Safe Harbor: A Cold Creek Homecoming

by Sherryl Woods

  His enthusiasm was infectious. “Obviously you went with it. Is your obsession costing you a bundle, or did it turn out to be a good decision?”

  He nodded sheepishly. “Actually, it’s turned out pretty well.”

  “How well?”

  “I have a farm in central Florida for breeding and training and I have about twenty horses on the track now. This little beauty you’re about to see cost 750,000 as a yearling. She’s only a four-year-old and she’s already won over a million. If she wins today, we’ll probably retire her and breed her.”

  Tina was used to talking big money, but not when it came to something that seemed to her as risky and frivolous as horse racing. When she’d been growing up, her parents had scraped by. She still wasn’t used to treating money casually. She shopped in the chain department stores, not the elegant boutiques, and on Sunday mornings both she and Sarah clipped food coupons from the paper.

  Now, though, what had always seemed to her to be merely a rich man’s hobby took on a whole new meaning. Grandmother Sarah’s crocheting and Aunt Juliet’s petunias were hobbies. This was big business.

  She took a good long look at Serendipity Sal with her gleaming coat and prancing step.

  “Nice horse,” she commented wryly.

  “Are you referring to her looks or her value?”

  “I’m impressed by both.”

  “Just wait until you see her run. That’s what it’s all about.”

  As they went back to their box to wait for the start of the mile-and-a-quarter race, Tina’s heart pounded in anticipation. Drew trained his binoculars on the starting gate when the gun went off, and when Sal broke badly, Tina could see tiny white lines edge his mouth. But the four-year-old’s speed more than made up for the faulty start. By the time the horses reached the backstretch, Sal was running third and gaining.

  As they rounded the turn, Sal moved into a neck and neck race with the leader. Tina was jumping up and down, clinging to Drew’s arm, her throat parched and scratchy and beyond sound, even though she tried like crazy to yell. When the two horses burst across the finish line in a cloud of red dust, she had no idea which had won.

  Frustrated, she caught the amused laughter in Drew’s eyes.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You.”

  “Oh?”

  “For a lady who knew virtually nothing about racing a couple of hours ago, you’re hooked, too, aren’t you?”

  “It’s wonderful,” she enthused. “One question, though.”

  “What?”

  “Did she win?”

  “It’s a photo finish. They’ll announce it in a minute.”

  “You mean we have to wait?”

  He tapped her on the nose. “Your impatience is showing, Mrs. Harrington.”

  Tina grimaced. “I know. Patience is not one of my virtues. Ask Grandmother Sarah.”

  “She did mention that it might be nice if I could slow you down a bit. Haven’t you ever had to wait for something? Anticipation is part of the excitement.”

  “I waited for things most of my life,” she replied, suddenly serious. “Now that I can make things happen, waiting makes me crazy.”

  Drew touched a hand to her cheek, flooding her with warmth. “I can understand that,” he said gently, “but don’t get so caught up in the action that you forget to stop along the way.”

  “And smell the roses?” she retorted with a touch of irony.

  “Or savor the special moments,” he said solemnly, his blue eyes capturing hers, holding her until the world vanished and it was just the two of them, alone in a timeless, reckless place all their own. Tina searched Drew’s eyes and found them clear, honest and filled with warmth. The thundering of her heart resounded in her ears, and her lips parted on a soft sigh. Drew lowered his head. His mouth was only a heart-stopping hair’s breadth away from hers when an explosion of sound split the air and shattered the moment.

  The posting of the results had drawn the crowd to its feet. When she saw that Serendipity Sal was officially in first place, Tina impulsively threw her arms around Drew’s neck and kissed him soundly, though without the sweet tension of the kiss they’d lost.

  Blue eyes glittered at her dangerously. “You do that again, Tina Harrington, and I won’t be responsible for my actions,” he warned in a low growl. “We’ll never get down to the winner’s circle.”

  “Racing is a sport of gentlemen,” she reminded him tartly.

  “Actually it was the sport of kings and not all of them were gentlemen. Besides, all sorts of mavericks are into it now,” he teased right back, and a tingle of anticipation danced down her spine. Anticipation. She was beginning to see what he meant.

  “Like you?”

  “Exactly like me.”

  “Have I mentioned what an enigma you are?”

  Drew seemed puzzled. “In what way?”

  “If I’d had to describe your personality a day or two ago, I’d have said you were a pompous, meddling, stuffed shirt with the mental diversity of a rabbit.”

  “How flattering.” He actually grinned at her description. “And now?”

  “Your mind darts in so many directions, I have trouble keeping up with you. You’re filled with contradictions. On the one hand, you strike me as a man who has quite a knack with the ladies. You always know just what to say. Jennifer practically fell at your feet. You’ve charmed Grandmother Sarah and won Aunt Juliet’s heart. On the other hand, you’ve convinced Mr. Kelly you’re the only man in Palm Beach besides him who knows a thing about compost. You’re equally at home either here, in a boardroom, or playing Scrabble.”

  “What about you? Have I won you over yet?”

  “With all those other ladies vying for your attention, why does it matter?”

  “All those other ladies, hmm? Does the competition bother you?”

