“I’d love to hear that explanation, but not just yet. I have an idea.” Her eyes were sparkling. “Do you want the supporting evidence or the broad outline first?”
“Broad outline.”
She sat on the couch, not as close as he would have liked, but slewed around with her bent knee between them. That knee brushed his hip, and all he had to do to see her face was roll his head against the back of the sofa.
“Okay. Miss Trudi signs over the main house and three-quarters of the grounds to Tobias on a lifetime lease, with the property deeded to Tobias in her will. In return, Tobias renovates the carriage house as a new home for her, along with a stipend for her to live on.”
He could see the advantages. Miss Trudi would be in a smaller, modernized home she could handle, yet on part of her beloved property, and wouldn’t feel like a charity case. But Tobias would hold a white elephant.
“Don’t get that look, Steve. Just listen. Tobias also renovates the grounds and main house, turning it into a crafts center. A showpiece that will be a draw and an outlet for those people you told Suz about that day at the grocery store. Tom Dunwoody’s carvings and Muriel Henderson’s knitting and Miriam Jenkins’s quilting could be displayed—and sold. Maybe a tearoom in the kitchen, and the ballroom for talks or crafts demonstrations.
“Make Tobias a Mecca for people who love handmade items but don’t make them. The whole town can play up the historic look—you’ve preserved the old buildings, so make use of them. Have festivals—Christmas and spring for sure. Make Tobias a destination for crafts, and make Bliss House the hub.”
He was clicking over the possibilities, but there was one thing… “Would people buy things like quilts and baby blankets?”
She cupped her hand to his cheek. She was laughing at him, but who cared with the feel of her palm, soft and warm, against his face?
“Oh, my dear Steve, you have a lot to learn.”
“Are you going to teach me?”
She touched her mouth gently to his. He felt the tip of her tongue line his bottom lip, and he opened to her immediately. “Yes,” she breathed into his mouth. “I’m going to teach you.”
As he was reaching to fold her in his arms, she jumped up and grabbed one of the shopping bags, tumbling stacks into his lap.
“Here’s the start of your education. The magazines show what our competition’s doing, and the catalogues show exactly how much people are willing to pay for things like quilts and baby blankets.”
He was all for education, but there were limits. He pushed aside the reading material and pulled something much better into his lap—her. With Nell just outside, this could not reach the most satisfying conclusion. But with kisses and caresses, they rediscovered the tantalizing joys of an old-fashioned make-out session.
When Nell came in, she and Annette made hot chocolate while he lit a fire, then ordered pizza. In between, they looked through the material Annette had brought and talked about the potential of Bliss House. She included Nell, letting her thumb through the magazines and flag what she liked. Tired out by her snowman rescue efforts, Nell snuggled between the two of them on the couch. He put his arm around Annette, drawing both her and Nell closer.
Like a family.
Annette couldn’t believe how fast this was all happening.
Monday morning she had dropped Max off at his work site then met Steve to sound out Miss Trudi. At first, she had inclined toward weepiness. But within a half hour of Annette hitting on the idea of pulling out the old photo albums, Miss Trudi was relishing restoring Bliss House to its glory. She’d also started a wish list for her new living space, headed by a dishwasher and modern bathroom.
They had shanghaied Max and spent the rest of the day at Steve’s office, researching grant programs and figuring out an approach. Steve had worked his connections all day Tuesday, while she and Max roughed out a presentation.
And now, three days after she had taken her idea to Steve, she was waiting for him to arrive to go over everything a final time. He and Max, who was making rounds of his work sites with Lenny, were supposed to leave mid-afternoon for a full schedule of meetings with movers and shakers in the capital.
It had been exhilarating to see Steve’s eyes light up with the flame of her idea Sunday. It also made her nervous. A lot was on the line. Steve had staked his prestige and accumulated goodwill in Madison on this project. What if it fell apart? What if her idea turned out to be lousy? What if—
Steve’s SUV pulled into the drive. When she greeted him at the door, he was grinning and holding a packet of papers aloft in one hand. “Here they are.”
“Steve, maybe we should reconsider this.”
“No.” He grabbed her with his free arm, curling her in close and kissing her hard. “It’s a great idea. We’ve done a great job pulling it together in an amazingly short time, and I’m supposed to pick up your brother in three hours at the Hendersons’ to head for Madison. You know what that means?”
“That we’re crazy?”
He took her mouth again, stroking his tongue against hers with an unmistakable rhythm that had her holding on to his shoulders for balance.
“It means you and I have three hours.” He tossed the papers on the counter and, still holding her, started unfastening his jacket. “Together. Alone.” He kissed the side of her neck under her hair. They had carved out only enough time and privacy for a few kisses since Saturday. “We can spend it listening to you worrying. We can spend it eating lunch. Or we can put it to better use.”
He dropped his jacket to the floor and started on his shirt, still exploring her neck and ear.
“Steve…” It came out breathless.
He yanked the tail of his shirt out of his pants. “Okay, okay, if you insist we can have something to eat…later.”
