by Judith Yates
Holly came over. “Something’s funny?”
“Not really. It’s just that mousse is an odd thing to call this stuff. Don’t you think so?”
Bemused, Holly wrinkled her nose and shrugged. But even after she had returned to her paperwork, Jordan felt her eyes on him.
“I’ve been thinking about you today,” she finally said, gazing at him from the counter, chin in hands.
“Hmm. Good or bad?” He gathered up the empty boxes. If she only knew how he’d been thinking of her!
“I was wondering what you’ve been up to these past few years. I mean, we’ve certainly talked about my life at length,” Holly added, slyly. “But you haven’t said much about yourself.”
“There’s not a helluva lot to say.” He tossed the cartons into the back room with the trash. “I had my hands full running CompWare.”
“Oh, Jordan,” she declared with impatience. “A person would think you were married to that business.”
“Interesting you should say that. My former fiancée used to call CompWare my mistress.”
“You were engaged?”
“For about a year.” Drawn by the rich velvet of Holly’s eyes, he leaned against the counter and let his gaze drift in their brown softness.
“What happened?”
“All hell broke loose with CompWare, and that sort of exposed the chinks in the relationship. The many chinks.”
Holly wrinkled her nose. “If your fiancée resented CompWare, wouldn’t she be happy about the sale?”
“Very happy. Allison wanted me to take the money and run. Instead, I held off—I wasn’t sure selling CompWare was what I wanted. That was the last straw for her. She walked out.”
“But I don’t understand. You did sell the company.”
“Too late as far as Allison was concerned.”
“Didn’t you go to her after the sale, Jordan? Didn’t you try to get her back?”
Jordan stiffened. He could see how much the point mattered to Holly. Perhaps she still believed every woman had to be as madly in love with her fiancé as she’d been with Scott. “Look, Holly, Allison wanted things that I just couldn’t give—like my undivided attention. And I wasn’t about to retire and go on permanent vacation, no matter how much money I made off the sale.”
Holly said nothing, but her distress compelled him to keep explaining. “Allison isn’t totally to blame. In the first place, my reasons for asking her to marry me weren’t the best. Unfortunately, I figured that out a little late. I’d already asked and she’d said yes.”
“What kind of reasons?”
Holly’s gaze was so intense, so expectant, Jordan couldn’t brush her off with his usual cynical retort. She wasn’t the kind of woman to whom you did something like that.
“Mainly, I just thought it was time to settle down. I had no life outside of CompWare. My father and his wife had moved to Florida, most of my friends had families of their own, and there I was—alone.”
“And lovely?”
“I didn’t think so. Not at the time.” Jordan shifted his position until he was no longer directly facing Holly. “Allison and I had been dating off and on for about a year. She was beautiful, willing and there. On the surface, getting engaged seemed so right. Our families thought it was great.” He shook his head. “It was hard for everyone to accept how wrong it turned out to be. Even Dad didn’t understand.”
Holly put her hand on his shoulder. “I understand.”
Moved by the gentleness in her voice, Jordan met her gaze. “I believe you do,” he murmured, sliding his hand over hers.
He held her soft slender fingers against his chest, wishing he had told her more. He wanted Holly to know how he had longed for someone to share the everyday highs and lows; for someone whom he could cherish the way his father did Rachel; for someone who would love him the way she had loved Scott.
But he felt something powerful as he gazed into the tender depths of her eyes. It was that link, that connection he’d been searching for with Allison—and perhaps with every woman he’d met. Now Jordan felt it and recognized what it was and what it meant
Holly West?
He was too overwhelmed to dwell on the irony of it all. Yet her warmth filled him with a sense of both belonging and acceptance. And there were other feelings, too—like desire, freshly sparked and spreading through his loins like wildfire.
Holly?
Jordan stepped back. The strength of the emotions coiling around his heart shook him badly. He placed her hand back on the counter, relieved that the smooth marble top stood wedged between their bodies.
