Their Unfinished Business

by Braun, Jackie

  “I didn’t realize they served that at the Sandpiper,” Luke replied, glancing at his own menu. “I wonder if it tastes like chicken.”

  The waitress came by then and took their orders and Ali steered the conversation to safer topics like the weather. Luke listened with only half an ear as she told him about lake level predictions and what the higher gas prices were likely to mean for the upcoming tourist season.

  As she spoke, he was thinking instead about folks eating crow. Despite his flippant reply to Ali’s question, he did indeed have strong feelings about his return. He liked the respect he saw, even the awe in the expressions of the islanders. Those things sure went down smoother than the pity and disgust he’d been treated to as child. In his teen years, he could admit he’d deserved some scorn. He’d fed right into their stereotype, the bad-ass biker flying down the highway a couple dozen miles over the posted speed limit.

  Only a few people had seen something more in him than attitude and rebellion. He glanced across the table. Ali had been one of those people. It was one of the reasons he’d fallen in love with her.

  He realized he was staring when she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

  “I believe you were going to tell me about a rumor you heard concerning Bradley,” she said.

  Bradley. Luke felt a muscle tick in his jaw. Even the man’s name sounded like 24-karat gold, and despite all the wealth Luke had accumulated over the past decade, he still sometimes felt like he would never be more than silver plate.

  He wasn’t given to snap judgments, especially since he’d been on the receiving end one too many times over the years. But Tom Whitey’s words of that morning seemed all the reason he needed to think poorly of the man Ali was seeing.

  The waitress returned with their orders, burger and fries for Ali and lightly battered lake perch for him with a side order of the Sandpiper’s signature cole slaw. God, he’d missed the stuff living in Manhattan.

  “Well?” Ali prompted.

  “Not a rumor. Tom just mentioned that the guy’s reputation as a developer leaves a lot to be desired. He’s not exactly environmentally friendly.”

  He reached over to snag a French fry from her plate. It was an old habit, even though it was something he hadn’t done in too many years to count. He couldn’t imagine what some of the high-class women he’d dated would say if he’d snatched food from their plates. Of course, fries weren’t on the menu at any of the nouvelle cuisine establishments he dined in these days.

  Ali frowned and swatted away his hand. “Are you accusing him of illegal activity? The state has plenty of regulations in place regarding development, especially on the Great Lakes.”

  “I’m not accusing the guy of doing anything illegal, and I don’t think Tom was, either. But you and I both know that people can adhere to the letter of the law while skirting the spirit of it.” He took a sip of his cola. “I’d just hate to see him get his foot in the door on Trillium.”

  She waved a hand dismissively. “Bradley’s not interested in the island.”

  “I’d lay odds that he’s interested, Ali. He put in a bid on the resort when it went on the market.”

  “He did not.”

  “That’s what I heard.”

  “From who? Tom Whitey?”

  He shrugged, not willing to admit that after his conversation with the contractor he’d placed a few calls. The information was easy enough to confirm, but he doubted Ali would appreciate his digging.

  “You, Dane and Audra bought the resort for a song partly because the previous owners wanted it to stay with islanders. Nostalgia aside, anyone on the outside can smell the profit potential here.”

  She shook her head. “God, you’re a piece of work. So, the only reason Bradley is dating me is to get in at Saybrook’s? Is it so hard for you to believe that a handsome and wealthy man could be interested in me?”

  He sensed the hurt behind her crisp words and he regretted it. “No, Ali. Of course not. I’m just…giving you a heads-up. A warning. That’s all.”

  “People used to warn me about you,” she reminded him with an arch of her brows.

  “Yes, they did. And you didn’t listen.”

  “Apparently I should have.”

  He lifted one side of his mouth into a smile. “Maybe you should have,” he agreed. “But I’m glad you didn’t.”

  He saw her draw in a breath, as if contemplating his words. But when she spoke, she returned to the subject they’d been discussing before their detour into boggy personal territory.