He quirked a grin at that last word. His shirt fell at the threshold into the living room as he backed her up through the house. She was laughing in addition to being breathless. “You’re making a habit of these stripteases.”
He stopped dead, a ferocious frown crashing down. “Hey, you’re right.”
“Oh, no, what have I done? I didn’t mean to make you stop.”
“Stop, hell. I’m going to make sure we’re even this time.” He grabbed the bottom of her fleece pullover and bundled it up her body—with a few interesting sidetrips—and over her head.
She reciprocated with his undershirt. They helped each other out of shoes and socks on the far side of the living room. His pants and her jeans entwined on the floor of her once and present bedroom. He handed her the foil packet he’d snagged from his pocket so he could unhook her bra, then follow the departing fabric with tormenting hands that cupped and stroked her breasts.
He bent his head to take one peak he’d won into his mouth as she stroked his shoulders.
She tried to reach his briefs, but couldn’t quite snag the fabric. He straightened, pressing their bodies together from knees to shoulder. She shuddered with delight…and resumed pushing down his briefs with more success, even though she still held the foil packet.
“Hey, we’re supposed to be keeping this even,” he protested, but stepped out of the fallen briefs.
“Then hurry up. I want you inside me.”
She’d hardly finished the sentence when he cupped the back of her neck as he spun her and lowered her to the bed, covering her with his weight and warmth.
“There is no place I would rather be.”
Together they pushed down her panties. She thought they might have torn. Too bad.
Together they fit the condom to him. At one point he stilled her hands, dropping his head back and muttering. She kissed, then licked his arched neck and he groaned. So good.
Then they shifted, wrapping their arms around each other. She opened, he stroked, and they were joined.
“If this doesn’t work—”
“Don’t worry, if we don’t get what we want on this trip to Madison, we’ll go back until we do. Or maybe we’ll look elsewhere, but it w
ill work.”
She propped herself on one elbow to look at him. “You are a very misleading man, Steven Worthington Corbett. For all that Even Steven and Saint Steven stuff, you don’t give up. You’re quiet about it, so people miss how pigheaded you are.”
“I prefer persistent.”
“Persistent and pigheaded. I wonder… Is that what some of this is about?”
“This?”
She waved a hand, indicating their entwined bodies. “This. Us.”
“You didn’t seem to mind my, uh, persistence a little while ago.”
Heat flowed as visible color up her body. He grinned and raised his head to kiss her shoulder. But she resisted the temptation. “I don’t just mean this part of this. I mean, us revisited. The return of Annette and Steve.”
“You think this is all based on me trying to prove a point?”
“I don’t know.” She pleated the sheet. “Wasn’t some of coming back to Tobias after college about proving a point for you? Proving that you can be your own man no matter what your family and this town’s expectations are?”
Steve pushed himself up to sit against the pillows. Holding the covers over her, she twisted to meet his look as he said, “Wasn’t leaving Tobias about proving a point for you? Proving that you can be your own woman on your own terms no matter what this town’s expectations of you might be?”
“Touché,” she acknowledged with a lightness she didn’t entirely feel.
“Listen, I want you to think about something while I’m gone.” She opened her mouth, but he kissed it before she could say anything. “Listen, not talk. Okay?”
“Okay.” Because if he stopped her from talking that way a second time he might never leave for Madison. On second thought, maybe she should talk.
“I want you to think about staying in Tobias—”
“When Juney—”
“No, don’t answer. Just think about it. I know you’re not ready to hear all the things I want to say. Including pointing out how we’ve been building a new trust based on truth and experience instead of a starry-eyed demand for blind faith. And since trust’s the other element that needs to be added to chemistry to create love—”
“Steve—”
“No, don’t answer, remember? Besides, that’s not what I’m telling you now. What I am saying is there’s no magic rule that you have to leave when Juney comes back. You’ve made it a habit to think you can’t or won’t stay here, and all I want you to do is challenge that habit.”
“Just like you make it a habit to assume you’ll stay in Tobias. With your skills you could find a rewarding job anywhere.”
“This is Nell’s home. This is where she has family and history.”
“That can be as much of a burden as a blessing. If you moved away from Tobias, you would never have to worry about people telling her all that history.”
“What’s the alternative? Never show our faces in town again? Or slip in for a day at Christmas while everyone’s preoccupied?” She flinched. “Sorry.”
“Sure. You didn’t mean it, I know.”
He met her gaze and held it. “Actually, I did mean it. I hated that you didn’t want to—or thought you couldn’t—show your face here. It made me feel like…”
“Even if that was true then, you have no reason to feel that way now. I won’t stay away from Tobias like I used to. I just… Staying permanently isn’t…” She pushed out the words. “I couldn’t bear going back to being poor little Annette.”
“So don’t. Show them who you are now. It might take some in the town longer, but they’ll get the idea.”
And then he kissed her again.
Chapter Eleven
Annette picked up the ringing phone thinking Steve had forgotten something. He’d been running late by the time he got dressed to leave.