“I didn’t mean to go on like that,” he said, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch her again. “Bet you’re sorry you asked.”
“I’m not.”
Those big browns of hers kicked his heart into overdrive. He could practically feel his blood racing through his veins. Did Holly have any idea what she was doing to him? If he told her, she’d be astonished. To her, he was and always would be Scott’s big brother.
Holly finally broke the prolonged silence between them. “It’s getting late. I can finish the rest of this in the morning.”
After helping her close up shop, Jordan walked Holly to her car. Now that it was time to say good-night, however, he was loath to let her go. “I talked to several contractors today and picked up some good figures,” he informed her, hoping to buy more time. “The notes are in my car. Why don’t we go someplace and have a look at them—somewhere we can get a cup of coffee or even a drink.”
“Nothing’s open at this hour on a weeknight, Jordan.”
“Of course. I should’ve known,” he said dryly.
“Besides, I have to get home to relieve Gracie.” She unlocked her car door. “But I do want to see the notes. You can drop them by anytime.”
Jordan stood on the curb, watching until the taillights of her car were out of sight. He took a deep breath and the cool evening air filled his lungs. As he walked back to his car, a slight breeze rustled the leafy branches of the large old oaks and maples scattered across the common. The noise drew his attention to the night sky, sapphire blue and sprinkled with stars. Everything seemed sharper to him now: the crispness of the air, the sound of the wind in the trees, the cloudless view of the late-spring moon. Even the fresh warm scent of Holly stayed with him, making him feel more alive than he had for a long, long time.
With all that had gone down in his life these past few years—Scott’s death, his own broken engagement and the tough, year-long fight for Mason CompWare—he’d been too busy to feel its emptiness. Tonight, everything appeared in sharp relief—not just his surroundings, but the desires of his heart, as well.
Jordan conceded that Gabe Sawyer might have been right. Perhaps he had come to Golden because of Holly, not for her. Yet what about Holly? Could she put away the past and look at him with different eyes? Could she accept him as a man who wanted her?
He took one more deep breath of the cool night air before climbing into his car. “Oh, hell,” he muttered, slamming the door and gunning the engine. “I’ve got to find out.”
Holly stuffed several file folders’ worth of work into an oversized tote bag and headed home for lunch. The shop was closed on Thursday afternoons and she had decided to use the time to catch up on the paperwork accompanying the new shipment. It was such a beautiful day, too. She could see herself sitting in the backyard beneath the warm sun, going over her papers while Stephanie played alongside her.
But the cars she found in her driveway weren’t part of her idyllic plans. Nancy Barron’s station wagon was parked rather haphazardly—as was her habit—behind Gracie’s old sedan. Then there was the late-model Mercedes. The sight of it made Holly’s stomach flutter. After last night, she didn’t expect to see Jordan this soon. After the emotional level set by their conversation, she wasn’t sure she was ready.
Entering the house, Holly felt as if she were crashing a party. Stephanie and Nanc
y’s two boys were gallivanting from room to room, eating huge chocolate chip cookies. Nancy and Jordan sat at the dining-room table, drinking iced tea, talking and laughing. The sight of them together like that peeved Holly, which she knew was crazy. Nancy was her very married best friend and Jordan was...what was Jordan?
Nancy spotted her first. “Hey, Holly, you’ve finally made it. We were wondering what was keeping you.”
It was too noisy to explain about her last dawdling customer. “What’s going on?” She tried to make herself heard above the din of overexcited children. “And why are the kids eating cookies now? It’s lunchtime.”
“It’s my fault, Holly,” Jordan volunteered. “I brought a dozen over for Stephanie. But the kids spotted the bakery bag—”
Gracie’s gruff voice boomed from the kitchen. “I told ’em it was too early for treats. Stephanie hasn’t had her lunch yet, and now all three of them are flying from the sugar.”
