Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  “It’s difficult between flying from Chicago to the Middle East and Greece and Africa and sitting in on conference calls with kings and presidents,” Mason said.

  “Oh, wow, you guys, did you see who’s in the dunk tank?”

  Suddenly Adrianne was beside him, oozing enthusiasm, her eyes wide, her smile wider.

  “Who?” Drew seemed relieved by Adrianne’s interruption.

  Mason had to hide a smile. Likely Drew had been told to make sure the boys played nice with Mason and he was worried about getting into trouble with Hailey. Mason wasn’t sure what kind of punishment Hailey might dole out, but he did know that she wasn’t as sweet as she seemed.

  “Kelsey Kramer,” Adrianne said. “And she’s wearing a white shirt.”

  “Anybody dunked her yet?” Drew asked.

  “Nope. But Jason Conrad is up next.”

  “Okay, well I’m feeling the need for a little walk across the square,” Drew said, clapping Steve on the shoulder and turning the man in the direction of the dunk tank. “Who’s with me?”

  The others seemed to agree that a wet white T-shirt on somebody named Kelsey was more interesting than Mason’s job—kings or not—and headed off with Drew. Leaving him alone with Adrianne.

  “Who’s Jason Conrad?” Mason asked, watching the other men cross the park.

  “The all-star pitcher from the state championship baseball team.” Adrianne didn’t look at him either.

  “And Kelsey Kramer?”

  “Hot new kindergarten teacher.”

  “A kindergarten teacher is in the dunk tank in a white T-shirt?”

  “No. But by the time they realize that, you and I will be gone.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  ADRIANNE TURNED AND started toward the Ferris wheel.

  The Ferris wheel where he’d very much like to kiss her. At least.

  “You lied? I was thinking about how much I appreciate your openness,” Mason said as they walked.

  “Oh, I was quite genuine in my desire to get rid of the guys,” she said.

  He chuckled. “Afraid I was going to punch Steve in the face?”

  “Afraid you were going to hurt his brain by challenging it to think outside of his backyard and beyond his own direct compensation to something truly significant on a worldwide, humanitarian scale.”

  Mason wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Adrianne Scott seemed to really understand—or at least grasp and admire—what he did. That was so unusual and satisfying that he knew he took longer than he should have to answer.

  The universal truth was that it was hard to stay mad at a woman you wanted to cover in chocolate syrup. Or powdered sugar, he thought as they passed the funnel cake stand. It was how wives got their way so often.

  He stopped. “We’ll be gone?”

  She turned and came back to him. She tipped her head back to look up at him. “Traditionally, you should be the one insisting we talk about last night, especially after that kiss I laid on you. But since you were a bit of a dork with the girls in high school, I’m giving you a pass on this one. We’re going somewhere to talk. I insist.”

  He fought the smile that pulled at his lips. Only Lauren knew him and liked him enough to dare tease him. He liked that Adrianne felt comfortable doing it too. “And here you are saving me again.”

  “Saving you?”

  “The softball game, poker game, golf…and now this. You’re always saving me from my nerdiness.”

  She frowned. “How did you know about the golf?”

  Ah, he’d been right. “Incredibly high IQ, remember?”

  She gave a half smile. “Right.”

  “I’m good at golf, Adrianne.”

  “I was more concerned about the conversation. And you proved me right, by the way, with your little discussion with Steve.”

  Mason grimaced. Maybe she had a point. “I don’t do well being questioned. It…irritates me.”

  “Yeah, I’ll remember that.” She didn’t sound intimidated at all.

  He liked that about her too.

  “Admit it, you just can’t leave me alone,” he said, moving in closer.

  He knew now that he couldn’t leave her alone either. And the Ferris wheel might not cut it.

  SHE WAS NEVER going to be able to leave Mason alone, she realized as she looked up into his eyes. The man had the strangest effect on her. She’d seen him talking to the guys and by his posture—and she’d known him for what? A little more than twenty-four hours—knew that he was tense and the conversation wasn’t going well.

  Yes, she’d been assigned to make sure he was accepted and comfortable and happy, but that wasn’t what propelled her across the street and up the sidewalk. She’d been watching for him for almost an hour, and when she finally saw him she couldn’t stay away.

  Once she had his full attention with no interruptions, she should ask him more about the building project and why he didn’t like it and work on convincing him that he should like it. She was a star in sales and marketing after all.

  But she wasn’t going to do that.

  She wanted him to know that she was with him simply because she couldn’t help it.

  Something over his right shoulder caught her eye and she glanced at it. At her to be more specific. Hailey had arrived. In her stupid high heels and another short skirt. Had her clothes always been so skimpy or had she gone shopping?

  It didn’t matter. Adrianne wasn’t ready or willing to share Mason.

  “Dammit.” She quickly looked around, then grabbed his hand and pulled him across the street and through the wrought-iron archway over the sidewalk leading to Herschfield House. The haunted house for the weekend.

