Smitten

by Colleen Coble

  “I doubt that. I take it you two don’t care for one another,”

  Devlin said. “But you seem to be a businessman, Mr. Grant, and I’d consider it a great favor if you’d reconsider Julia as a tenant. I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically believe in her abilities as an esthetician.”

  “An esta what?”

  “Julia, look here. These cabinets are already built in. I’m seeing earthy browns under soothing candlelight, cedar and sandalwood as signature scents. Or perhaps maple, if you want to go for that local flair. Muscle repair massages after skiing, with mountain arnica extracts and oregano . . . Surely even you can see the need for that, Mr. Grant.”

  “Nope. Oregano goes on food, not me. If Julia wants to make me spaghetti sauce with it, we can talk.”

  Zak’s refusal seemed to ignite Devlin’s competitive nature. “Mr. Grant, wouldn’t you like to see the women of

  Smitten looking younger with antiaging facials after a day in the sun? It repairs the collagen with licorice extract.”

  “What? Food on people instead of in people isn’t right for Smitten. We don’t go for all that froufrou stuff you city people like.”

  “Detox? Surely a bodybuilder knows about detox. Julia could do the best detoxifying treatments there under the crackling fireplace.” He pointed toward the corner.

  “There is no fireplace,” Julia said dryly.

  “There will be. An exfoliation treatment with the local maple sugar scrub. Julia, Zak, this is a gold mine. What’s it going to take to get you two to see it?”

  “A miracle,” they said in unison.

  “I need to get back to work.” Zak tapped his blueprints against the wall. “Let yourselves out when you’re done.”

  Julia watched him stride to the back room, untouchable as ever.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Zak’s fists tightened and the blueprints crumpled in his right hand. He dropped them on a nearby table. Devlin. What the heck kind of name was that? His name was probably really Irwin or Gilbert.

  Julia had returned to Smitten months ago. Zak promised her brother, Greg, he’d check on her, but he’d avoided her. Julia wanted a bigger, better life than he could ever provide, so why tempt himself? She was sophisticated and elegant, and seemed to want a different world than what Smitten could provide. She probably never would have come home if her mother hadn’t broken her ankle and needed her help. He didn’t want to watch her leave again.

  He heard the door slam out front and made his way into the main section of the restaurant. He could still smell her perfume lingering in the air. He had to go after her. The deck door latched behind him, and he turned to see her standing on the deck overlooking the pond, deep in thought.

  Tension tightened at the base of his neck as he pushed the door open and followed her out onto the deck. The sun sparkled in reflection off the pond, and she brushed off an Adirondack chair and sat, never noticing him.

  “Julia?”

  She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.

  “Where’s Devlin?”

  “He left.”

  “How?”

  “He took my car. I’ll get Natalie to drive me to the airport later and pick it up.” She sniffled, and his fists tightened again at the idea of that city slicker making his Julia cry.

  “I’ll take you to the airport.”

  “I thought he was the answer. My dad offered me the money if I stayed in Smitten, but he doesn’t have that kind of money. It’s nothing to Devlin, so I thought—”

  “It’s more money to his kind than you realize. Besides, think of the pressure with that tool in your business. It’s hard enough to make a go of it here in Smitten. You don’t want that guy telling you what works in New York City. You know this town. You know how things work. When are you going to trust yourself?”

  She laughed through her tears. “Thank you, Zak. My faith is wilting. I need to have a job if I’m going to stay here and take care of my mother. What else do I know how to do?

  Maybe I should go back to school and become an accountant.”

  He looked down. “You can do anything you want to do, except for maybe shoot a basket.” He winked at her. “And if you want to set up here, I am going to be renting out half the building. You’re welcome to it. Maybe that turkey is right about something. It is a beautiful setting here.”

  “I don’t need charity, Zak. I pictured the spa closer to town. Nearer to the main businesses. Devlin said if I wasn’t going to take his advice, there was no sense in his wasting his time on me. Then he just left. He took my car while I stood idly by. That’s not me.”