  “Why should it?” she retorted promptly.

  He bent down and brushed a tantalizing kiss across her lips, lingering just long enough for another shock of awareness to rip through her and set her pulse to racing.

  “Because you and I are going to have something very special,” he said softly, his eyes locked with hers. Tina’s breath caught in her throat. “If I were you, I wouldn’t want any other woman interfering.”

  Tina blinked and tore her gaze from his. She managed a shaky laugh. “What arrogance!”

  “Actually, I thought I was just being very straightforward. Someday you’ll understand that it’s a trait I value above all others.”

  After the ceremony in the winner’s circle, they made a brief visit to the barn to see that Serendipity Sal had returned from the race in good condition. She’d been washed and brushed until her chestnut coat was shining in the late afternoon sun. A groom was walking her up and down in front of Drew’s stalls.

  While Drew chatted with his trainer, Tina leaned against a railing and took a deep breath. An earthy, pungent odor filled the air that was not at all unpleasant. This was real. She’d never been on a farm, but imagined that this must be what it was like. She tried to envision Drew’s home in Iowa and couldn’t. Even there, his growing-up would have been so much easier than hers. From what he’d said, it had not been a hand-to-mouth existence as hers had been, or even as so many small farmers lived, their fortunes fluctuating on the success or failure of a single crop, on a fluke of the weather.

  She was still thinking that over when they stopped for dinner at a small Cajun restaurant. Once they’d both ordered the spicy, mouth-watering blackened grouper, she sat back with her glass of wine and studied the man across from her. He’d left his jacket in the car and the collar of his shirt was open, revealing a provocative shadowing of dark hairs at the base of his tanned throat.

  “What were you like when you were a little boy?” she asked, suddenly feeli
ng a need to go back to a time when Drew would have been less formidable, less boldly masculine. Even now that she’d discovered that his temper flared only under provocation, she still found him to be a bit intimidating. That feeling could merely be from his power over her senses, but it was very real.

  “I was a little hellion,” he admitted, that faraway look back in his eyes. “I started climbing practically before I could walk, and my dad was constantly having to pull me down from trees, the hayloft, the kitchen counters. No place was safe from my excursions.”

  “You miss your home, don’t you?”

  “Sometimes. Life was certainly less complex when I was growing up.”

  “Was it fun living on a farm?”

  “It was incredible. Even on a farm as large as ours, it’s not an easy life. You learn responsibility at an early age.” He grinned at the memories. “You can’t imagine what it was like in the winter, though, when the snow could block all the roads and we would sit around the fire and read or watch a movie or TV and pop popcorn in the fireplace. In the summer I went skinny-dipping in the stream or rode my horse. As much as I love it down here, I still miss watching the change of seasons.”

  “We have a change of seasons,” Tina countered with all the defensiveness of a native.

  “Sure. The temperature drops ten degrees.”

  “You sound like a typical northerner. Just because we don’t get snow, doesn’t mean we can’t tell when winter comes. All you have to do is go out to the Everglades and see which birds are here or look at the flowers that bloom only in the cooler weather.”

  Her expression went all soft and dreamy. “And then there are the strawberries.” She practically licked her lips at the thought.

  “Strawberries? What do they have to do with winter?”

  “You’ve never gone strawberry picking down here? What kind of a farmer are you? There’s nothing better to do on a winter afternoon than go to a field and pick fresh strawberries.”

  “Why don’t you just buy them in the store?”

  Tina looked scandalized. “It wouldn’t be the same at all. We’ll go one day and you’ll see. Have I convinced you we have a change of seasons yet?”

  “I’m starting to be a believer, especially since there’s also the mosquito test,” Drew teased.

  “The mosquito test?”

  “Sure. If you don’t have mosquitoes, then it must be winter.”

  “I suppose you were never bitten by a mosquito up north?”

  “Maybe once or twice,” he admitted. “But it was a fluke.”

  “A fluke, my eye.”

  “Okay, so we’re at a standoff on mosquitoes.”

  “How did you wind up in Florida? Landry Enterprises is headquartered in Cedar Rapids.”

  “I first came to Florida because of the horses. Then a friend told me about the house, and I decided to check into it. I thought it might be nice for my father to have someplace to go during the cold weather. At his age the harsh Iowa winters get to him.”

  “Is he here now?”

  “No, but he’s due any day. He couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether to fly or drive. I suppose I’ll hear from him tomorrow or the next day. He’s not exactly predictable,” he said with fondness in his wry tone that intrigued her.

  “Will you only be here through the season then?” she asked, surprised at her sense of disappointment. She’d hoped he might be settling in, that he would be a real neighbor. Maybe even more? No. She wouldn’t allow herself to start thinking like that.

  “I’ll come and go,” he said, reaching over to rub his fingers across the knuckles of her clenched fist. “I seem to be discovering a lot of reasons to stay lately.”

  Tina shivered and met his gaze boldly. “I’m glad,” she admitted softly, contradicting her head, which was shouting that she’d only be safe from these disturbing sensations once he was back in Iowa.

  “Enough about me now,” he said. “I gather you’re a Florida native.”