  “Well, for your information, Bradley is concentrating his efforts on the mainland south of Petoskey. He has a waterfront condo development going in there. He doesn’t have any plans for development on the island.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She hesitated a moment, but then said, “Yes. I’m sure.”

  “Well someone is sniffing around. Tom has a friend at the county registrar’s office and he said someone’s been making inquiries about the tract of land we’re after. We still don’t have a purchase agreement hammered out. It could be that someone wants to beat us to the punch, and then maybe they could turn around and sell us the property at a hefty markup.”

  She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “That someone is not Bradley.”

  The confident way in which she spoke the other man’s name rankled for some reason.

  Luke snagged another fry from her plate, dipping it in the little pile of ketchup she’d poured. Before popping it into his mouth, he asked, “You sound pretty sure of that. It makes me wonder how serious things are between the two of you.”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  She was right. It was none of his business. He had no right to ask her anything personal. No right at all even though she had kissed him back rather enthusiastically the night before. He heard himself ask, “Does that mean you’re not sleeping together?”

  “God, you have nerve!”

  “I’m just curious, because Tom said you’d only gone out on a date or two. I didn’t figure you’d had a chance to—”

  A French fry bounced off his nose, which he supposed was better than the slap he deserved. Why was he baiting her this way? Why was he asking questions that had answers he didn’t want to know?

  Ali stood. “I think lunch is over.”

  She was out the door before he could pull enough bills from his wallet to cover their meal, but Luke didn’t figure she would get far on foot. He left his bike in the lot and set out after her, jogging along the shoulder of the road that led back toward the ferry dock and the island’s main crossroads.

  “Ali, wait!” he called.

  She marched ahead. “Go away, Luke. I’m in no mood to talk to you.”

  When he was just behind her, he grabbed her elbow and spun her around. He swore he felt scorched by the fury blazing in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, okay? I had no right to say that.”

  “No right,” she agreed, voice shaking with anger. “No right at all.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said again. “Come back to the restaurant. Let me give you a ride home or to Saybrook’s.”

  She merely shook her head.

  “Ali, please.” He tried again. “I can’t leave you here like this.”

  “Why?” she countered.

  “Ali.”

  But she shook her head and then walked backward a few steps, putting more than physical distance between the pair of them. She no longer looked angry. Now she just appeared sad, resigned.

  “Go, Luke. Leave. Don’t you get it? I’m fine without you.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  LUKE was in a foul mood by the time he returned to the resort. He’d taken a long ride on his Harley, berating himself the entire way. Why couldn’t he leave Ali the hell alone? What did it matter whom she was seeing? Whom she slept with? The past was just that. He’d moved on. Surely she was entitled to do the same. And yet the thought of her making love with anyone else had acid scorching the lining
of his stomach.

  The last person he wanted to run into when he walked through Saybrook’s refurbished lobby was Dane Conlan, but Ali’s brother spotted him the moment he cleared the main entrance, almost as if Dane had been waiting for Luke to arrive.

  “What the hell is going on?” Dane snarled.

  He didn’t bother with any pleasantries as he blocked Luke’s path to the old-fashioned elevators.

  Oh, yeah. He’d been waiting all right, Luke decided.

  Irritation and anger burned bright in Dane’s usually easygoing gaze. He and Luke were about the same size, although Luke had a couple of inches in height on him. But the tight clench of Dane’s jaw made him seem larger, more menacing at the moment. And it caused a bit of déjà vu, reeling time backward for both of them. They’d had more than a couple of arguments where Ali was concerned, and Luke would bet his last dollar that she was the reason behind her brother’s irate expression.

  Luke ran his tongue over his teeth. “I take it you talked to your sister.”

  “Yeah, I talked to her. She called me from Julie’s floral shop near the Sandpiper about an hour ago. She needed a ride home after having lunch with you and she was plenty ticked off. What the hell is going on?” Dane demanded a second time.

