Man of Fantasy
Page 21
Noah was definitely not a novice when it came to interacting with women. Once he graduated college he took what he’d called an unofficial sabbatical from life where he traveled extensively. It had been his time to discover who he was and wanted he wanted from life. And that time he wanted nothing to do with the Wainwright Developers Group.
He had grown up watching his father, grandfather, and uncles toast one another with champagne whenever they sealed a deal. Although it was an unwritten rule not to discuss their real estate business at the dinner table they didn’t always adhere to it. And when it came time for him to take his place at the table as the next generation of Wainwrights, he rebelled, and found himself spending more time at the family-owned Caribbean resorts than at the Fifth Avenue mansion where he still had a suite of rooms.
It wasn’t vanity that told Noah that it was his looks, name, or wealth that allowed him to date women of different races and ethnicities, but confidence. Whether subtle or bold, he knew with a single glance whether to approach a woman to let her know that he was interested in her, but that hadn’t happen with Viviana. She’d met his eyes, and then ignored him as if he did not exist. To say she had deflated his confidence was an understatement.
He had been tempted to ask Giles’s wife Mya about Viviana because she had grown up in Wickham Falls, but then changed his mind once he realized he would have to return to the town to await for the town board to approve his building application. And when he’d informed Giles that he was coming to Wickham Falls for an extended stay, Giles had invited him to stay with him, his wife, and toddler daughter, but Noah declined the invitation, preferring instead to live at the bed and breakfast if only to get to know Viviana better.
Again, Noah was overwhelmed with the natural splendor of the Mountain State. There were tree-covered mountains, lush valleys waterfalls, fast-moving rapids, lakes, rivers and primordial forests which was nirvana for hunters and fishermen. He didn’t hunt, but he did fish. There was nothing more exciting to Noah than fishing off the side of a boat and catching dinner.
Viviana said she needed to sell the land to make repairs to her home and as Noah drove up the path leading to the magnificent mansion his practiced eye immediately saw the changes. The house sported a new coat of paint; the black shutters framing tall energy-saving windows were also new. When he’d first come to the home the locals called The Falls House, he recognized the design was modeled on Barbados architecture. He’d seen many sea island antebellum homes that were built on raised basements to catch the breeze, but why The Falls House when heat and humidity did not equal those areas further south.
He slowed to less than five miles an hour when he saw a tall, slender man with a long snow-white ponytail come out of the house with Viviana. With wide eyes, Noah stared at her as she embraced the man before he got into a late-model gray pickup and started the engine. Maneuvering over to the side of the road, he let the man drive past him. Their eyes had met for a millisecond. It had only been a brief glance, yet it was long enough for Noah to surmise he was Viviana’s father. There was something about the man’s features that called to mind her brother Leland.
* * *
Viviana smiled when she saw Noah emerged from the racy silver sports car with New York plates. Her first impression that he looked like a surfer was shattered completely with his transformation. The blond hair was fashionably barbered with a side part and heavy waves brushed off his forehead. She knew in a single glance that his charcoal-gray slacks had not come off a rack and his stark-white shirt with a monogram on the left French cuff was also custom-made.
She had recommended Noah talk to her brother about how much he wanted for the sale of the land, and once Leland disclosed the amount Viviana hadn’t been able to say anything for several minutes. The Wainwright Developers Group had paid them more than three times the prevailing rate for land in a region where many people lived at or below the poverty line. Leland had refused to discuss the negotiations between him, Giles, and Noah, but told her to use the money wisely when making repairs and upgrading the house. Her brother’s warning was not unfounded because her last boyfriend had stolen her identity and ran up debts in her name where she feared losing everything.
She smiled and extended her hand with Noah’s approach. He had called her the day before to inform her he had finished the blueprints for the homes he planned to build in the valley and would stay until the town council approved his prospectus.
“Welcome back to The Falls.”
Ignored the proffered hand, Noah leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
Viviana’s eyes caressed his face, finding him even more attractive than when she first saw him. She normally didn’t attribute the word beautiful to a man, but Noah was just that. “If you’d come earlier I would have introduced you to my father.”
Noah’s eyes caressed her face. “Is he coming back?”
“No. He just drove down from Philadelphia to spend a few days with me. My father is a professional artist who has just been commissioned to paint a mural for the lobby of a major bank’s headquarters.”
“That’s impressive.”
She smiled. “I agree. As an architect I’m certain the two of you would’ve had a lot talk about when it comes to shapes and colors.” Mya Wainwright had disclosed, during Noah’s visit, that he was an architect and her husband an engineer and that they talked incessantly about buying, selling, designing, and erecting buildings. “Please come in and I’ll show you to the suite I’ve assigned to you.”
Noah hesitated. “If it’s all right with you, I’d rather stay in one of the guesthouses. I need the privacy to conduct business with my home office and potential clients. Will that be a problem?” he questioned when her jaw dropped.
“Oh no,” Viviana said quickly. When Noah alerted her alerted about his arrival, she’d assigned him the largest suite of the five she had set aside for guests. “I have a vacancy in the second guesthouse. A writer, who insists on anonymity and is only known by his popular pseudonym, has taken up residence in the first one for the next two months while he claims he’s writing the sequel to one of his blockbuster novels.”
“If I don’t recognize him, then I don’t need to know who he is.”
Viviana nodded. Her reclusive guest had paid for the guesthouse two months in advance. He allowed housekeeping to come in only twice a week to clean while he went for a walk to gather his thoughts. Viviana thought it weird that he only ate freeze-dried prepackaged meals people purchased in the event of a catastrophic event that would destroy the country’s food supply. It did not matter how eccentric he was along as he did not burn down the guesthouse or destroyed it contents.