  “The location isn’t that far from town. Certainly within walking distance, and the horse-drawn carriage could bring people from the bed-and-breakfast here. You wouldn’t be alone out here if you worked nights, if that’s what you’re worried about. The restaurant will open again soon after the upgrades.”

  “You’re upgrading?”

  She looked up into his eyes, and he knew he would remember that innocent, hopeful look for the rest of his days. It melted his heart.

  “The town’s getting older, and people want chairs, not stumps to sit on.”

  She grinned. “And the sawdust?”

  “So 1990.”

  “You mean 1890.”

  “I’m a fourth-generation logger, Julia. I didn’t know anything about opening up a restaurant. I just saw a need and I filled it.”

  She stared off toward the pond. “I like it out here. It’s so calming.” She lay back in the Adirondack chair and let the sun soak into her perfect, clear skin. Her complexion was her own best advertisement.

  “You look like you belong here. The queen of all you survey.” A trout leapt from the water and created a ripple over the previously glassy-calm pond. “See, even the fish agree.”

  She stood abruptly and brushed off her backside. “I’d better go. I’m back at square one now.”

  “What’s that you’re carrying?”

  “It’s a wreath Mia made for me. Like the ones in town, it’s supposed to be a wreath of faith for Smitten’s future. I think I should just give it back to her.”

  “Why won’t you take me seriously? You think I’d offer half my building to just anyone?” He missed the lighthearted Julia who smiled constantly and giggled girlishly like she always had a secret. She’d changed since coming home. “The Julia I used to know wasn’t afraid of anything. I know she’s in there somewhere.”

  “Don’t worry, Zak.” She rested her hand on his. “I’ll tell Greg you did your part and offered me the help.”

  “It isn’t that,” he protested. “I don’t understand why you’re waiting for some guy to tell you what you already know.

  You can make the spa work here. You can do whatever you set your mind to. What do you need that guy’s permission for?”

  His jaw clenched at the thought.

  “Devlin threw an adult tantrum and said if I didn’t see the spa here in this building, there was no hope for me. If Devlin doesn’t think it will work here, how can I gamble my father’s money?”

  “Your father believes in you. Devlin’s a toad. Why do you care what he thinks?”

  She rose. “I’d better let you get back to work. I need to go ask Natalie for a ride to the airport.”

  “You said yourself that I had nothing to do. Sit down, Julia.”

  To his surprise, she sat back down, and he sat in the adjoining chair, turning it to face her and watch as the sun highlighted the coppery strands in her dark hair.

  She leaned forward and rested her elbow on her crossed legs. “I need to find the right place. Smitten needs more romance if we’re to attract tourists after Sawyer’s wedding.

  This building is dripping masculinity, so I appreciate the offer, Zak, I really do, but—”

  “That was the idea. A place for a man to get decent grub and get back to the mill before he was missed. Not much need for prettying it up back in the day.” He leaned back in the chair and kicked out his leg
s. “But times are changing. I don’t need so much space now, and you said yourself this place could use a woman’s touch. So be an accountant and do the math. It all adds up.”

  Julia seemed like a lost child, nothing like the arrogant little schoolgirl who wanted a bigger life. It was as though New York had stripped her confidence away. He never thought he’d miss that obnoxious know-it-all, but he did. It was like a part of her had disappeared.

  Julia stared into Zak’s handsome face, the murky depths of his dark eyes. He’d always been a mystery to her, and she supposed he always would be. Why now? Why did he want to help her now? Was it guilt over Greg not being here to help?

  She eyed him suspiciously.

  “This isn’t the right place for the spa. Now if only I can convince my one and only investor that I’m correct, I can get on with things.”

  “What if he’s right?”

  “He’s not.”

  “Just tell Devlin you’re not going to sissify the building and slather cream on a bunch of loggers. I want to put them back to work so that maybe their wives can afford such a luxury.” His cocked eyebrow took her right back to high school when she’d watch him and his popular friends horseplay in the cafeteria, and she was invisible.