  “We had a disagreement.”

  “Jeez, Banning, you haven’t even been back on the island a week. What in the hell could you and Ali have to fight over?”

  The question seemed to hold a challenge, which Luke chose to ignore. He wasn’t feeling up to exploring the answer at the moment.

  “Nothing,” he replied. “It was stupid and my fault.” He tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. But then he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What do you think of Townsend?”

  Dane’s brows tugged together in a frown. “What does Bradley Townsend have to do with this?”

  When Luke remained silent, Dane’s tight expression bloomed into a grin. “Ah. So, that was the source of the argument. You’re not jealous, are you?”

  “No,” Luke scoffed. The very notion was absurd, he told himself, even as the hands in his pockets balled into tight fists. “I just…don’t like the guy, that’s all.”

  Even to his own ears, his announcement seemed rash. He hadn’t met Bradley Townsend. He’d never so much as laid eyes on him. He had only the flimsiest of evidence to suggest the man was up to no good. In fact, he had no evidence, just the suspicion of a local carpenter and the tightness in his own gut, which could hardly be considered reliable at this point.

  What’s more, Townsend’s relationship with Ali, was, as she’d so succinctly informed Luke that afternoon, none of his damned business.

  Still, it gratified him immensely when Dane muttered, “Join the club.”

  “So, you don’t like him, either?”

  Dane cleared his throat, loyalty apparently kicking in to do damage control. “What I think of him doesn’t matter,” he qualified.

  For some reason, the diplomatic reply left Luke feeling on firmer footing.

  “Don’t give me that BS, Conlan. He’s dating your baby sister. As I recall, after you found out I’d kissed her you hauled me up by the shirtfront and threatened to kick my butt—which was highly doubtful, by the way.”

  “She was a kid at the time.”

  “She was seventeen.”

  “She was a kid,” Dane repeated. “But she’s an adult now. She knows her own mind.”

  “And you have no problem with this guy she’s seeing? This Bradley Townsend?”

  “I didn’t say I have no problem with him,” Dane admitted, but before Luke could feel too smug, the other man added, “I said it’s none of my business.”

  Deciding to drop the matter for now, Luke said, “Well, I know something that is.”

  He then told Dane the concerns Tom Whitey had shared with him about Townsend’s character and the fact that someone was sniffing around about the property they were preparing to buy.

  Dane frowned. “That’s not good. We’re still in negotiations over a purchase price. I got a call this morning from the owner. I’m assuming he got wind of your return to town and our meeting and so now the price of the property has gone up. He claims to have another offer.”

  Luke ran a hand around the back of his neck, massaging the knotted muscles there. “I was afraid that might happen. We’d better get something in writing fast, then. Have you made a counteroffer?”

  “I was waiting to discuss it with you.”

  “I think we need to give him what he’s asking and get this thing sewed up quickly. Without that chunk of land Saybrook’s can say goodbye to expansion. There’s not another parcel that size bounding the resort.”

  “You think Townsend has anything to do with this?” Dane asked.

  Luke shrugged. “He’s a developer. I would be interested if I were him, even if only to buy it first and sell it to us for a higher price later. Ali doesn’t seem to think he’s got his eye on Trillium, though. She was pretty ticked off at me for even suggesting he might have something up his sleeve.”

  “Was that all you argued over?”

  Luke felt a flush creep up his cheeks. “Not exactly.”

  Dane’s gaze turned cool again. “Don’t mess with her, Luke. Don’t come back here and muck up her life when you don’t plan to stay for long.”

  For some reason, Luke felt the need to point out: “You just said Ali’s an adult. You said she knows her own mind.”

  “Yeah, well I’m making an exception where you’re concerned. Consider yourself warned.”

  Luke nodded and his gut twisted. They had been best friends a dozen years ago, but even then Luke had always harbored a secret worry that Dane felt Luke wasn’t good enough for his sister. Now, even though Luke was a multimillionaire, apparently he still wasn’t.