  “Yep. I was born in West Palm Beach, went to the local junior college and then finished at the University of Florida,” she said, watching him for any subtle sign of surprise that she hadn’t had a classier background. It didn’t seem to faze him at all. “That doesn’t bother you?”

  He stared at her in astonishment. “Why should it?”

  “It bothers a lot of people in Palm Beach and at Harrington Industries. Unless your pedigree is a mile long and your degree is from Harvard, you don’t count for much. I mean, where else would the mayor’s race involve a descendant of Charlemagne and King Louis XIV running against a descendant of Russian czars?”

  “By those standards, I’m just as nouveau riche as you are. The world is full of snobs, Tina. I’m not one of them. I thought we established that last night.” He regarded her closely. “Gerald Harrington wasn’t a snob, either, was he?”

  “No,” she said quietly. Unexpected tears suddenly shimmered in her eyes. Sometimes it hit her like a blow that Gerald was truly gone. “Gerald wasn’t a snob. He loved everyone. I think that’s what made him such an anomaly in the business world. He didn’t have a ruthless, unkind bone in his body and yet he succeeded.”

  “Are you still in love with him?”

  Tina sensed the tension as he asked the potentially volatile question and sighed. “I suppose I’ll always be in love with him. He was a wonderful man, and I owe him a great deal. He turned my life into a fairy tale. There were times when I felt exactly like Cinderella. I think that’s why I want so badly to help Sarah and the others. I was extraordinarily fortunate. I don’t ever want to forget that.”

  “I’m not sure you answered my question. Are you over your husband and ready to go on?”

  “Gerald is dead, Drew. I’d be a fool if I clung to the past rather than live in the present.”

  The tightness around his mouth eased. “I’m glad, Tina.” He reached across the table and lifted her hand to his lips. The velvet warmth spread through her, stealing into all the hidden places that had grown so cold since Gerald’s fatal accident.

  “Tina, maybe it’s too soon for me to be saying this, but I have to. I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us about what I want.”

  She gave him a puzzled glance, though her heart was skittering crazily. “I don’t understand,” she said, not meaning the remark to be coy. She needed to have him make his intentions very clear.

  “I said it earlier. I want you. I’ve wanted to make love to you ever since I first laid eyes on you. I don’t intend to give up until you want the same thing.”

  Tina gulped. That was certainly clear enough. Now that he’d said it so plainly, she needed time to absorb it. A lifetime or two ought to do it, but he wasn’t going to allow her nearly that long. She tried to look away, but Drew’s fingers captured her chin and forced her to meet this gaze. “Could I talk you into coming home with me tonight?”

  “You probably could,” Tina admitted softly, surprised to find that she was enjoying the purely feminine thrill of watching the heat of desire blaze to life in his eyes. “But I hope you won’t try.”

  “Oh.”

  She smiled tremulously. “I didn’t say never, just not yet, Drew. I don’t think either one of us can be sure of our feelings and I know there are too many complications in my life right now.”

  “And you blame me for at least one of them.”

  “I don’t really blame you, though I still don’t understand entirely why you felt you had to meddle in my lifestyle.”

  The blue of his eyes darkened. There was so much pain shadowing those eyes that Tina felt the hurt deep inside herself.

  “Someday I’ll explain it to you,” he promised, “but right now I’m more interested in why you won’t go home with me when you’ve admitted that you want to.”

  “You mu
st read the Wall Street Journal. You know that I’m facing a critical board meeting in a few weeks. I have to focus all of my energies on that and on getting DCF off my back. I need some time to put things back on track before I face any sort of personal involvement.”

  “Am I a distraction, then?” he asked, a teasing glint in his eyes.

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  “Is that your only reason?”

  “No,” she admitted candidly.

  “I didn’t think so. What’s the rest?”

  “Well, from what you said earlier, Billy would heartily disapprove of things heating up so rapidly between the two of us. After your speech on honor and respect and emotional commitment, he’d probably come after you with a shotgun.”

  “He probably would at that.”

  Tina didn’t add that she also needed some time to sort out her feelings about becoming involved with a man as driven and domineering as Drew Landry, a man capable of wresting control of her life away from her. Although Drew had been supportive so far, she knew that he was also a very protective man. He’d hinted earlier at a willingness to take over Harrington Industries rather than have her worry herself to death over it. It seemed nothing more than honest concern for her well-being, but perhaps it was more.

  Tina had learned from experience that too many men saw her as a shortcut to control of Harrington Industries. Things were happening too quickly between her and Drew for her to trust her feelings—or his stated ones—completely. Although she was aggressive and decisive in her business dealings, it was only today that she’d learned to gamble at all. She was not ready to bet with abandon on something as potentially hurtful as a commitment to a man she hardly knew. It would take time for Drew to convince her that his motives were entirely personal and altruistic.

  Right now the look in his eyes was certainly personal. It was bold and assessing and heated with desire.

  “You take as long as you like to get things back on track, Tina,” he said slowly, his voice filled with lazy sensuality. “Just make sure that track leads right next door.”

  Tina discovered that she wanted desperately to believe he meant what he said, that he would be there when she was ready to take a chance on the future.