  “Where are we going?” he asked, following her without hesitation, which she appreciated.

  “Somewhere we won’t be found.” She pulled him around the side of the house and then through the door leading to the kitchen.

  “I think we’re supposed to go in the front.” He sounded amused.

  “I helped set this damned thing up,” she told him as they walked. “If I can’t duck in a side door, somebody’s gonna get yelled at.”

  “You helped set the haunted house up?”

  Once through the side door, instead of stepping through the cobwebs into the room where they were going to be threatened by a chainsaw-wielding Dracula, Adrianne turned right and tugged Mason along with her behind the black curtain that separated the victims from the actors who needed to periodically jump out or grab people as they walked by.

  She ducked the elbow of a man with a plastic ax lodged in his head and dodged the two zombies heading for the front of the house.

  “I helped set everything up for the festival except the rides and games that the carnival company brought in. I did the craft fair, the quilt show, the pie shop, the beer garden…and this.” She pulled him with her up the back staircase to the second floor.

  “Why do they have a haunted house at the town festival anyway?” Mason asked. “I’ve always wondered.”

  She’d thought it was strange too, but Hailey had insisted it was a tradition that would not end during her reign. Hailey didn’t call it a reign but Adrianne knew that’s how she thought of it. “It’s fun.”

  “To be scared?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then this doesn’t make sense.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know this is fake, right? No one would let a bunch of people walk through a house with a real ax murderer in it. So it’s not really scary.”

  She chuckled. “Right, but you suspend disbelief during the e
xperience.”

  “Why?”

  She rolled her eyes but grinned. In the candle-lit hallway, he couldn’t see her anyway. “Because it makes it fun.”

  “So you’re fooling yourself into thinking it’s fun.”

  “I…guess.”

  Adrianne stepped into the first bedroom on the left with Mason right behind her. When she stopped, he bumped into her and steadied them both with his hands on her waist. And he didn’t let go. Or move back. In fact, he seemed to press closer. At least part of him pressed closer. She felt his breath along the side of her neck and then he trailed his lips along her skin.

  She sighed. God, that felt good.

  The sound of a chainsaw and a chorus of screams interrupted the fantasy she had going of his mouth continuing on down.

  “Crap.” She stepped out of his hold, closed the door and then locked it. “We can hang out in here for a while.”

  “We’re hiding.”

  “Yes.” From the whole town, the whole world, for at least a week if she could arrange it. “So you’ve never been in a haunted house before?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? It’s been a part of the festival for years. Wasn’t it here when you lived here?”

  The distant sound of screams drifted up the stairs.

  “Yes. But I have trouble with the whole suspension of disbelief thing.”

  “Right.” A smart guy like him was probably too logical for something like fantasy. Which was a bit of a bummer considering some of the impure thoughts she’d had going lately.

  “And a very hard time with fooling myself into anything.”

  “Especially something fun,” she said dryly. Maybe she could show him how fun fantasy and imagination could be.

  There was no bed nearby, but they could make do.

  Herschfield House had once been an actual residence but now served as a sort of town museum. Sort of. This room for instance, held clothing and furniture that people felt were historic. For the most part, it was just old, but it was true that some of it easily dated back to the 1930s. The ladies of the Museum Guild—many of whom had donated a lot of the clothes and furniture—kept the rooms clean and somewhat organized. Like the room of historic dishes or the room of historic books—old yearbooks, cookbooks and scrap books.

  The first-floor living area was used for events like Mother’s Day tea, bridal and baby showers and club meetings—book clubs, Garden Club, Sewing Club—and of course, the Haunted House at Halloween and festival time. It was the oldest house in town, was right on Main Street and was huge with a multitude of rooms that lent itself perfectly to a haunting.

  “Why not have fun for real?” He moved to the far side of the room and grabbed the cushions off an old couch. He propped them up against the wall by the windows, then took a seat, stretching his legs out in front of him.

  “Like what?” She’d love to know what Mason Riley thought was fun.

  “Whatever’s fun for you. What do you like to do?”

  She tried to gauge if he was being suggestive, but it was hard to tell. She sat next to him and positioned herself like he had. “I like to…”

  Why was it such a hard question? It wasn’t that she never had fun, but she…stayed home a lot. It didn’t feel un-fun, but it wasn’t the interesting trips or late nights at clubs and parties and shows that she used to have. “I love movies. I read a lot. I…” Go to bed early. Grocery shop with an obsession for food labels. “How about you?”

  She felt him lean more fully into his pillows. “Honestly? I have to make myself go out. Or more specifically, my partner, Lauren, has to make me go out. I work too much.”

  “Your partner?”

  He nodded with a smile that had her feeling a little jealous of Lauren. It was clear that Mason had a lot of feelings for the other woman.

  “She’s also my best friend,” Mason said.

