And now that Nate Taggert had made it clear he wanted pretty little Stacy and not workhorse Terri, she was again on her own. If she’d learned nothing else in the last weeks, it was that she wanted a boyfriend, wanted a life outside of taking care of the people at the lake. When someone rang at 3:00 a.m. saying a bear was in the garbage, Terri wanted someone who’d help her with the job.
So now what? Did she return to her old life? Hey! Maybe she’d get an invitation to Nate and Stacy’s wedding. That would be fun. She shook her head.
Stacy had invited her to a picnic tomorrow. Because Nate would be there, Terri hadn’t really considered going. Her fear had been that she’d say or do something that might let Stacy know that Terri and Nate had been—were—What? Had been roommates? Were friends?
Or used to be, she thought.
She remembered what Nate had said. He’d known she was “attracted” to him so he’d stripped off whenever possible.
In that aspect, Terri was innocent. Yes, she’d worn shorts and high-cut swimsuits, but she always did. She’d done nothing different that was meant to turn Nate on.
She looked at the plate of fish and sliced potato. It was the last meal Nate would cook for her. She grabbed the plate, a glass and a bottle of wine, and sat down at the dining table. As she ate, she planned—and thought that a little revenge wouldn’t be out of order.
She picked up her phone and called Elaine. “Do you have any really tiny bikinis?”
“None of those Brazilian string things, but some are just a few triangles. Who wants one?”
“Me.”
“Oh,” Elaine said. “Any reason why?”
“Stacy Hartman invited me to a picnic tomorrow.”
“Ooooh.” There was a smile in Elaine’s voice. “How about a transparent cover-up and some sexy sandals to go with it?”
“That sounds great. I’ll—”
Elaine cut her off. “I’ll just bet the Turner Twins would love to go with you as your date.” She sounded quite excited.
“They’re next on my list to call.”
“This is wonderful, honey. I’ll pack up everything and you can get it tomorrow. I’ll put in some sunscreen that the boys can rub on you. That should make Nate...” Elaine didn’t finish the sentence.
“Insane with jealousy?” Terri asked.
“My thoughts exactly,” Elaine said. “I’m going to the shop right now and get this ready. Please don’t ever forget that your dad and I love you, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, and it’s mutual,” Terri said, and hung up.
The next person she called was Mr. Parnelli. She asked if she could hire him to make a fabulous picnic for her.
He said, “For you, Terri, it’s free and I’ll make you a meal to remember.”
She thanked him profusely, then called the Turner Twins. She didn’t bother with a preliminary explanation. “Is it possible that you could pretend I like you and go on a picnic with me tomorrow?”
“Which one of us?” asked the one speaking.
“Both of you.”
There was a pause, then a bit of a laugh. “You wouldn’t be trying to make Nate Taggert jealous, would you? We saw him with cute little Stacy.”
“Maybe,” Terri said.
“We’re in! Just tell us when and where.”
She did, then hung up, smiling.
By the time she’d cleaned up the kitchen and showered, it was time for bed. The house was quiet and the moonlight came through the glass doors into her bedroom. She remembered how she and Nate had grabbed food and run away in her boat to the Island. For a moment the memory of that sweet time flooded her so thoroughly that her knees nearly gave way.
But then she remembered how angry she’d been when he spoke of “poor Bob.” Poor because he’d lost darling little Stacy. “He knew,” she whispered. It hadn’t been innocent on his part, but he knew how she was feeling that day. Through every word, every look, he knew what she was thinking and feeling.
As she climbed into bed, she hoped that the bikini Elaine gave her would be microscopic.
Chapter 13
Stacy frowned as she packed the big picnic basket. All in all, she was beginning to wish she’d stayed in Italy. Dealing with fabrics and decisions about furniture and flirty Italians who seemed to have a hundred hands now seemed glorious. And so very simple!