“Don’t blame Jordan,” Nancy piped in. “I said it was okay. Stephanie was so tickled that Jordan brought her a surprise—you should’ve seen her face. I didn’t think you’d mind this one time.” -
Holly let her friend off the hook. “Okay, but why don’t we send the kids outside to run around the house a few times? That should wear them out.”
“You’re right. I probably should have sent them out before this,” Nancy said, getting up from the table. “But once we started talking about the apple plant, I lost track. And besides, you didn’t tell me this wonderful man was going to make my bookstore happen.”
Holly shot a wary look at Jordan. He spread his arms out in a sheepish shrug.
Letting Nancy shoo the kids outdoors, Holly sat next to Jordan. “So, you’re the man who’s going to make Nancy’s bookstore happen, eh?”
“Her words, not mine. I just told her why I dropped by,” he explained, oozing innocence. “Frankly, I was surprised you hadn’t told her about the plant.”
“I figured she’d find out soon enough.”
The truth was she didn’t want her friends misconstruing Jordan’s motives, or her own for that matter. Gabe Sawyer was the only one she trusted not to jump to wrong conclusions. Nancy and Susan were wonderful women, but they were also incurable romantics. Besides, Holly was their one single woman friend—the only one for whom they could play matchmaker.
“By the way, why did you drop by?”
“The notes I mentioned to you last night.” Jordan patted the worn spiral-bound notebook on the table. “I said I’d get them to you. Remember?”
Barely. Probably because that conversation was overshadowed by what she did remember. Like how her heart had begun to pound when she saw him rapping on her window. Like how she had enjoyed working with him in the shop. Like how surprised she’d been to learn about his ex-fiancée. And how she had almost melted on the spot when he held her hand against his chest.
“I’ll look them over tonight,” she said, bristling at the way last night’s memories made her feel.
“I thought we could review them together. Over lunch.”
“Peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches are all we have on the menu today. I couldn’t subject you to that.”
“Holly, I’m asking you out for lunch. Someplace nice, quiet.”
“I can’t go out to lunch today.”
Suddenly, Nancy reappeared at the table. “Of course you can, Holly. The shop is closed. It’s your afternoon off.”
“I still have work to do.” Holly glared at her friend. “And Stephanie to take care of. Gracie’s washing all the floors this afternoon and I said I’d keep Steph out of her way.”
“We could take Stephanie with us,” Jordan offered, but with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.
“No, no. That’s ridiculous,” Nancy insisted, shaking her head vehemently. “I’ll take Stephanie this afternoon.”
“I wouldn’t dream of intruding upon you like that, Nancy.”
“Well, you’re not intruding, Holly. The reason the boys and I came over was to invite Stephanie home for lunch and—and—to play under the lawn sprinkler.”
If Nancy was making this up as she went, the lawn sprinkler idea was inspired. The afternoon promised to get hotter, and running under the garden hose was one of Stephanie’s favorite things to do—which Nancy knew.
“All right,” Holly said, relenting. “If that’s what you intended all along, Stephanie can go with you.”
“Does that mean you’ll go to lunch with me?” Jordan asked with a smile.
“She’d better.” Nancy cast a warning glance her way before turning to Jordan. “And take her to the River House Tea Room over in Waterford. It’s small and intimate but has tons of atmosphere.”
“He said quiet, not intimate,” Holly muttered.
Nancy ignored her. “The food isn’t half bad, either—if you like small portions.”
Jordan looked to Holly. “It sounds fine to me. Would you like to go?”
At least he asked. Which was more than she could say for her pushy pal. “Of course I’d like to go. The River House Tea Room is very nice—if that’s what you had in mind.”
“It’s exactly what I had in mind.”
The intriguing twinkle in his eyes made her pulse thrum madly.
Apparently, Nancy saw the look in his deep blues, too.
“Okay, we’re out of here,” she announced, jumping up from her chair. She called the kids through the screen door.
