asked her out afterward. I should have told her we’re selling only one of the subdivision houses for a dollar.” Carter rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “She left so quickly I didn’t have a chance.”
“She could have been my first female friend in this place, but now she probably sees me as an enemy.”
Carter let his hand drop. “No, she doesn’t. She’s not mad at you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Amanda let out an impatient breath. “Maybe I’m risking only a dollar and my time, but it would make me feel a whole lot better if I thought the five of you shared a common vision for this place. I like Elliott Ridge the way it is now. I don’t want to live next to a golf course.”
Carter chuckled. “You won’t have to, I promise. Don’t worry about Gage. He’ll come around. He’s just scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of failing, I guess. I told you the bottom fell out of the lumber industry and the Ridge cleared out. It was a hard time for all of us. Gage doesn’t want to relive it.”
“So why doesn’t he leave?” she pressed.
Carter shrugged. “He loves it here as much as the rest of us, even if he won’t admit it. Never mind him. Let’s go inside and look at your kitchen. I’ll walk you through the changes we’ll be making to it. You’ll forget Gage even exists.”
“Okay,” Amanda said slowly, reminding herself that one way or another she’d have free housing—and food, too, it seemed like—for the rest of the year. That left her plenty of time to plan for her future. Maybe she’d get tired of Elliott Ridge and decide to move on, anyway. Just because she was enjoying Carter’s company now didn’t mean that would last forever.
The thought of leaving didn’t sit well with her, though. She was becoming attached to the town. To the Elliotts.
To Carter.
Inside, Amanda realized all over again how much care he had put into his plans for the house.
“These two walls will all be cabinets, with a sink under the window, the stove there and the refrigerator there.” He pointed them out. “The island will be eight feet long.”
“Eight feet long?” Amanda fell a little in love with him right then. She’d always wanted a kitchen island big enough to roll out pastry or make pizzas with her friends—or seat her children around someday so they could do their homework while she cooked dinner.
She’d just about given up on those dreams, though.
“That’s right.” Carter looked at her curiously. “You okay with that?”
“It sounds wonderful,” she admitted.
“Let me show you something else.” He led the way into a gutted medium-size room at the back of the house.
“This used to be a pantry and storage room. On the other side of that wall is the powder room. It’s really small. Since you’ll have so much storage in the new kitchen, I want to turn this into a laundry room and expand the powder room so it’s not such a tight squeeze. I’ll install the machines under a counter you can use to fold your clothes on and put some cabinets above it. There’ll be a wall here.” He indicated it with his hands. “In the new powder room, there’ll be room for a toilet, sink and shower. I’ll have to get back into your bathroom upstairs to fiddle with the pipes to connect everything, but it shouldn’t disrupt things too much.”
He’d need access to the master bathroom? Amanda didn’t like the sound of that. She’d better move the painting. Find somewhere else to stash it.
“Sounds perfect,” she made herself say. “The whole place is perfect. You’re really good at this.”
“You think so?”
“I do. What was your specialty in the military?”
His expression shuttered. Amanda wondered if she’d stepped across a line. “Sorry. Too personal?”
He shrugged. “Not something I talk about to just anyone. When you’re a SEAL, you learn to keep things to yourself.”
So he knew how to keep secrets, too. She supposed that made sense. This man was a highly trained warrior who carried out the kind of missions the public didn’t always hear about. Which begged the question: Should she tell him what had happened in LA? Maybe he’d know a lot more about solving her problems than she did.
Just thinking about her father’s return to crime—and Buck’s re-entry into her life—made her stomach twist. She’d gotten so involved in Megan and Gage’s dispute she’d forgotten about the danger she was in. She had a masterpiece hidden in her bathroom, for heaven’s sake, and here she was worrying about whether Megan would want to be her friend.
No, Amanda decided. As much as she liked Carter, she didn’t know him well enough to dump a crime in his lap. She needed to handle the painting herself. After she’d gotten rid of it, and hopefully rid of Buck Bronson, too, she could fill Carter in on what had happened. Until then, she needed to keep her mouth shut.
“I was trained in counterterrorism,” Carter said quietly.
Amanda took that in. “I suppose you know how to defend yourself in a sticky situation.”
“I do.” It was a bald statement of fact when she’d half expected a joke or a deflection.
“Should I worry about the baggage you brought home with you?” She tried to keep the question light, but she wanted to know the answer. She’d learned from experience the most charming of men could carry demons with him. Buck had wrapped all of them around his little finger before he’d turned her father down a dark path.
Carter took the time to consider her question. “No,” he answered finally. “I’ll tell you if I ever change my assessment of that, but I’ve been lucky. I served with men I respected. Men with whom I shared a common feeling of where the lines were drawn, if that makes sense. There are stories I won’t share with you no matter where our relationship takes us, because you don’t need that darkness in your life, but I have friends who’ve been there, too. I don’t have to keep it bottled up inside.”
She nodded, glad to hear it. She could only imagine the things he’d seen.
“You’re wondering if you can trust me,” he stated.