She’d spent a lot of time planning her booth at Widiwick. She was really hoping to get some commissions in Richmond or Charlottesville. She’d spent so much on fabrics that she’d had to ask her dad for money to buy the beautiful tent. Before she asked, she’d planned what she’d say to him to persuade him that the tent was an investment.
But her father hadn’t balked. In fact, he’d asked what else she needed.
“An Italian sports car?” she’d joked.
“Whatever you need, pumpkin,” he’d said.
Her mother was on the extension. “Did you meet anyone?”
“Lots of people,” Stacy said. “I got two contacts for silks, and one for hard-carved—”
“No, I mean a man,” her mother said.
Stacy had to count to ten before she could reply. “No, but then I am engaged,” she said. “How is everything there?”
“Good,” her father said, “but we really miss you. We think you should come home soon.”
It had taken Stacy a while to reassure them that she was fine, but when she got off the phone she was worried that something specific was bothering them. Then she’d had to run to class and forgotten about it. Whatever was happening in Summer Hill seemed far away.
Everything started falling apart when her teacher had to leave early. Stacy had been disappointed, but she was missing Nate and her family and her little hometown, so she was all right. She called Nate to tell him she was returning early. It went to voice mail. She packed, then called again. Voice mail. She made plane reservations, called. No answer. She began calling Nate every half hour. In the car to the airport. At the airport. Nothing.
She didn’t want to call her parents because that would mean she’d have to tell them Nate wasn’t picking up his phone. She’d already been told about the disastrous brunch at their house.
Her parents’ dislike of Nate was becoming a serious problem. When she couldn’t contact him, she’d had to swallow her pride and ask them to pick her up at the airport.
As she’d feared, they went into a mini tirade about Nate not being reachable.
Stacy defended him. “He works for the government. Maybe he had something important to do for them.”
“I thought he quit that job,” her mother said.
Stacy had no answer for that. She just gave them the flight information and told them it was time for her to board. The truth was that she was very annoyed with Nate. Couldn’t he at least pick up his phone?!
But by the time she got back to dear little Summer Hill, she was willing to forgive him for everything. Surely he had a good excuse.
He’d been waiting for her and she was so glad to see him! Her father had prepared a lovely little ceremony with champagne and hors d’oeuvres to present her and Nate with the fabulous Stanton house.
But Nate had just stood there staring. Not frowning, not smiling. Just nothing. But then he’d abruptly grabbed her and kissed her in an intimate way in front of the townspeople who’d gathered. Stacy had been quite embarrassed.
Once they were alone inside the house, Nate had been so cool that it was as though they were strangers. She’d practically thrown herself at him in invitation for a tryst on the floor, but he’d refused. When he’d nearly run from the house, leaving her standing there alone, her pride had been hurt.
Since then, there had been nothing. Absolutely and totally nothing. They hadn’t spent even ten minutes alone. Stacy had tried to talk to Nate, to snuggle with him. She’d suggested they rent a hotel room.
Nate had said he wanted to talk, cuddle, spend the night with her—all of it, but right now he had to... Whatever.
Since she returned, he’d been so distant, so distracted, that she’d called Bob and asked if he knew what was going on.
“Nate’s staying with Brody Rayburn and I think there may be a problem about the office you got him. And the house,” he added in a low voice.
“What kind of problem?”
“That’s for him to say, not me. Want to hear about this girl I met?”
“Sure,” Stacy said. She knew when Bob didn’t want to talk about something.
Today had been the last day of preparation for Widiwick. Tomorrow the booths would be open and people would be coming to look and to buy. Stacy had high hopes about showing what she could do in terms of design. She’d prepared a big binder full of rooms she’d done. That they had all been in her parents’ house at their expense didn’t count. She just wanted to show people what she could do.
In DC she and Nate had talked a lot about their futures. That he was willing to move to Summer Hill had been tremendous. They’d talked about getting clients for his business. Between his uncles and her father, he’d have many people to do work for.
