The sun had crawled well above the horizon by the time they finally left the bed-and-breakfast. A hot morning already, even for the start of June.
Caleb smiled to himself. Tess would soon regret that buttoned-up shirt she’d worn today.
She moved toward the parking area at a near-trot. He kept to a slower pace, but a steady one, eager for the chance to be alone with her. That spark he couldn’t have missed between them last night had him curious. Had she felt it, too?
Then he recalled Nate’s statement about the local store owner—the one who made money “hand over fist.” She’d seemed impressed by that. What about Tess? What would she think when she found out how easily he could give the man a run for his money?
“So,” he asked, “what Nate said at the table. You planning on marrying Harley?”
His question put a definite hitch in her stride. He smiled.
Without turning, she said coolly, “I haven’t decided yet.”
“Sounds like he could take care of you in style. According to Nate and your aunt Ellamae, that is.”
“Yes.”
Yes, what? He knew she and Roselynn were struggling. The man’s financial status had to mean something to her. She stopped and faced him. His heart revved up with the crazy thought he’d just given her reason to decide in Harley’s favor.
A frown line creased her forehead. “What was that my mother said about seeing you at supper?”
His heart settled back into its normal rhythm. Her mind hadn’t been on Harley at all. “We renegotiated my reservation while you were in talking with the girls this morning. I’m paying a little extra and getting another meal. On top of the other perks,” he said, grinning.
The glint in her eyes told him she’d understood his teasing. Her suddenly expressionless face let him know how little she liked the idea of sharing another meal with him at the inn every day.
“Well,” she snapped, “since you’ve made arrangements of your own already, you won’t mind that I’ve had a change to my plans, too. I’ve got some errands to run. I’m sure you’ll be able to amuse yourself until supper tonight.”
Now, that bothered him. He’d hired her to find him a ranch. “What do you mean, you’ve got errands? I thought you were all mine today.” Despite his annoyance, it gave him satisfaction to see the soft pink blush filling her face. It also offered him a sliver of hope as sweet as Ellamae’s pecan pie.
He thought back again to their meeting in the hallway last night. The look in her eyes then, the expression on her face when he’d touched her—they meant something. What, he didn’t know, but he had a feeling it would be in his best interest to find out.
Besides, she’d said it herself, she hadn’t yet promised herself to that Harley character.
“Actually,” she said, “it may surprise you to hear this, but you’re not the only item on my agenda. I’ve got business to take care of. First, I need to stop by the office to pick up some business cards and brochures.”
He raised his brows. “You’re planning on advertising to the critters out in the wild?”
“Very funny. No. Dana and I are doing an advertising blitz to try to...to increase our client list. I’m going to hit all the businesses on Signal Street today.”
She turned and walked away, as if that ended their conversation. A few spaces short of his pickup truck, she stopped beside the old Toyota he’d seen yesterday.
If she thought she could shake him off with a trumped-up list of errands, she’d have to think again. Besides, her plans fit nicely into his own agenda. He would have had as much chance to flash his cash out in the desert as she’d have had passing out brochures. Now he could make like a rodeo star the length of Signal Street—with Tess right there to see him shine.
He moved to the passenger side of the Toyota and looked at her over the roof. “No problem. I’ll go with you. Get a chance to say hello to folks I haven’t seen in a while.”
Her face fell, but she nodded shortly.
The cramped front seat wouldn’t allow much room for him to stretch out his legs or ease his bad knee. Before he could suggest taking the truck, Tess had slipped inside and cranked the engine. He shrugged, then shoehorned himself into the car, sure he’d eventually wish he hadn’t.
On the other hand, their close quarters kept her well within reaching distance. He recalled the warmth of her cheek against his fingertips the night before. This arrangement could work in his favor.
She looked away, carefully checking her mirrors before backing out of the parking space.
After they’d gone a block in silence, he decided playing along with her would work, too. “Good idea about the promo,” he said easily. “You ought to work up some for the bed-and-breakfast. Your mama needs to get going if she wants any takers for those empty rooms upstairs.”
She pulled over to the curb and jammed on the brakes so abruptly, his knee hit the dashboard. Pain radiated down to his ankle. He swore under his breath and made a big production of putting on his seat belt. She ignored that.
“Caleb, what exactly are you up to?” she demanded. “Why are you so interested in the inn?”
“I’m not int—”
She ran right over him. “And how is it you oh-so-conveniently had your suitcase in your truck last night? What happened to your plans to stay out of town? You had everything ‘covered’—or so you’d said.”
“This works out better.” The idea of her seeing him throw money around town had started to appeal to him more than he’d thought.
“For you, maybe.”
Yeah, his decision to take the room at the bed-and-breakfast had riled her. Not a good thing, maybe, in view of his plans. Even knowing it would make her more irritated, he couldn’t help laughing at her response.
She exhaled forcefully. “Don’t you have a reservation somewhere?”
“There’s not a hotel, motel or town, for that matter, within fifty miles of Flagman’s Folly, as you—being in the business of selling property and all—must surely know.”
“All right, knock off the sarcasm.” She pulled back onto the street and continued driving.
He shook his head. “Better watch yourself. I’m sure it wouldn’t sit right with Dana to hear how her ‘glorified file clerk’, as you called yourself, is treating her biggest client.”
