by Nancy Warren
Her eyes shifted more to gray when she got huffy. She crossed her arms in front of her. “I have a listing agreement.”
“Not with me.”
“My agreement is with Mrs. Neeson’s attorney.”
“That’s a funny thing, because the house was left to me.” He had to be honest though. “I do remember some weird-ass conversation with her lawyer. I was in Libya with a camp of rebels. It was a bad connection. Maybe he thought I said yes to listing the house when I didn’t.” He scrubbed his hands across his eyes. He’d kill for a cup of coffee. “I’ll probably sell, but I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet.”
“This puts me in a very difficult position.” She seemed not to know what to do. He got the impression that she was as staged as the house she was attempting to sell. All at once it occurred to him that she was pretty new at this biz. Probably hadn’t come across any difficult situations yet.
Well, she was in one now.
A frown marred her pretty face. “I don’t want to be rude but I have no proof you are Mrs. Neeson’s grandson.
He figured she had a point, and he already sensed she was stubborn enough that she wouldn’t leave until she was satisfied he was who he said he was. So he shifted until he could reach his wallet, took it out, seeing it through her eyes as a grubby, falling-apart-at-the-seams excuse for a wallet. He opened the Velcro flap that was only half stuck down and offered her his driver’s license.
She took a look. Stared at him and back at the picture as if she was a bouncer wondering if his ID was fake. “You don’t have the same last name.”
“That’s right. It’s a maternal/paternal thing.”
“I think maybe you should leave and we’ll sort this out tomorrow.”
He was no more going to leave this house than he was going to put up with being bossed around by an uppity blond in too-high heels. “That’s not going to happen.” Enough already. He wanted to get back to his nap. In peace. “Let’s call Edward Barnes. He knows me.”
“He’s on a wine-tasting trip in California. And if you actually know him, you’ll know he—”
“Doesn’t carry a cell phone,” he finished for her, feeling increasingly irritated. He prided himself on keeping cool in a crisis but this was getting ridiculous. “How did I get in?”
She looked at him, puzzled.
“I opened the door, which was locked. How did I get in if I’m not her grandson?”
“The key hidden under the planter. Probably the second place anyone would look, after checking under the mat.”
“I am not leaving here. I am the legal owner of this home.”
“All I’m asking you to do is prove it.”
He jumped up as the obvious solution struck him. “Photo albums with pictures of me and my grandmother.”
She looked guilty. “Remember what I told you about decluttering?”
“Where are the photo albums?”
“In storage.”
This was turning into a bad farce. You might as well try and milk a rhinoceros as reason with this woman. Some of the old neighbors might have recognized him but most had moved on. Or died.
It was difficult to think when he was in a bedroom, in a bed, and a very attractive woman was alone with him. In heels. Now he pictured her in nothing but those black heels stretched out on the white expanse of the bed.
He had to get out of here. And soon, before he was as hard as one of the bedposts. He shifted and sat up. “Follow me.”
She was instantly suspicious. “Follow you where?”
“My first choice would be to the front door—” he was lying, it was his second choice “—but if that’s not going to happen, then I want to show you something in my old bedroom down the hall.” He scowled as he maneuvered his legs off the bed, trying not to wince, and headed for the door. “I mean, what used to be my old bedroom. Before you turned it into a nursery.” Which was why he’d had to crash in his grandmother’s bed instead of his own.
His progress was halting at best. She followed slowly, then said, “Oh, my gosh. We moved a black cane into storage. I assumed it was Mrs. Neeson’s. Was it yours?”
“No. It was my grandmother’s.” He didn’t feel like explaining. Especially since she supposedly didn’t even believe he was Mrs. Neeson’s grandson.
“Oh, good.”
She wisely refrained from further comment and simply followed his slow progress to the room that had been his for what seemed like his entire life. His grandmother had let him redecorate it after his parents got divorced and maybe that had helped him feel like there’d always be somewhere in his life that was permanent.
The daylight filtered through the dormer window and he remembered all the mornings he’d lain in bed, gazing at the sky, dreaming of travel, of adventure, of a future where he set his own rules.
Under the dormer was a window seat. He noted that the stager had placed a fancy cushion on top of the spot where he’d folded himself into the space between the walls and read comic books hour after hour.
He removed the designer cushion, tossed it onto the faux-leather chair neither he nor his grandmother would ever have chosen. He pulled up on the wooden top of the box and it gave slightly.
“That doesn’t open,” she said in a smug tone. “We tried it.”
“Yeah it does.” He’d worked ages on the project figuring out an intricate puzzle opening to keep his stash of treasures secret. The cool thing about his grandmother was that she’d never asked him how to get into the thing. Never asked him what he kept in there. She was the kind of woman who respected a man’s privacy and trusted him with his secrets. He wished there were more women like that in the world.
When Hailey moved closer to check out what he was doing he caught her scent. Elusive, feminine, sexy as a woman in nothing but stilettos. And maybe a wisp or two of lingerie.