  With as much time as Zak spent at their house, being Greg’s best friend, he never once spoke to her outside of the safety of their home. She wondered if he realized that.

  How he became someone different, someone aloof and out of reach when anyone was looking. His deep hazel stare out from under his mop of dark brown hair still intimidated her.

  It always had. She felt smaller in his presence, and the words she wanted to say, the coolness she wanted to display, never managed to show itself when he was around. Today, in fact, marked the most she’d ever said to him in public, and that was only because Devlin had stripped away her choice. She sucked in a deep breath to find her voice.

  “It always was like you to make fun of what you don’t understand.” She straightened her shoulders and stared over the pond rather than meet his eyes, but she felt them upon her. “I don’t intend to ‘slather cream,’ as you put it, on loggers. I intend to, along with the rest of Smitten’s women, make this town the romantic capital of the East Coast. Any town oozing this kind of quaintness and a ski lodge needs an upscale spa.”

  “No one ‘needs’ a spa. You’ve been living in New York for too long if you believe that. This town needs to work. That’s a need, but I’m willing to support you rather than bring in outsider money. That will only corrupt Smitten.”

  “Devlin has a few million dollars that make that statement patently untrue. Plenty of his clients believe taking care of themselves is a necessary part of life.”

  “Patently . . . what?” He shook his head at her.

  “Why have you always been so mean to me?”

  “Mean to you? When was I ever mean to you?”

  Her breathing quickened. “Never mind. I thought maybe Devlin’s professional eye saw something I’d missed here, but my first thought was correct.” She stood and brushed the back of her dress again. She bent her leg and leaned against the top of the Adirondack while she emptied her shoe out again.

  “You probably think Sawyer’s wedding won’t put us in the spotlight, but I can tell you, romance means something to women, and this wedding means a great deal to Smitten.”

  “On the contrary, we’re already on the map. Sawyer did this for Smitten, you know. He loves this town.”

  “All the men do, right? I know how you feel about the women’s plans for Smitten.”

  “I don’t think you do,” he said in a low, lumberjack growl.

  He tugged at her hand. “Sit down a minute.”

  She felt the hair on her arms stand on end. She refused to sit, so he stood closer. So close that she could feel the heat from his expansive chest. “I need to go. If Devlin leaves with all his money, so do my hopes.”

  “We all have plans for Smitten. You girls aren’t alone in what you want. You realize that?”

  “I do, but what you’ve done in the past hasn’t worked, Zak.

  It’s time we did something different.” She pulled open the door and walked into the darkened restaurant.

  Zak was right on her heels. “You girls, we appreciate what you’re trying to do, but, Julia . . . that guy.” He bounced his forefinger toward the door. “He’s an interloper you don’t need. We don’t need. You bring in foreign money and you answer to it. That’s the last thing Smitten needs. We’re hanging on by a string as it is, and I don’t like the way he talks to you. Who the heck does he think he is? When have you ever been a quiet little mouse of a person? He ruins you, Julia.

  Don’t you see that?”

  “You’re wrong about Devlin. He’s just used to having his way, that’s all. You should understand that. He runs the most successful spa in Manhattan, and he wants to create the same sort of ambience here.” She gazed across the room. “Clearly, no matter of plastic surgery is capable of making that happen in this building. But don’t get me wrong—I wish you all the luck in the world with whatever you have planned. I’ll just get out of your way.” She walked toward the door, and again he grasped her wrist.

  “I’ll lend you the money to do what you need to do here.”

  She couldn’t pry her eyes from his hand wrapped around her wrist. Had he ever touched her before today? “Where would you get that kind of money?”

  “That’s a personal question, and the answer is none of your business, but I have it, and in case you haven’t noticed, the banks aren’t too keen on lending when you don’t have any collateral. Especially to a new business in a town as dead as a doornail.”