  Ali didn’t see Luke for the next couple of days. She’d expected to run into him over the weekend, especially since she’d heard his motorcycle rev past on more than a couple of occasions, but he didn’t drop in and she made a point of steering clear of him as well.

  She went on her date with Bradley on Saturday, determined to have a good time, determined to ignore Luke’s suspicions even after Bradley denied being on Trillium when she’d casually asked if he’d been at the resort earlier in the week. When he dropped her off at home afterward, Ali told herself the reason she didn’t invite him in for a drink was because it was late and she was tired. It had nothing to do with Luke Banning and the old feelings he had bubbling to the surface.

  On Monday she returned to work, hardly rested despite her time off. She was back in one of her old straight skirts, although she’d hemmed it a good three inches the night before, and she was wearing the black shoes she’d borrowed from Audra. Instead of buttoning the plain blouse nearly to the collar, she’d left it open so that just a hint of cleavage was visible.

  She expected her twin to make some amused comment when Ali walked past Audra’s office, so she wasn’t surprised when Audra whistled and called out, “Come back and let me get a better look at you.”

  Ali backed up and struck a silly pose in the doorway. Then she started to walk away again, but Audra rushed after her and snagged her hand before she got very far.

  “Don’t say anything,” Ali warned.

  “What? You look nice.” Audra pursed her lips, assessing. “The skirt length is a big improvement and, of course, I like the shoes since they are mine. Will I be getting them back anytime soon, I wonder?”

  “I’ll pay you for them. How much?”

  Audra rattled off a figure that left Ali’s head feeling light. “For shoes? God, you’re insane.”

  “I take my footwear seriously, but no need to pay me. You can consider them a gift.” Audra stepped closer then and fussed with Audra’s blouse, undoing yet another button before unfastening the decorative belt around her own waist and wrapping it around Ali’s.

  She stepped back afterward and nodded in approval. “It works for now, but I still want to
take you shopping for a wardrobe overhaul. I’d prefer Milan or even Rodeo Drive, but I’ll settle for a midweek daytrip to Chicago. What do you say?”

  “Maybe.”

  Audra grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes since the last six times I’ve suggested such a thing you refused outright.”

  “Whatever,” Ali said, but then she gave her twin’s hand a squeeze. “Thanks for the belt.”

  “You’re welcome. Good luck.”

  Her sister’s salutation struck Ali as odd until she opened the door to her office. She had figured she would run into Luke at some point since she knew he hadn’t checked out of the resort yet. But she hadn’t expected to find him seated at her desk with his size eleven feet propped on the tidy blotter.

  He smiled. “Good morning.”

  She frowned. “It’s Monday and you’re sitting in my chair. What’s good about it?”

  Undeterred by her surly tone, he held out a mug of coffee. “Audra said you were cranky before you had your first cup.”

  Ali closed the door behind her, set her purse on the credenza and then leaned against it. “What do you want now? Any more conspiracy theories to share with me?”

  “I figure I owe you an apology for that…and the other things I said about your, uh, boyfriend. I’m sorry.”

  That took the wind out of her sails, even though he had said as much after she’d stormed out of the restaurant. She told herself it was only because he was offering coffee and she hadn’t had time for a cup yet that morning.

  She nodded stiffly. “Apology accepted. Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”

  “Me, too. I’m flying back to New York. I have a meeting with a business associate about a deal we have in the works. I’ll be back this evening, though. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  She left him with the same qualified response she’d given Audra. “Maybe.”

  And, like Audra, Luke looked just as pleased.

  Ali got in late that evening. Exhausted, she changed into a comfortable button-down blouse and a pair of jeans and rooted around in her cupboards for something easy to make for dinner. It was looking like tuna fish on whole wheat, but a nicely grilled T-bone sounded better.