“Come on in. I have to get your keycard. It’s too late for breakfast, but if you want I can fix something for you to eat,” Viviana said over her shoulder as Noah followed her into the great room.
“Please don’t bother. I told Giles I would hang out with him and Mya later this afternoon. I’ll probably have dinner with them.”
“The last time I saw Lily she was talking up a storm.”
“That’s because she’s a Wainwright. When everyone gets together if you don’t talk fast you won’t get a word in edgewise.”
Viviana walked into the room next to the parlor she had set up as her office. She wiped a keycard over the senor and pushed open the door. The room was off-limits to everyone in the ten-bedroom house. Since the bed and breakfast opened for business she hired a part-time cook, two part-time women assigned to housekeeping and a landscape company to maintain the grounds.
She opened a desk drawer and removed two keycards and activated them. “I’m giving you two in case you misplace one.”
Noah took the keycards and handed her a credit card. “I don’t how long I’m staying, but put all of the charges on this card.”
Viviana stared at the black card as if it was a venomous snake. She shook her head. “I’m not going to take that.”
“Why not?”
Sh
e glared at him. “Because I’m going to take any more money from you, that’s why?”
Noah’s eyes flashed with glints of anger. “You’re right when you say that your brother handles the finances, because you stink at this! How do expect to run a viable business when you let folks lay up for free?”
Viviana felt as if he’d given her a stinging slap across her face, as she recoiled from his acerbic taunt. She closed her eyes and counted slowly under she felt her anger subside until she could say what was on her mind without regretting what she actually wanted to tell him.
“You’re only half-right, Noah. I was so blindly in love with a man who took everything from me, and that included every penny in my name. So when I told you to talk to Leland about buying the land I probably would’ve turned down every offer you’d make because I had so little trust in men when it comes to money, and my first instinct was you’d tried to cheat me. I don’t know why you decided to give us what you did, but what I’m not going to do to you what my ex did to me. And that is take advantage of you. You can stay in the guesthouse without me charging you, or you can go and live with your cousin. If you decide not to stay, then give me the keycards and get back in your fancy little sports car and drive away.”
* * *
Noah looked at Viviana as if she had taken leave of her senses, and he wanted to tell her he wasn’t her ex looking to fleece her. The rise and fall her breasts under a white blouse and the slight flaring of her delicate nostrils told him she wasn’t annoyed but angry. All he wanted to do was pay her for living in the guesthouse and she’d gone off on him.
At that point he did not want to do or say anything that would drive a wedge between them. It was apparent he had underestimated Viviana. She had come at him like cat that’d had a litter of kittens. The one time he tried picking up one of the kittens the queen sprang and dug her claws into the back of his hand until he let go of her baby.
“Okay, you win,” he said after an uneasy silence.
“It’s not about winning and losing,” Viviana retorted. “It’s about what is right and wrong.”
Noah threw up a hand in exasperation. “You’re right, Viviana.”
“Please don’t attempt to placate me.”
Noah smothered a savage expletive under his breath as he forced a smile. “I’m sorry. I think I can find the guesthouse without your assistance.” At that point he did not care if she felt he was being facetious. All he wanted to do is get away from Viviana before he said something he would come to regret. This encounter reminded him of the one when she’d shown him the property she wanted his company to buy, and then he had diffused what would have become an impasse if he had not shut it down.
He walked out of the house and got into his car and drove around to the guesthouses. As he unloaded the trunk with luggage and electronic equipment Noah thought about Viviana her attitude towards him during their first encounter. At that time he hadn’t known what had made her unapproachable, but now he knew it had something to do with man—a man who’d used her and nearly ruined her financially. What she would soon learn was that he did not take advantage of women and that he definitely did not need their money.
He had come into his trust at twenty-five and fortunately he never had to concern himself with where to live or where his next meal was coming from. He was a Wainwright and heir to a real estate empire that was the second largest real estate company in the northeast and their goal was to make it number one. And now that they’d expanded their holdings to the Bahamas where they’d purchased and sold a number of islands to those with enough money to want to own their private island.
Perhaps in the past when he wasn’t involved in his family’s business his days and nights were one continuous party; he would meet a girl, dated her for a month or two, and then break it off whenever she hinted that he give her ring or was bold enough to propose marriage to him. But that was then and this was now. He’d sown his wild oats and now at thirty-three he was looking forward to finding that special woman with whom to settle down. Some of his friends teased him saying he was still too young to talk about marrying and having kids, but few knew that Noah had tired of the nonstop, never-ending parties where he woke feeling worse than when he’d gone to sleep. That he’d dated too many girls—some who had the same names. However, he had always been very discriminating when sleeping with a woman. He really had to like a woman to make love with her. And when he looked back at his nonstop party days he was proud to admit he hadn’t used women because women just because they were willing and available.
He swiped the keycard the door opened. The lingering distinctive smell lemon wafted to his nostrils. It was apparent someone had recently cleaned the house. Noah discovered the structure contained two bedrooms, and there was loft with a king-size bedroom overlooking the living/dining area. The kitchen and bath were updated and the furniture contemporary and functional. A desk, worktable and chair were set up in a corner under a window which was the perfect spot for him to conduct business.
Noah picked up a brochure on the desk advertising the amenities the bed and breakfast offered. There was buffet breakfast for guests from seven to ten. Check out was 11:00 am and early check-in was at 2:00pm. Cordials and sweetbreads were served in the parlor 8:00 pm and all rooms were wired with free cable and Wi-Fi.
He decided to unpack, shower and change his clothes, then drive over to see his cousin. Perhaps Giles could give him a better read on the enigmatic beautiful woman with whom he had found himself enthralled.
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Copyright © 2019 by Rochelle Alers
ISBN-13: 9781488053542
Man of Fantasy
© 2009 by Rochelle Alers
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