Emma glanced sideways and caught him staring. He looked at his pad and quickly scribbled, writing an earlier thought with an unsteady hand. Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, she quietly ate and occasionally talked to Bella.
Feeling back in control of himself, he cleared his throat.
She lifted her gaze from her plate.
“Any other problems while I was gone?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“My office door was open.”
Her cheeks went pink. “Did you forget to shut it?”
“I usually don’t.” He returned to his notes, but added, “With your missing money, I’d wondered if you decided to search upstairs.”
“I thought you didn’t take my money.”
He looked up to answer, and this time wished she’d believe him. “I didn’t.”
She lifted a brow that in as much pointed the finger of guilt at him, stood confidently, and brought her bowl to the sink. When she turned around her lovely, crystal-blue eyes pegged him in place. “Could’ve been your ghosts.”
“Hmmm. You could be right.” He worked on a neutral expression, because right now he couldn’t get a handle on what he wanted from her.
She stared at him for a moment then shook her head. “Come on, Bella.”
He watched her walk down the hallway until she disappeared, and all he could think about was how comforting and sexy he found those flannel bottoms.
Chapter 10
“This one is ‘Delilah’s Dream.’” Rose poured a sample tasting into each of the foursome’s glasses, more confident in her tasks than she’d been at the start of her shift. “The goat on this label happens to live right on this property.” The group loved the tidbit. Rose continued, talking about the wine attributes. She waited while they tasted and removed the next bottle. “Next we’ll move on to this propriety blend of cabernet and cabernet franc, aged on French oak.”
As she poured, the tasting room door opened. She glanced up and held in a gasp as Leo strode across the room with a man and woman she’d never seen before.
The coffee pot assembly earlier had been an unexpected and strangely tantalizing moment of tenderness between them. His attention had turned her inside out. His touch made her core warm. She couldn’t remember when she’d last flirted with a man or why Leo’s instruction would warrant such behavior.
Hell, they’d been making coffee. It had been about making coffee…right?
No…it was more. His physical nearness had evoked a need. She missed being with a man. Being held by strong arms. The way they’d touch her skin, at times carefully like she was made of porcelain, other times more demanding, pushed by their own needs.
She returned to her customers, reciting the wine descriptions off the cards Sophie had given her. Every so often, her gaze would drift across the room to where Leo sat talking to his friends. Sudden affection for him swarmed her. Leo’s gesture earlier had opened a door. It welcomed her into his world of old gadgets and rituals. An unusual place, filled with family history and offering the kind of comforting roots she’d craved her entire life.
She gave herself a mental swat, along with a stern reminder to keep her guard up around him. He was still the number one suspect with her missing cash. Plus, up until today, all his actions suggested he wanted her gone.
The group ordered half a case of Delilah’s Dream. She was about to go in back for a box when Jay came up to her side. His long, graying hair was tied back in a ponytail today. “You’re doing great.”
“Thanks. I’m getting more comfortable.”
“Good.” He motioned across the room. “I’ll ring up this up. Why don’t you go help your landlord and his friends? Have I mentioned I think Leo is a great guy?”
“I didn’t know you knew him.”
“Yup. I just met him this year. He helped us name some bottles recently. See if they want a glass of wine or are here for a tasting.”
“Sure.” Rose’s voice squeaked a little too high as she tried to sound like she didn’t mind. Only it was inevitable Leo would see her, so she might as well deal with it. She grabbed a few wine lists and headed over.
Leo sat next to an attractive woman with delicate features and short brown hair. Their chairs were close enough that their legs brushed beneath the table. He scowled and carried on quite passionately to the man across the table from him, who listened and nodded every so often.
As Rose approached, the other man glanced up. His fair blond hair was styled with intended messiness and his classic handsome face could’ve made him a Hollywood star. Besides a gray casual shirt with the fitted look of something from Banana Republic, his well-pressed jeans were a perfect shade of indigo blue. His gaze skimmed Rose and he grinned, showcasing Crest-bright teeth.
Leo glanced up and his eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
Before she could reply, Hollywood interrupted. “Wow, Leo. No wonder you’re striking out with the ladies these days.”
The woman laughed, but it sounded forced.
“I’m working,” Rose replied. “Welcome to Litchfield Hills Vineyard.” She focused on his companions with a bright smile. “Would you like to see our wine-by-the-glass listing or are you here for a tasting?”
Hollywood leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms, and swept her with his gaze. “We’re just having drinks, sweetheart.”
“Wine by the glass, it is.” She bit back an urge to lecture him on his demeaning treatment. “Here’s a list of what we have, including both a red and white flight if you’d like to sample a few different kinds.”
Leo leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “Since when have you been working here?”
He sounded annoyed and she regretted falling for his suave moves back at the house earlier.
“Since someone stole my money.” She gave him a hard stare and refused to back down. “Could be someone right under our own roof. Like someone who wants me to leave.”
Leo narrowed his eyes. “I told you—”
Hollywood chuckled. “You two know each other?”
Leo sighed. “This is my new tenant. Emma, this is my agent, Seth. He’ll be staying with us tonight. And Susan.”