She gave a snort equal to one of her aunt Ellamae’s. “You mean ‘the client with the biggest head,’ don’t you?” she asked sweetly.
“Maybe some people around here don’t think so.”
“You can’t trust the judgment of some people. Especially when they’re under the age of ten.”
She’d noticed Nate and company’s hero worship of him, too, then. She didn’t need to sound so sour about it. “It’s not like I’d asked for the attention.”
“Of course not.”
And she’d accused him of sarcasm.
She probably thought he’d encouraged the kids.
“Hey, it comes with the territory.” When she didn’t respond, he continued mildly, “We seem to have strayed from the subject of your mama. I was only asking about promo out of concern for her.”
“Why would you even care?”
He looked at her without speaking, and this time her face flushed twice as fast. She grasped the steering wheel more tightly and swallowed hard before replying. “Never mind. But I’m sure she’s working on some advertising for the inn.”
“Not by the sound of it last night. Said it costs money.”
“Which we don’t have,” she said flatly. “Is that what you’re getting at?”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Whoa, now. I’m not getting at anything, only repeating what I’d heard from her. You know, I could give—”
“No.” She stopped at a traffic light and stared straight ahead, her hands now in a white-knuckled grip on the wheel. “I know Mom’s happy to have a paying guest, but that’s as far as your money goes. I also know you’re rich. Richer than anyone here in Flagman’s Folly—probably everyone put together. But we don’t need your charity.”
“Where’d you get that idea?” he asked, trying to keep it low-key. “I was only going to say I could give my promo people a call and see if they could recommend some ideas for your mama.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” he echoed, losing the effort to hold himself in check. “What do you know about charity, anyway?” he demanded. “I was at the receiving end of more handouts than you’ll ever see in your life.”
The light changed. The car jerked forward. Now he took a turn staring through the windshield. But he couldn’t seem to shut up. “Your family never needed anything from me, did they? Never wanted it, either.”
“You didn’t meet my family.”
“Not true.”
“My mother never told me.” It sounded like an accusation.
“She wouldn’t know. It wasn’t your mama I came across, anyhow, but your granddaddy.”
She gasped. “You spoke with my grandfather? About what?”
He heard the edginess in her tone. Even after all these years, the idea that he’d talked to the man upset her that much? “I asked to do some work around your property. Yank weeds, cut grass. He just stood there in the doorway of that big old house and informed me he had ‘no need to hire someone from the street.’”
She pulled the Toyota over to the curb in front of her office and threw the gearshift into Park. “You came to my house? Even after I’d asked you not to?”
Her voice shook, with rage or fear, he didn’t know. But he could tell she hadn’t gotten his meaning, maybe hadn’t even taken in the words he’d said. She’d focused on what worried her most.
“No,” he replied, as softly as he could. “That was before we were together.”
“Oh,” she said again. She ran her hands along the steering wheel. “Putting my foot in my mouth twice in one conversation, that’s a record for me.”
“It happens when people make assumptions.”
“I’m sorry, Caleb.” She looked away. “I... I’ll be right back.”
She’d opened the door and was out of the car before he’d taken his seat belt off.
All this, because he’d offered to help her mama. Would she have reacted as strongly if Harley had made the suggestion? Did she have a long history with the man, too? The questions left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He shouldn’t care about her relationships with other men. About her anger. Or her apology. Or what she thought about him.
He shouldn’t care about her at all.
Yet he did.
She hurried away from the Toyota, leaving him cooling his heels—but that’s about as far as it went. His thoughts about her continued to keep the rest of him heated. The questions he’d obsessed over since the night before wouldn’t leave him alone.
She crossed the sidewalk to her office, her dark curls gleaming in the sun. That pink shirt and her snug jeans sent his thoughts into a gallop. His memory, too. Once upon a time, he’d committed every inch of her to that memory. Did she ever think about that time, too? Maybe getting caught in her pajamas last night wasn’t the only reason she’d covered up almost to her chin today.
He shoved open the door and climbed from the car. As he straightened his left knee, pain arced through it, making him grit his teeth. That knock into the dashboard had set any progress he’d made back a notch.
He leaned against the Toyota and recalled, once again, the scene outside his bedroom door last night. The thought sparked yet more memories. Was the rest of her still as soft as he recalled? Still the same shade of peach all over?
He wiped his brow, suddenly as sweaty as if he’d spent the morning sunbathing on a beach.
Yeah, she’d gotten him heated—in mind and body both.
That knowledge, and the fact he couldn’t turn the feelings off, disgusted him. Just as he’d once disgusted her granddaddy.
The man had said a lot more to him that day, made comments he would never tell Tess. Or anyone. Comments about “streetwalkers” and “white trash” and “people who ought to stay where they belong.”
That memory made him hot all over, this time with shame. A shame he’d sworn he’d never let himself feel again.
Years ago, those times he and Tess spent together, she had left her house to meet him. She had slept with him. But she’d never taken him to meet her family. Never wanted to bring him around her friends. He didn’t have to ask why.
He wasn’t good enough for them.
He wasn’t good enough for anyone in Flagman’s Folly.
Yeah, well, that had changed. As she had said, he’d gotten rich. He’d make sure she knew just how much he was worth now. And he’d make damn sure everyone in town knew it, too.