“It’s not that,” she told him truthfully. “You’ve been brave. You must have faced your fears a thousand times.”
“You haven’t?”
She was already shaking her head. “I’ve spent my life choosing the safe route—instead of following my heart.”
“You think coming to live in a ghost town is the safe route?” His smile was teasing.
“You told me it was,” she pointed out, smiling back at him.
“Guess I did. You arrived here without much of a plan, and you’ve rolled with the punches ever since. Seems to me like you’re shaking things up in your life.”
“I guess I am.” They were standing close together in the doorway. Amanda wondered if he could hear the way her heart was pounding in her chest. If he reached for her, she would go to him willingly.
She wanted this man.
“Maybe you’re following your heart this time, too,” he suggested. His voice had gotten husky, and her pulse picked up in response.
“Maybe.” She couldn’t meet his gaze. She couldn’t allow herself to hope that was true.
“Do you like canoeing?”
It took a moment to catch up to his sudden change of subject. “Uh… sure.” Was he trying to de-escalate the situation? Maybe it was obvious she was hungry for him, and he wasn’t interested.
“I’ll come home from the mill early enough so we can go have some fun before dinner.”
The way he said it calmed her fears. It was an invitation, not a brush-off.
Good.
“I guess I’d better figure out what I’m serving everyone for lunch.” She was supposed to be the new cook, after all. Would she need to go to town already? The idea left her nervous.
“Not today,” Carter said firmly. “Today you should settle in. Explore a little. Check out the kitchen and see what we’ve got in the cupboards. Make a plan for the rest of the week. My brothers and I will handle lunch and dinner, and the workmen can survive on their own for another twenty-four hours. Tomorrow we’ll start the new regime—if you’re sure you’re up for it.”
“I’m up for it.”
Carter suddenly clapped a hand on his pants pocket. Pulled out his phone and glanced at it. “Hell.”
“What’s wrong?” Amanda asked when he scowled at something on the screen.
“Flag’s gone! That changes everything.” He shoved the phone back in his pocket, took her hand and lunged for the door. “Come on!”
“What flag?” she cried as he hauled her outside, slammed the door behind them and pulled her down the steps.
“The Elliott flag. The one hanging on my parents’ house.” Carter broke into a run as soon as he hit solid ground, and Amanda raced to keep up with him. As they turned onto Center Street, Lincoln dashed past them from the direction of the mill.
“Flag’s gone!” he shouted.
“I know!” Carter put on a burst of speed, dragging Amanda along with him. She sprinted to keep up, but Carter was faster and nearly pulled her off her feet as he jerked her along. When they made it to the Circle, he slowed and pointed a finger. “See?”
The black, green and silver flag that had hung in front of number one was missing.
“Who took it?” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.
“That’s the question.” Carter scanned the area. “Wasn’t me. It isn’t Lincoln—he’s not a good enough actor.”
Amanda gaped at him. “Why would Lincoln take it?”
“That’s how the game works. Come on!”
“Game?” This was a game?
Carter was running again, following Lincoln toward the big white house. Amanda had no choice but to keep up.
Lincoln had a wide head start on them and reached the house when they were only halfway across the Circle. He skidded to a stop near the front steps, backpedaled, his head swiveling, then turned on his heel. “It’s got to be Nate!” he hollered as he shot past them again.
Carter shook his head. “It’s never Nate. It’s got to be Hudson. He’ll have it up on the Mast.” He veered toward the Ridge and higher ground, still dragging Amanda along.
She opened her mouth to protest that she wasn’t up to this, but Carter was sprinting again, and she sprinted, too. As the ground began to rise under her feet, she panted harder as she tried to keep pace.
“Hudson is a climber,” Carter shouted over his shoulder. “He loves to be up high. Once he’s got the flag up there, it’s hell to get it down again.”
“Isn’t that Hudson right there?” Amanda said.
Carter slowed as his brother dashed around a nearby house and raced back the way they’d just come. “What the hell is he doing?” He waited until Hudson disappeared around the side of his parents’ house. “He’s trying to pretend Gage has it. Gage’s favorite spot is Hidden Beach. You’ve got to swim for it—or take a boat.” He looked down at her. “Rule number one in the Game: someone’s lying. Come on.” He tugged her on toward the slope, speeding up again. “Let’s get to the Mast. Are you good at climbing trees?”
“I… haven’t… tried… in… years,” Amanda said. She hadn’t run like this in years, either.
“This might not be the one to start with.” He kept going up the slope, and Amanda did her best to follow him. She knew she was slowing him down and redoubled her efforts, but it didn’t make much difference. Just when she thought she might sink to the ground in defeat, he finally stopped. “It’s that one.” Carter pointed to a monster of a tree so tall Amanda had to tilt her head back to see the top of it.
“You’re going to climb that?” she asked faintly.
He lifted a hand to shade his eyes. Swore. “It’s not there.”
“How do you know?”
“Rule number two: you have to display the flag.” Carter swore again. Thought a moment. “Hell, what if Gage does have it? We’ve got to head off Hudson.”