Nate had taken an interest in her business, even getting her a job decorating an apartment for his cousin.
Everything had been perfect. All that she’d ever hoped for. But now it was like something had happened while they’d been separated. She desperately wanted him to talk about whatever was bothering him. If, as Bob said, he didn’t like his beautiful new office in the Thorndyke house, he should tell her. She’d make him tell her!
As for the Stanton house, he couldn’t possibly not like that grand old place, could he? What was not to like? Spacious rooms. A large garden area. Located near everything. He could walk to work. No, that house was gorgeous—or would be after she restored it to its original magnificence and filled it with beautiful furniture. She was thinking of white silk for everything. Damask, raw silk, jacquard, duchess. She’d use a lot of texture and just a little color. Yes, that would be nice.
She looked back at the picnic basket. After she’d at last finished with the tent this afternoon, she’d driven out to a nearby restaurant and bought everything for this picnic. She especially liked the green eggs. They’d steamed them in kale-infused water. She knew Nate would love them! In DC they’d always eaten healthy and fresh. Besides, she wanted to get his weight down. He really did look good nude—if she remembered that far back—but enough was enough! If he packed on another pound of muscle, she’d have to shop for him at one of those dreadful big-and-tall shops.
Again, she thought of trying to get him to join her in yoga classes.
She looked through the basket. Everything was ready and she looked forward to this evening. Considering Nate’s mood, she was glad she’d invited Terri.
While she was in Italy, Nate had asked about Terri, and she’d told him why Terri had been suspended from high school. What she didn’t tell him was that she had been one of the cheerleaders who had come down the stairs to see Hector and Jay crumpled on the floor. Jay had a black eye and Hector’s lip was bleeding, and they could hardly stand up.
Some of the girls helped the boys while the others ran and called for help. The boys were in such bad shape that they’d left the school in an ambulance.
Over the years, the memory had faded until she hardly recalled it, but Nate seemed to think Terri got a raw deal. And maybe she had. Maybe Billy and his family leaving town hadn’t been all Terri’s fault, just some of it.
Whatever the truth, Stacy was glad that Nate was trying to iron out the problems between the lake and the town. Her father had tried to do that but he’d had no success. He said that Brody Rayburn ran the lake like his own fiefdom and no one could penetrate his rule.
If Nate could, Stacy thought, well maybe he was suitable to become mayor of Summer Hill as she and her father had talked about.
At the thought, her frown was replaced by a smile. She grabbed the basket of food, then remembered to get the notes she’d taken when Billy called. She was curious as to how Terri was going to react to hearing about that. Like the rest of the town, Stacy was very curious about why Terri had dumped a lovely man like Billy Thorndyke.
Oh yes, she was very much looking forward to this little get-together.
Chapter 14
Nate was outside, waiting for Stacy beside his car. He had on baggy shorts, heavy leather sandals and a blue T-shirt that looked like it had been washed on a rock. She made a mental note that she needed to go shopping for him.
He gave her a kiss on the cheek and took the big basket, a tablecloth and a couple of aluminum chairs. “Don’t like to sit on the sand?”
“Certainly not my favorite thing to do.” She smiled, but as he’d done since she returned, he looked distracted. Deliver me from moody men! she thought.
He opened the car door for her, then got into the driver’s seat and pulled away from her parents’ house. “When your father had his law office, did he do any work for the man who used to own the lake?”
“Dad was Mr. Kissel’s attorney. He set up all the contracts.”
Nate glanced at her with sparkling eyes. “What do I have to do to get him to tell me about what happened back then? At least I think that’s when this lake-town feud started.”
“I can tell you whatever you want to know.”
Nate gave her a sweet smile, picked up her hand and kissed it. “You can? Tell me every word of it.”
Stacy pulled her hand away. “Oh no, you don’t. You don’t get what you want until I get what I want.”
“And what is that?” he asked softly, sex in every syllable.