Packing Steph’s bathing suit and an extra set of clothes, Holly arranged to pick her up later in the afternoon. Stephanie was so excited to be going to Nancy’s she gave her mother a peck on the cheek and dashed off to join the Barron boys in the car.
“Don’t rush back,” Nancy said as Holly walked her out to the front porch. “I can keep Stephanie for dinner, too.”
“We’re only having lunch, Nance.”
“Well, take your time and enjoy it. You deserve some fun.”
“We’ll be discussing business,” Holly reminded her. “But thanks for having Steph over.”
Nancy put up her hand. “It’s just a happy coincidence.” She started down the steps but stopped midway and began digging through her purse. “Oh, Holly, I almost forgot the earrings I borrowed. I’ve been meaning to bring them back for days.”
Nancy dropped the small jeweler’s box into Holly’s hands and rushed off. Nancy had been promising to return the gold earrings since their big night out at the inn last week. In fact, Holly now suspected bringing back the earrings had been the real reason her friend had stopped by. Inviting Stephanie over had had nothing to do with it.
Holly had to laugh. The only “happy coincidence” going on around here was that Nancy had finally gotten an honest-to-goodness shot at playing matchmaker.
Chapter Seven
After getting them the best table the River House Tea Room had to offer, Jordan went through his building notes so fast it made Holly’s head spin. With their business concluded well before the entrées had arrived, Holly realized now was the time to inform Jordan that Stephanie was his niece.
She had wanted to tell him before this. But since his return to Golden, they’d been alone only twice. And each of those times something had held her back—like the kiss at the apple packing plant, or Jordan’s tale of his broken engagement.
“Tell me about this place,” Jordan asked, pulling back Holly’s attention. “It had to be somebody’s mansion in its former life.”
“It was the summer home of Elizabeth C. Paget, a railroad and shipping heiress from Boston. She built it in the 1890s.”
“Paget? Any connection to my new house?”
“She had it built for a distant cousin shortly before she died. But they tell me the cousin never lived in it.”
“And it’s the same Paget of Paget Library and Paget Road in Golden?”
Holly nodded. “She gave lots of money to the surrounding towns. When she died, she willed this mansion to the town of Waterford, along with a trust to maintain it,” she expl
ained. “They turned the summer ballroom into this restaurant, and the rest of the mansion is rented out for weddings, corporate meetings, even proms.”
“It’s a magnificent place, even if it is off the beaten track,” Jordan noted. “And this view overlooking the river is amazing.”
Holly followed his gaze to the gorgeous panorama outside the huge bay window by their table. The lush green bluffs, the clear, narrow river below and the perfect blue sky overhead were typical of the area in spring and summer. It was almost like a bit of heaven.
“I can understand why old Elizabeth C. kept coming back,” she mused, losing herself in the hushed peace of the countryside.
“You really love it around here, don’t you?”
She met Jordan’s eyes, finding them as blue as the sky she’d been admiring moments before. “I do,” she admitted. “It’s home to me now.”
“Why?” he asked, his voice intent as he leaned toward her. “What is it about here—about Golden—that makes you feel that way?”
Holly didn’t have to think twice. She’d known why since the first time she walked along the common with her baby in the stroller. “Because here my slate was clean. It didn’t matter what I used to be or who my parents were. It was irrelevant that my fiancé left me standing at the altar on my wedding day or that my baby’s father didn’t know she existed. Without all that baggage, I could raise my daughter and run my business on my own terms.”
Jordan seemed to understand. “Here you can just be who you are. The past doesn’t get in the way.”
She nodded, adding gently, “At least it didn’t until you showed up.”
The slightest of smiles twitched his lips. “Are you sorry I did?”
“I was at first, but now that you’re here...” she replied with a teasing shrug.
Holly figured this was a good opening for telling him about Scott and Stephanie. Before she could even think of how to begin, however, the hostess seated a party of four at the next table—too close for comfort when it came to revealing a painful secret. Then the waitress brought their food, discouraging Holly for the time being.