  “No offense, Zak, but I’d rather have an ‘interloper’s’ money than answer to you. If you believe my idea is so ridiculous, why would you want to lend me money to make it happen?”

  That wasn’t actually the truth, and she went hot with guilt, but she didn’t correct herself. Zak scared her with his bravado, and she saw herself sweating over a spreadsheet trying to explain the cost of organic cleansers.

  “Don’t be proud, Julia. Why would some guy from New York want to start a business in this Podunk town? Does it occur to you to question his motives?”

  She blinked away her rising tide of emotion. “I was his best student. I learned the spa business faster than anyone he’d ever hired. He recognizes vision, what we women of Smitten are doing to change the village, and he sees the financial opportunity.”

  “You believe that,” he chuckled, “then I have a very successful mill I’d like to sell you. Well, it was successful fifty-odd years ago.”

  “I don’t have any reason to question his motives. I love this town. And with the passion I feel for Smitten and for taking care of oneself with clean living, how could I fail?”

  Zak held open his hands. “Look around you. Are you saying I didn’t love this town? And what do you see? A shell of a functional business. Ski season isn’t enough to keep us going all year long. In the meantime, I work on ways to get that plant back open while you girls pin your hopes on a dream. Without a new hit song we can’t even count on Sawyer, if the truth be told.”

  “That’s why we have to do something different. We prayed, Zak, and I believe God wants us to do this. He wants to see Smitten flourish, and what better way than to blossom in love?”

  “If only wishes were dollar bills . . .”

  “Zak.” She let her hand grasp his. “Are you worried?”

  Because she didn’t think she could take seeing Zak falter.

  She watched his Adam’s apple twitch.

  “I am worried, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given over reason. Lose that guy, Julia. You got his advice, that’s all you need. He says the spa should be here. If you want help, take mine. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. Your brother would have my neck.”

  She wanted to agree, but she didn’t dare. Zak Grant would break her heart again and again. He’d never look upon her as more than
a little sister, and she didn’t want that kind of help. Charity.

  “I need to get over to the coffee shop. Sorry to have disturbed you.” She ran across the darkened restaurant, and her heel caught in the plank floor. The ground rose up to meet her, but Zak’s bulging arms came out of nowhere, caught her, and set her upright. He kept his hands around her waist, and she didn’t dare move, didn’t dare breathe. She hoped he couldn’t feel how hot she was from nerves under her dress.

  “Julia, I think he’s right.”

  “Who’s right?”

  “Devil, or whatever his stupid city name is. This place has everything you need for a spa. I’ll rent you half the building, help you make the improvements, and if you don’t make it, you can turn it into a dog wash and bathe the hounds of Smitten. It won’t hurt me, and if you owe me money at the end, you can work it off washing dishes. Or maybe we could use the hot tub to soak the ribs in beer overnight. You’re going to have a hot tub, right?”

  “It has everything, except for an ounce of femininity, a total renovation, a water fountain, a fireplace, a—” She felt his arms release from her waist.

  “I told you I’d help with that, but you do what you need to do. You’ve known me since grade school, and if you don’t trust me by now, you never will.”

  She tried to make sense of her thoughts. “Precisely. Who I’ve known is a guy who pulled my ponytail, tattled on me to Mrs. Swindoll, and forgot he ever knew me once he joined the football team and I the chemistry team.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. But I pulled your ponytail because I thought you were cute, and you ignored me. I tattled on you to Mrs. Swindoll because you let her class turtle go during logging season and I didn’t want it to get hit by a truck. The least you could have done was let it go near the pond! And when you joined the chemistry team, I knew you were too smart for my blood. Your brother always told me so.

  All right? Trust me now?”

  “You pulled my ponytail because you liked me?” She tapped her peep-toe shoe on his work boot.

  “Wipe that smile off your face. I was young, and I’d never seen a girl with dimples, or one whose bow matched her dress every day. I was, in a word, smitten.”