“Nice to meet you both. Have you been to the vineyard before?”
“No, but I’m glad we came.” Seth motioned to the woman. “Susan and I were passing through for a work retreat. Since my favorite client is hiding out here, I figured visiting wasn’t a bad idea.”
“I’m not hiding out,” Leo mumbled. “I’m working.”
The woman patted Leo’s hand but didn’t remove it when through. “Ignore him. He’s trying to get you worked up.”
Seth laughed easily, clearly a man who didn’t take life as seriously as Leo. “I’m teasing you, buddy. Anyway, nice to meet you, Emma. I think I’ll try the flight of reds.”
“I’ll take the white flight.” Susan studied Rose through dark, pretty eyes. Was this Leo’s girlfriend?
“Good choice.” Rose admired the woman’s soft linen dress. It flowed to her feet and delicate sandals peeked out near the bottom hem.
She looked at Leo. “And you?”
Aggravation flickered behind his crisp, fawn eyes. “A glass of the cabernet franc.”
She nodded. “Be right back.” As Rose walked off, she could feel the burn of their gazes on her.
The dark glasses slipped a notch down her nose, practically taunting her with a reminder she wasn’t herself. It took everything in her not to yanked them off her face and toss them against the wall. Rose wanted to return to her old wardrobe and her old self. In these new clothes she didn’t feel pretty or normal. And for some reason, right now, her appearance mattered.
* * * *
Leo told the story of Emma’s arrival, all the while struggling to keep from staring at her as she beamed politely at another customer. A smile so endearing he wished he’d been more polite when she’d come to their table. Surprises w
ere never his thing.
“She’s cute.” Seth openly gawked at her. “I don’t know what you’re complaining about.”
“Because it’s hard to get work done with someone running around the house.”
Leo’s temples throbbed. He wanted to grab Seth’s chin and jerk his eyes back toward their small group. His agent tended to have a one-track mind when it came to the opposite sex, but doing this with Emma—well, it crossed a line.
Let’s face it. He’d walked in here annoyed with Seth.
“Something’s missing,” Seth had said about Leo’s manuscript, spoken in Seth’s usual confident way. His agent could spot a mediocre novel from a bestseller in an instant. Leo expected those words, but hearing it face-to-face made him stew. He couldn’t deny how Seth had said the same thing about the novel the critics panned. During the review phases of that particular manuscript, Leo had argued so passionately with Seth about any changes that Seth caved.
This time, Leo needed to listen to his agent. Only he still had no idea how to get this book on the right path.
“Well?” Seth stared at him with a frown.
“What’d you say?”
“I asked what you meant about her running around the house. She doesn’t strike me as the noisy type.” Seth shook his head. “God, you are so particular sometimes.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Leo said firmly. “It’s a distraction. And now I find a place in town where I like to stop in for a drink, and she’s here, too.”
“You could’ve been nicer,” Susan said quietly, shooting him a reprimanding glance. “I’m pretty sure she thinks you stole her money.”
“Why would I…she lost it!”
“And then trying to throw her out.” Seth made a “tsk-tsk” sound. “You know, if you’d told Everett you were going to live at the house in the first—”
“I did tell Everett. He ignored me, remember?”
“Oh, right.” Seth’s gaze drifted to the bar and Leo followed it. Emma had leaned over and lifted a wine bottle out of a box, the position exposing the backside he’d admired a few times himself lately.
“She’s off limits,” Leo growled at Seth. “Don’t complicate this renter arrangement thing for me.”
“Aw, come on. She’s like a schoolmarm in those glasses, but with that crazy red hair, I’d bet some kinky stuff lurks beneath the surface.” Seth squinted in her direction. “She looks familiar.”
“Did you hear a thing I said?”
“Knock it off, Seth.” Susan elbowed his arm. “This is supposed to be a fun night out.”
“All right, all right. I don’t know why you’re so tense, Leo. You’ve got a decent start to the book. It needs a little something, that’s all. What, though, I can’t figure out.”
“My exact problem,” Leo mumbled. Annoyance hammered at him, although the bulk of it pounded at his chest, a bit like…no. Jealousy?
Seth continued to stare in Emma’s direction.
“Seth!”
The agent slowly turned to Leo. “What?”
“Read my lips.…Stay away from her. There’s more to her than meets the eye.”
Emma neared with their drinks so he shut up and waited until she was far enough away. He leaned into the table. “There’s something strange going on with her. She’s telling people in Northbridge one story about her life, but her friend came by the other day and I heard a different version. The stories don’t match. Sounds to me like she’s running away from something.”
“Like what?” Seth picked up one of the small sample-sized wine glasses and swirled the contents.
“She told the real estate agent her ex-husband won’t leave her alone, so that’s the reason she’s in Northbridge. Yet, when a friend came by, she talked about her dyed hair and, possibly, even using a different name.”
Susan snorted. “Lots of women color their hair.”
“But why carry all that cash, change your name, buy a new wardrobe? And, if she came here from Boston, why shop at a store in Virginia?”
“How do you know that? Did you go into her apartment?” Seth said, a little too loudly.