“Not that! You missed that boat at our house! What I want today is for you to be my Nate, not the sullen, silent bear you’ve been since I got back.”
“A bear, huh?” He was teasing.
She didn’t smile as she looked at his arms bulging in the T-shirt. “You look like you’ve been doing very heavy weights.”
“You don’t like it?” He flexed a bicep.
She still didn’t smile. “I think a person’s body should do all forms of exercise: weights, aerobics, stretches. They should—” When he started to frown, she quit. “I know the whole story from the beginning. Want to hear what Della Kissel did?”
The humor came back to Nate’s face. “And I have to behave to hear it?”
“Well, you don’t have to be exactly angelic,” Stacy said as they crossed the bridge to the lake. She started to tell him to go left, but he turned beside a house and went down an alleyway she’d never seen before. He certainly did seem to know his way around the lake. “Once upon a time...” she began, “Sheriff Chazen and Princess Della Kissel were engaged to be married. However, no one thought they were in love.”
“Then why in the world would he want to marry her?”
“Because Princess Della’s much-older brother, King Kissel, owned the lake and all the land around it. It was a very rich kingdom.”
Nate smiled at her fairy-tale spin on the story.
“But the poor king’s beloved wife had passed away and he was ill. Sheriff Chazen wanted to marry Princess Della because she would inherit everything.”
“Nice,” Nate said. “So what was this, uh...princess like when she was young?”
“She wasn’t really a fairy-tale princess because she wasn’t at all nice, and even the king knew she wasn’t. The problem was that King Kissel didn’t want to leave his kingdom to her and the sheriff, but he didn’t know what to do.”
“I know this part. He met Brody and Jake in a restaurant.”
“The king knew Sir Jake to be a hardworking, reliable young knight, and Sir Brody was recommended to him. Together, they planned to build a new kingdom that would house many of the deserving citizens. But there was a prob
lem.”
“Let me guess. Della met Brody,” Nate said. “Even now she never takes her eyes off him.”
“Oh yes, the princess saw the young, handsome, virile Sir Brody and decided she had to have him. She had no doubt that she would get him, for she was used to a life of being given whatever she wanted. On the first day she saw Sir Brody, she went to Sheriff Chazen’s office, returned his ring and said she was going to marry someone else.”
“Della must have been livid when Brody met Leslie.”
“Ah yes, the beauteous commoner, a stranger in town, the maiden Leslie. They saw one another across a room and—zap!—true love claimed them. Without thought of the consequences, they married and she was instantly in the family way.”
“But in this case, there was no happily ever after,” Nate said.
“I guess not.” Stacy looked out the window. “The fairy tale ended abruptly on one dark and stormy night.”
Nate parked behind a house, then turned to look at her. “Did Leslie’s, uh...leaving cause the hatred between the town and the lake?”
Stacy’s voice lost its storytelling tone. “Dad said that’s what set it off. Sheriff Chazen was angry about all of it. He told people that Brody was trying to con the dying Mr. Kissel out of millions. When Leslie ran away, he said that was proof that Brody Rayburn was no good. Unfortunately, a lot of people believed him.”
She looked at Nate. “Dad said the sheriff kind of went crazy with his hatred of all things to do with the lake. If a town kid got caught speeding, he’d be sent home with a warning. But if a lake kid was caught, he’d be put in a cell in the back of the office and have to wait for his parents to show up.”
“Why didn’t the people stop him?”
“I don’t know. I think maybe it was the times. People didn’t stand up to authority. And if they did protest, Sheriff Chazen tended to get revenge—like not showing up when he was needed. But Dad said that he did more good than bad. Until...”
“Until what?”
“The Fourth of July weekend when I was twelve, the whole town was getting ready for a parade and a fair. We were going to have rides. A couple and their sixteen-year-old daughter had rented a house at the lake for that month, but something made them have to go back home on the fourth. Their daughter begged to be allowed to stay here and they said okay. It was only for two days.”
Met Her Match Page 19