A young woman’s voice said, “Annette? Is that you? It’s Juney. How are you? How’s Max? How’s the business? How’s the weather? The islands have been so gorgeous. I kept telling Max that I might not come back, so I wanted to reassure you—” she laughed “—that I’ll be at work first thing Monday. Oh, but I can’t bear the thought of wearing winter coats and gloves and everything!”
Annette made all the appropriate noises, answering Juney’s questions and saying how glad they would all be to see her. But beneath that functioning surface, everything had frozen into a single phrase. Her time was up.
Steve had said there was no magic rule that she had to leave when Juney returned, but there was. Because she wouldn’t be staying for Max anymore. She would be staying for Steve. It was a commitment, a promise.
And a danger.
But why should living here scare her this way? She didn’t have anything to hide from the people of Tobias—they already knew everything about her. That should be freeing, in a way. And she’d come up against plenty of people in business who had treated her like a nincompoop—at the beginning. Most had seen the light quickly. Those who hadn’t she’d worked around or left behind.
What was so different now?
She didn’t have to earn everything on her own here. She could lean on Steve—not financially, the way she had once expected to, but emotionally. She could turn to him when things got tough, as she had in the situation with Miss Trudi?
Why hadn’t she handled it herself?
God, she came back to Tobias and she reverted to…
That was it. It wasn’t fear of Tobias making her poor little Annette—she could fight that. It was fear that she would make herself poor little Annette. Riding along behind Steve, hoping he steered her away from choppy water.
Because, let’s face it, there were some perks to being poor little Annette. No great expectations that she might disappoint. Built-in excuses if she wimped out. Sure made life easier.
Like reverting to childhood when you came home.
She had stood in this room that first night and she had revisited the bedroom of her memory. Was that an unconscious desire to revert to the girl she had been, too? What if the room hadn’t been changed into an office? Would she have sunk into the bed and wallowed in her childhood?
Look at the way she fell apart on the phone with Suz. Only at the end of that first conversation did Suz say she sounded like herself—because she hadn’t been herself, at least not the herself Suz knew. She’d been poor little Annette.
And the proposal for Bliss House—since when did she second-guess what she knew was a great idea? Yes, there was a lot at stake, but there’d been a lot at stake with decisions she and Suz had made, too.
She’d realized at the parade how few people in Tobias would cast her as poor little Annette. But what about herself? How did she fight that?
If she reverted to that wimpy Annette of old, how could she even consider staying?
Halfway to Madison, Max reached over and turned off the radio sports talk show about the college basketball championship game coming up.
“You know if you hurt her, I’ll come after you again,” he said.
“You didn’t come after me last time, I came to you.”
“You just saved me the trip.”
“Two years later.”
Max grunted, but Steve caught the flicker at the corner of his mouth. It was gone when he said, “I mean it, Steve.”
“I know you do. But what are you going to do if she hurts me?” She’d given him the present these past few days. But time was running out on the present. He wanted a future with her. He was going to have to push for an answer…with the potential for the answer he dreaded.
Max looked out his window so long Steve thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“Get you drunk. And get drunk with you.”
Resenting the intrusion, Annette answered the door Friday with a stack of papers in one hand and the pen in her mouth so she could pull the door open.
She had spent the rest of Wednesday going over files and paperwork and bank statements. She’d worked well past midnight, until her eyes couldn’t focus any more.
Unfortunately that didn’t keep her mind from working.
Thursday she drafted the bank draw Max had said to leave for Juney. She’d roughed in quarterly taxes. But what else was there? That’s when she realized she’d never examined the Every Detail contract as closely as she should have.
She’d had Suz e-mail it to her and she’d buckled down. It required research and calls to the lawyers, with faxes of their answers coming back. Several of their answers raised more questions. When Suz called last night asking what was up, she apologized for letting her personal life interfere with her obligations to the company. Suz was sweet to try to reassure her that she hadn’t slacked off, but she knew better. She’d ended the call and returned to work.
The corporation’s negotiators had called first thing this morning screaming bloody murder. She was not going to be railroaded because they wanted things easy. She’d left the phone off the hook so she could concentrate.
And now people were showing up at the door. She’d tried to ignore the knocking, but it wasn’t going away.
She yanked open the door, and there were Nell and Fran. With her head still wrestling with client list confidentiality, she blinked at them uncomprehendingly. Nell didn’t wait for an invitation, but marched right in.
“We tried to call for a long time but kept getting a busy signal,” Fran said. She gave a faintly apologetic shrug, but looked serious. “Nell insisted I bring her over here. She wouldn’t tell me what it’s about, just kept saying she had to talk to you. She’s very upset.”
Annette knew she was tired, but she wasn’t totally out of it, and a glance at the clock confirmed it. Ten-thirty. “You should be in school,” she said to Nell.
The child ignored that. “You’ve gotta stop her, Annette. Pulverize her before she does something to Miss Trudi.”
Annette scooched down to be eye-to-eye. “Nell, it’s okay. Your daddy’s working to take care of all of that. That’s why he’s away in Madison and why you’re staying with Fran.”
She shook her head. “Grandmother’s doing something now, while Daddy’s gone. I heard her.” She hiccupped a sob. “I heard her.”
Wedding of the Century Page 20