“Gage?” Amanda couldn’t imagine him stealing a flag.
“You’d better believe it. Let’s go!” Carter tightened his grip on her hand and sprinted back down the hill. “If Hudson gets the flag back to my folks’ house, he wins. We’ve got to stop him.” Amanda’s hand slipped from his, and she stumbled. Carter whipped around, caught her without missing a beat and saved her from a spill to the ground. They stood like that, Amanda clinging to him, desperate to stay upright, until she spotted someone over his shoulder.
“Lincoln!” she cried. “He’s heading to the house!”
Carter turned to see. “He’s empty-handed, which means Nate didn’t take it. It has to be Gage. Hell.” He hesitated. Steadied her and took her hand again. “That’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t!” She was invested in the game now. “Get going! Catch him!” She shoved him in the direction Lincoln was running.
“You sure?” Carter called back, already racing away.
“I’m sure!” She raced after him, determined to help if she could but at a minimum wanting to see what happened next. Lincoln caught sight of Carter and sped up. Carter lowered his head and ran after him. Amanda followed them as fast as she could, but the men were far ahead of her, already disappearing around the side of number one by the time she reached the Circle again.
She ran straight across it, darted around the side of the big white house, down stone steps flanked by a fern garden and onto the beach. Carter, Hudson and Lincoln were grappling together at the edge of the water. She dashed toward them as they tumbled over in a tangled heap.
“Carter!” she screamed.
He struggled out from under Hudson and tossed her something. Amanda flinched, then realized it was the flag. She snatched it out of the air with one hand.
“Get to the front porch!” Carter yelled. “Run!”
Amanda ran, the flag streaming out from her fist. She heard footsteps behind her as she raced across the beach again. Were they all coming after her? She picked up speed.
“Don’t let it touch the ground!” a chorus of male voices all called at once, some from behind her, one from in front. Gage was on the back porch of his parents’ place.
Startled, Amanda whipped her arm up and forward, and the flag fanned out in front of her. Temporarily blinded, she snatched at it again, caught the fabric in her hands and tripped—
Amanda screamed as she launched into the air. Some instinct of self-preservation sent her tucking into a ball. She landed, rolled over, flopped onto her back—
The flag still in her hand.
Before she could take a breath, someone snatched her right off the ground, heaved her over his shoulder and kept going.
Amanda screamed again. The next few seconds were a jumble of sand, bracken, steps and a triumphant roar as Carter hauled her up to his parents’ front door and banged on it with the flat of his hand.
He flipped her down into his arms and spun her in a circle. “We won!” he cried as Nate came running up the road.
“Hell, I missed the whole thing, didn’t I?” Nate cried.
“We won?” Amanda asked.
Carter pulled the flag from her hands. “We won. Suckers!” he shouted at Lincoln and Hudson as they gathered at the bottom of the porch steps. Gage ambled around the corner of the deck.
“Good job,” he said calmly.
“I’m the one who swam it back here,” Hudson said. “Kept it dry the whole way.” He was soaked, water dripping from his clothes, which were crusted with sand as well.
“Doesn’t matter what you did. It only matters that I brought it home,” Carter told him. “With Amanda’s help.”
“That’s not fair,” Hudson grumbled. “It’s supposed to be every man for himself.”
“Amanda’s a woman, and she’s with me. Get your own girl if you want.”
Amanda found it hard to catch her breath but not because she’d been running. Carter’s arm still rested around her waist as if to make his claim to her more tangible. They were all breathing hard, but despite the complaints all the Elliott men looked happy. Even Gage.
“That’s one for Carter—and Amanda,” Gage said.
“Next time I’ll win,” Lincoln said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Nate elbowed him. “You always say that.”
“At least I know when we’re playing.”
Amanda let their banter wash over her as Carter turned to look her over.
“You okay?” he asked her. “Sorry if I got a little rough back there. We Elliotts play to win.”
“I’m okay.” He’d been so strong when he lifted her off the beach and tossed her over his shoulder. How could he run so fast while carrying her? She found herself looking at him with a whole new appreciation. Her body had touched his in a variety of places during his headlong scramble for his parents’ front door. Now she tingled all over, aching for more.
She had so many questions about the game. Who had come up with it? Had they been playing it all their lives?
Were there more rules?
“Work!” Lincoln pronounced before she could ask. “The men will be wondering where we got to for so long.”
Amanda decided she’d ask another time. Or wait until the next time they played. She was sure there’d be a next time. Despite Gage’s grumbling and the way the brothers sometimes bickered among themselves, these were men with a long history at the Ridge. They’d do anything to keep their home.
Even Gage.
“I’d better go. See you later?” Carter asked. He bent closer. “You did really good back there on the beach.”
His breath tickled her ear, sending delightful shivers down her spine. Amanda glowed at the praise. “I did?”
“You fit right in here.” He touched her hand, then turned to follow his brothers.
She was happy to hear that because she was more determined than ever to stay.