He slid his index finger into the familiar groove. His fingers were thicker now he’d grown up but he could still maneuver the latch that raised the top another inch, allowing him access to the second mechanism. It took him another minute and then he lifted the lid all the way, staring down into the hollow box for the first time in years.
There wasn’t much there. A few old comics he’d never part with. He pushed his first baseball glove out of the way, a dog-eared National Geographic, and there, underneath a wooden knife he’d carved himself in his Samurai phase, was the leather folder. He took it out, brushed a dead moth off, and handed it to her. He rose from his crouched position and looked over her shoulder as she opened it.
Once more he caught her scent. Not flowery. Citrus with underlying tones of heat.
The photograph and accompanying citation were among his few treasures. “You won a city-wide photography contest,” she said. “You were in high school.” When she turned to him he was struck again by the blue-gray eyes. Like her scent, the first impression was coolness, and then you caught the heat behind the cool facade.
“Yes, but that’s not the point. Check out the picture. And read the caption.”
An absurdly young version of himself in a sports jacket—one of half a dozen times in his life he’d ever worn anything formal—his grandmother and his mom stood in a little trio, him holding his winning photograph—a bear cub sitting on top of a Dumpster eating an apple. It wasn’t much of a big event in a person’s life but to him that award had signaled the beginning of a career. Becoming a photojournalist had given him freedom, adventure, life on the road and a reasonable salary.
She read aloud. “‘Robert Klassen, fifteen, wins for his photograph, An Apple a Day, while his mother, Emily Klassen, and his grandmother, Agnes Neeson, look on.”
He pointed to his young self. “That’s me and that’s my grandmother.”
Her expression softened in a smile. “It’s a great photograph. And you were a very cute teenager.” She closed the folder and handed it back to him.
“Are you satisfied now that I am who I say I am?”
She turned her head
and he was struck once more by the impact of those in-between-blue-and-gray eyes. “You pretty much had me when you opened the Chinese-puzzle-box window seat.”
“I’m sorry about the misunderstanding.” He was, too. Apart from being a little high-strung, she seemed like a nice woman. “Thing is, I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to sell the place. And if I do I’ll want to choose my own Realtor.”
Her nostrils flared at that. “Do you have a relationship with a Realtor in Seattle?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well, let me tell you, I am an extremely competent Realtor with excellent references. I think the MacDonalds were a real possibility.”
“They seemed freaked out that my grandmother died in her bed.”
She slammed her hands to her hips. Perfectly manicured hands, no wedding ring. “She didn’t. Your grandmother, as I’m sure you know, passed away in hospital.”
A shaft of pain stabbed him. Grief, he supposed. He tried to ignore it. “Not the point. If you’d known my grandmother you’d have wanted her spirit to stay in the house.” Maybe that was why he had such a heavy feeling when he thought of other people occupying this place. To him she was still here. “People who are scared of ghosts, they wouldn’t be my kind of people or my grandmother’s.” He knew he was overtired and would soon feel more like his old self; until then though he really had to get a grip. And probably stop talking before he made a fool of himself.
The woman smiled at him. “It’s hard to let go when we’ve loved someone,” she said softly.
“Yeah.” As trite as her words sound, they were sincere.
“Were you close?”
“Oh, yeah. She pretty much raised me.” He couldn’t imagine what would have happened to him if he’d been left with his mother. His grandmother had not only raised him; she’d saved him. Given him a chance to make something of his life.
When Hailey looked at him, he felt as though she could see inside him. It was the weirdest feeling and he knew she felt it, too, from how she took an instinctive step back toward the door. It was as if they both became aware at the same moment that they were alone together in a bedroom—even if the spread was covered in little yellow duckies. He could have sworn the temperature zoomed up a few degrees.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked.
That’s when he became convinced she really could read his mind. “I would get on my knees and beg for a cup.”
A genuine smile tilted her lips. Finally. “No need to beg. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
He thought about asking her to bring the coffee up but knew she’d get the wrong impression. Thing was, stairs were the hardest for him to navigate. For some reason, which he could not identify, he didn’t want this woman to see him limping. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll make some later.”
“I’d like a cup anyway. And besides, I do want to talk to you.”
* * *
HAILEY GAVE HERSELF a pep talk as she prepared coffee. Stay confident, she reminded herself as she poured freshly ground beans into a French press. Be positive. Luckily she’d stocked up on coffee the day before, even had fresh milk in the refrigerator, so it wasn’t long before her favorite scent in the world filled the bright kitchen.
She heard a noise behind her and turned to find Robert Klassen in the kitchen. He was taller than she’d first imagined and upright he was more commanding and definitely more sexy.
“Have a seat,” she said brightly, pointing to the oak chairs at the kitchen table that she and Julia had decided to keep.
“Thanks.” He seemed to hesitate, then moved forward. Slowly. Stiffly. When he went to sit down, he leaned on the table and lowered himself slowly into a chair.
She turned away, busying herself with coffee so he wouldn’t think she was staring.
“Do you take milk and sugar?”
“No. Black.”