“Shhh. Keep it down.” He glanced over Susan’s shoulder, relieved to see Emma talking to Jay near the bar. “Not intentionally. The dog got out. I brought her to the apartment and…” Leo wasn’t about to tell them how he’d worried Bella had choked to death. “I noticed the receipt and clothing when I returned the dog.”
Seth laughed. “You know what I love?”
“What?” Leo raised his glass, took a long drink, the red wine soothing his angst.
“That you’re curious. Always a good sign. And I’m thinking about your story so far and pretty sure I know what’s missing.” He glanced Emma’s way for a second, a smirk on his face. “You need a character like her. Imagine how she’d play off your protagonist?”
The idea hit like a thunderbolt, the missing link now so obvious. A whirlwind of excitement owning Leo whenever ideas for a new novel fell into place lifted his spirits. Emma’s profile and mystery was a perfect fit for the third main character in his story. “Holy shit.” He looked at Seth. “I think you’re right.”
Susan eyed him skeptically. “Are you seriously considering it?”
“You bet.” Leo patted Seth on the shoulder as relief and excitement coursed through him.
How had he missed everything her presence stirred inside him? So focused on the goal, he forgot how to play the game. “I knew a talk with my agent would go a long way. But now I’m even more serious about what I said before…” He worked hard to muster up an angry grimace at Seth. “Please stop gawking at my muse.”
* * * *
“Good morning, sunshine.”
Seth’s velvety smooth voice surprised Rose. She dropped the photograph of Leo she’d found pushed far back in a drawer while searching for a potholder and turned around.
Seth leaned against the doorway, hair damp, nicely pressed jeans, a button-down shirt. A more pulled together look than her cropped yoga pants and clearance rack T-shirt imprinted with a Jedi on a clover that read, “Who needs luck when you’re a Jedi?”
“Good morning.” She casually shoved the photo back near a canister set so he didn’t catch her snooping. The Halloween picture of Leo wearing a dress and his wife in a man’s pinstriped suit was hilarious and an unexpected find. Maybe he did have a lighter side.
“Did you sleep well?” Seth walked toward her.
“I did. And you?”
“So-so. It’s quiet around here. Takes some getting used to.” He glanced at Bella, whose nose was buried inside her dish. “Leo didn’t tell me about a dog.”
“Meet Bella.”
On cue, she lifted her head and eyed Seth with some suspicion before returning to her bowl.
He inhaled and stopped a few feet away from Rose. “There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh coffee.”
“I can’t make any promises on the taste. This is my second try using this contraption. I miss my Keurig.”
“That’s Leo. You can take the boy from the past, but can’t take the past out of the boy.” Seth grinned. “He still drives his parents’ old ’63 Mercedes sedan when he comes here and I’m pretty sure he’s waiting for the Beatles to appear on the Ed Sullivan show.”
She laughed, but it hit her all these artifacts seemed to fit into one harmonious and homey feel, despite how they hadn’t at first. “I guess there’s something to be said for embracing the old ways.”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he quietly studied her, the over-analysis as disruptive as a buzzing fly. She lifted her hand to adjust the glasses, a habit she’d gotten into lately, but her fingertips grazed her bare temple.
Panicked, she swung around to the countertop, where she’d left the eyewear. “I think coffee’s almost ready.” She retrieved the glasses and slipped them on casually, as if her heart wasn’t about to burst from her chest. “Want me to pour you a cup?”
&nb
sp; “Sure. I’ll get the cream and sugar.”
She got down four mugs, remembering what Leo had shared yesterday about his family.
Seth found everything else without asking for directions. She filled two mugs, and as Seth came to the counter, she handed him his cup. He poured half-and-half and offered it to her. “So where’s your Keurig?”
“My Keurig?” Her own words came back to bite her in the ass. It was sitting on her counter in North Carolina. She mixed her coffee and avoided his eyes. “Oh, I let my ex-husband keep it. Some things aren’t worth fighting over.”
“And where is he?”
“Near Boston, where we lived because of his work.” Rose sat at the table and he followed.
“What does he—”
“How about you? You work in Manhattan, but are you originally from the city?”
“No. Maryland.” He tilted his head, his gaze canvassing her face.
“Hungry?” Rose jumped up and went to the cabinet. She removed a package of muffins and put them in the center of the table. “Help yourself. You know, I’ve never met a literary agent. How does one fall into that field?”
“My career started in print journalism, working in DC. I wrote a book—nonfiction—and pitched it to a college buddy who ran a literary agency. He signed me on, and two years later, asked if I wanted to become an agent. Leo was my tenth client, and my ticket to success.” He reached for a muffin. “And what do you do?”
“Travel agent. And of course my new job at the vineyard.”
“So, you think Leo took your money?”
She shrugged, but wondered what Leo had told them about her. “It’s the only explanation I have.”
Seth chuckled. “You really ruffled his feathers.”
“I’ve searched everywhere. Last I remember I carried it inside when I moved in. He’s the only other person who’s been in the house.”
“That you know of.”
“Well, yes.” She sipped the hot coffee and considered that her accusation was a possible knee-jerk reaction because of her larger problems. “Who else could’ve been in here?”
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