  “Tell me about her.” Adrianne knew she shouldn’t sound so possessive.

  “She’s awesome. Everything we’ve done, we’ve done together.”

  “She’s a genius too?”

  “Not literally, but she’s incredibly bright. She’s the leading authority on water and soil conservation in the United States.”

  Yeah, but could she make candy? Adrianne rolled her eyes at herself. She made candy, she was the assistant to a small town mayor, because they’d been sorority sisters. What did she have that would interest a guy like Mason?

  “So you work together and socialize together? Does that get complicated?” she asked, meaning, of course, have you ever slept together?

  “No. I’m her charity case. I make her feel good about herself.”

  “Charity case?” Adrianne asked. As if feeding third-world countries wasn’t enough?

  “Yeah, she keeps me on the normal side of the spectrum. Whenever I start to drift in the nerd direction, she pulls me back.” He smiled. “Kind of like how you rescue me when I’m in a situation that’s going to make me look bad.”

  That got her attention even as she grimaced. She wasn’t sure if he appreciated that or not. But she couldn’t seem to help herself.

  “You think of yourself as a nerd?” she asked.

  “I am a nerd, Adrianne. I’d rather read scientific journals than novels. I’d rather play with my plants than go to a nightclub.”

  “Your passion is science. And you’re doing things most people can’t even imagine not to mention do. There’s nothing at all wrong with that, or you, Mason.”

  He looked surprised by her vehemence. She was too. But she meant all of it.

  “Wow, why couldn’t you have gone to my high school?” he asked with a little grin.

  She smiled and settled back against the cushion again, having realized her passion about his normalcy had made her sit up straight. “I’m sorry to say that I was probably not as enlightened about what makes a man truly attractive at that age.”

  “You were a cheerleader, class president, homecoming queen?” he asked.

  She sighed. “Yes.”

  He laughed. “No need to sound embarrassed. That’s normal stuff. What everyone wants. Even nerds. At least on some level.”

  At those words, she felt a twinge near her heart. Different from the others Mason had been causing. This felt like—she wanted to hug him rather than ravish him. The desire to ravish was under the surface for sure, but she would have been okay with simply hugging. For now.

  “You didn’t feel normal?”

  “Never here. Well…rarely.”

  She wanted to know more about those rare times, but he wasn’t sharing more at the moment and she hesitated to push.

  “You would have liked to golf with the guys today?” she asked.

  “I would like to think that I’m to the point where I can have a normal conversation with normal guys.”

  “Why do you care about talking with those guys?” Part of her really hated that Mason had never felt normal, but she also hated that he was measuring normalcy by Drew, Tim and Steve.

  “I can talk to anyone else. Mostly. I have to think through what I’m going to say, but I generally hang out with people I have something in common with, so it’s easier.”

  She grinned. “You see these guys as a challenge then.”

  He grinned back. “Something like that.”

  She really liked him. She wanted him to feel normal, accepted, appreciated.

  “Maybe they’ll invite you to go golfing again,” she said.

  He looked at her. “Do not tell them to invite me to go golfing, Adrianne.”

  Okay, so he wa
s kind of on to her and the whole plan to make him happy. “Okay, I won’t say anything to them about golfing.”

  “Adrianne.” His voice was deep and full of warning.

  She looked up at him.

  “Don’t tell the guys to invite me to do anything with them.”

  Dammit. She’d been thinking they could invite him for more cards. Or fishing. Or beer. That pretty much summed up the men’s social activities in Sapphire Falls.

  “Fine, I won’t say anything.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So when you make yourself go out, what do you do?” she asked, knowing it wasn’t playing cards, fishing or drinking beer in someone’s backyard.

  “Shows, dinner, parties.”

  With women, she was sure. He lived in Chicago and rubbed elbows with some very interesting people. The high-class parties and weekend getaways she’d experienced were probably nothing compared to what he was invited to.

  “I like comedy,” she said. “There was a club in Chicago I used to love: Picadilly’s.”

  “Never been there.”

  “No? You should go.”

  “So, it’s like jokes and stuff?”

  She smiled. “Right.” She could only imagine his reaction to the raunchy, politically incorrect stuff he would hear at Picadilly’s.

  They sat quietly, listening to the muffled screams and pounding going on below them.

  “Did you hear about the cat that ate the ball of yarn?” Mason asked.

  “No.” She was already smiling. Mason Riley was telling her a joke.

  “It had mittens.”

  There was a long pause and then she burst out laughing. Holy crap, he’d told her a joke and it was…corny, dumb and something she could tell a Sunday-school classroom. She loved it.

  “Did you hear about the skeleton that walked into a bar?” she asked in return.

  “No.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice. “He ordered a beer…and a mop.”

  Another long pause, and then Mason chuckled. “Nice.”

  “I can do corny jokes all night long.”

  They lapsed into silence again for nearly a minute.