She brought coffees to the table and sat opposite him. According to her electronic planner she had thirty-five minutes until she had to be at the office for the weekly meeting and pep talk. She was determined to use the time to save her listing.
He sipped coffee. Seemed to savor every drop.
“You like your coffee,” she said, somewhat amused.
“When you live the way I do, you don’t take things like coffee or a good meal for granted. Even clean water is a luxury.” He sipped again, caught her gaze and then said, “I got shot. That’s why I’m limping. It’s no big deal, but I need to rest up for a few weeks.”
“Shot? I thought you were a photographer.” She wished she’d listened more closely.
“I’m a photojournalist. I work for World Week.”
World Week was one of the top news magazines in the country, covering international affairs, finance, politics and the arts. “Wow. That must be fascinating.”
“It is. Obviously the nature of my job requires me to cover war zones, famines, devastation both natural and human made. As you can imagine there isn’t a Starbucks on every corner.”
She sipped her own coffee, for once stopping to enjoy the flavor. How often did she even really taste her morning brew? But, with only thirty-four minutes left, she couldn’t waste time savoring coffee. She had work to do.
“Do you have a wife and family?”
The question obviously startled him. He nearly choked on his coffee. “No.”
“Are you planning to live in this house?”
She asked it innocently, but he had to know where this was going.
A crease formed between his eyebrows. She could see that he was actually thinking about her question. She decided to help him along. “A house this size might not fit with your lifestyle. I imagine you’re not home very much.”
“See the thing is—”
He stopped talking when they both heard the front door open and a female voice called, “Can I come in?”
Julia. “Sure. In the kitchen,” she called back.
“So the coast is clear.” And then Julia walked in, a swish of red cashmere coat and black pants, saw the man sitting there and said, “Oh.”
His lips twitched, which made her feel once more that strange sense of connection with him. “Julia, this is Robert Klassen.”
“I go by Rob,” he said as they shook hands.
“Hi, Rob,” she said, and flicked Hailey a glance. “Are you interested in buying Bellamy House?”
“I might be, if I didn’t already own it.”
In a few seconds Hailey had filled her friend in on the situation. Julia poured herself a coffee and sat down. “It’s great that you’re here to see Hailey at work. She’s fantastic. This place will sell in no time.” She turned to Hailey. “How did the MacDonalds like it? I think we were genius to stage the small bedroom as a nursery.”
“I think they’re interested,” Hailey said, keeping her tone carefully neutral.
“They’re not the right people for this house,” Robert Klassen, call-me-Rob, announced.
Hailey and Julia exchanged glances. The unspoken message being trouble ahead.
There was an awkward silence, then Julia broke it. “I dropped by to see if you want me to finish the staging on Tuesday night. I had to rush on the upstairs.”
“Don’t you have a date Tuesday night?” Hailey had been so excited about the blond guy that she had added a notation to her agenda just so she’d remember to phone and ask how the date had gone.
“No. He had to postpone. His business trip has been extended. He’s got to go to Nigeria next week. I’ll meet him the week after.”
“Oh, too bad.”
“Gives me time to lose a couple more pounds before we meet.” She turned to Rob. “We connected through LoveMatch.com.”
“What kind of work does he do?” Rob asked.
“He’s a civil engineer.”
Hailey said, “I’m not sure about Tuesday. Can I let you know?”
“Sure.” Julia took another quick sip of coffee, and then rose. “Sorry to run, but I’ve got t
o write up a staging proposal and head to an old friend’s baby shower. And I’m already running late. Nice to meet you, Rob.”
“You, too.”
“I’ll call you,” Hailey said.
When her friend had gone, she only had twenty minutes to convince this man to let her keep the listing. She opened her mouth to get back to business when he surprised her.
“So your friend hasn’t met that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The one she has the date with?”
“No. Not yet. Why?” He was messing with her careful arguments on why she should keep this listing. And besides, what business was it of his if two people he didn’t know had a date?
“Tell her he’s probably a scammer.”
“What?”
“Nigeria is the scam capital of the world. And something about ‘civil engineer’ sounds fishy to me.”
“How can you be so judgmental? She’s talked to him on the phone. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“Maybe. You spend long enough in the news business, you get an instinct.” Between telling prospective buyers ghost stories and trying to kill her friend’s happy buzz, she wasn’t too sure about his supposed instincts. Apparently he didn’t have much of an instinct for dodging bullets. “Just tell her, whatever she does, not to send the guy money.”
“All right. Fine.” She shifted and glanced at her watch. “Can we talk about us?”
He had the sexiest way of looking at her. She’d known the man all of about an hour and every time he looked at her thoughts she had no business thinking flitted through her mind.
“Us?”
As their gazes connected, she thought maybe Julia had a point. It had been way too long since she had sex if a shaggy drifter who was trying to mess with her career could make her overheated with a mere glance. She crossed her legs. “You know what I meant. The listing.”
He leaned back in his chair, savored another sip of coffee. Then he said, “Okay. Here’s what I propose. You can keep the listing. I’ll be living here so you have to work around me. I don’t want open houses. Appointment only. We’ll see how it goes.”
