He looked marginally relieved. “Olivia’s and Maggie’s lives were different when they started with this place. Olivia didn’t know Dylan existed. Maggie’s marriage was on the rocks. The changes in town this past year are good, Adrienne. Knights Bridge is building on what’s special about it.”
“What attracted you twenty years ago,” Adrienne said.
“I’ll always be an outsider here.”
His tone was matter-of-fact, without any hint of self-pity. She thought she understood. “Here and everywhere, Vic. You wouldn’t have it any other way, and the people in town are fine with that. They take you as you are.”
“And you, Adrienne?”
She smiled despite his sudden melancholy. “You’re a better man than I thought you’d be this time last year.”
That broke the downward turn in his mood. “You figured I’d be a cad.”
“I thought you knew about me and didn’t care. At first.”
“Be who you are, Adrienne. Don’t let what we didn’t have get in your way. Don’t stay here in this job because of me. I love the idea of having you in town, but I don’t want it to hold you back.”
“You love the idea but you’re on your way out of town for who knows how long. I don’t mind, honestly. I want you to do what’s right for you, too.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. Knights Bridge is home for me now. There’s nothing that will change that.”
“Not even falling for some hot young thing in Paris?”
His eyes sparked with humor. “Not even that.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Go on now. Duty calls. Relish being needed and courted by your old crowd, whatever comes of it.”
“You have free rein at the lake if you want a change of scenery. Stay at the house. Throw a party. Check out the wildlife. Throw sticks for Violet. Grab Rohan from Elly for a visit. Adam’s there if you need anything.”
“I appreciate that. Thanks, Vic.”
Adrienne stood out on the kitchen steps and watched his car turn around in the driveway and then head up Carriage Hill Road, presumably on to Boston and the airport. She’d come here because of him and now he was leaving—and it was fine. She hadn’t faked it. She felt no sense of irritation, loss, rejection or abandonment.
She went inside and made more tea. Maybe she hadn’t come to Knights Bridge just to get to know Vic better and spend time with him. Maybe she’d come here for herself—for this job, these people, this life.
She’d just poured her tea when Buster burst into the mudroom ahead of Olivia. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, shutting the mudroom door behind her. “He still doesn’t get it that we don’t live here anymore.”
Adrienne laughed, putting aside her conflicted emotions about Vic’s departure. “Tea?” she asked.
Olivia beamed, hand on her swelling abdomen. “That would be perfect.”
* * *
Two hours later, with Olivia and Buster on their way back up the road, Adrienne grabbed her jacket and drove out to Echo Lake. She noticed a small front-end loader and a shallow trench by the wall just down from where the delivery truck had hit it. She parked behind Vic’s fancier car and got out, welcoming the cool breeze off the lake, scented with evergreens. She walked around to the front of the house and mounted the steps to the front porch. She took a breath, looking out at the sparkling water, the blue sky and the first bright leaves of the fall season. Did she dare fall in love with this place? Let it feel like home? Did everyone in town believe she’d bolt after a few months? It was what she believed, wasn’t it?
Adam walked out of the house, startling her. “Sorry,” he said. “I was making sure Vic turned off the lights and locked the doors.”
“Did he?”
“Missed the cellar light. He must have gone down for a bottle of wine.”
“I saw your equipment by the stone wall. Disaster discovered or disaster averted?”
“A little of both.”
Instead of his stonemason tools, he had his camera in hand—a good one, if not particularly new. He was dressed in khakis, a lightweight shirt and canvas shoes, not his usual sturdy work clothes. “Taking photos?” Adrienne asked.
“I’m on my way to take a few shots at a stone bridge on the other side of the lake. The light’s not great right now, but it should improve by the time I get over there. We’ll see. Join me if you’d like. I have work to do later this afternoon but I have some time now.”
“I’d love to join you.” Adrienne realized she hadn’t hesitated, had gone with her gut. “I’m taking the day off. I didn’t get to the other side of the lake when I was here over the winter. Too cold and snowy.”
“The bridge is on a stream that feeds into the lake.”
She zipped up her jacket. “It’s the one in your photograph at Carriage Hill. Vic recognized it.”
“It’s unique,” Adam said. “Olivia and Dylan asked me to take a few photographs to use on their websites for their various ventures. It’s a favor. If the photos don’t work, no harm done.”
They headed down the porch steps and out to a one-track dirt road that led to the “quiet” side of the lake. “Where did you learn photography?” she asked as they walked.
“My grandfather got me started. My dad’s dad. He was a great guy. No one expected him to hook up with Gran. She grew up in Amherst.”
“It’s just a stone’s throw from here.”
“It was a different world from Knights Bridge back then. Some would argue it still is. And in Gran’s eyes—even she says she was a snob at first. She was in town to visit a friend whose parents owned Red Clover Inn. She met my grandfather. She looked down her nose at him and the rest of the people here. Thought they were all hicks. She was just a kid herself.”
“But she changed her mind, obviously.”
“She saw she was wrong about Gramps, and about Knights Bridge, and she’s been here ever since. Her friend moved away but Gran stayed.”
“It became her home. Your grandparents were happy together?”
“Very. No question.”
The road ended at the lot where Brody Hancock’s childhood home, razed years ago, had been. He and Heather planned to build their own house upon their return to Knights Bridge from London. Adrienne followed Adam onto a path that hooked past a cove and then along the edge of the lake. The trail grew rougher and then disappeared altogether, but Adam didn’t hesitate as he led her over tree roots and around boulders, through underbrush and saplings.
Just a few yards up from the lake, they came to a small stone bridge that arced over the clear, freely flowing water of a narrow stream. “When did you take the photo that’s part of your series at the inn?”
“Last November.”
“What’s a bridge doing out here?”
“The original owners of Vic’s house had it built. They planned to put up another house out here but decided against it. They sold off some of the land on this side of the lake, but this is still part of the original estate.”
“Meaning Vic owns it,” Adrienne said. “I didn’t realize that. Why would they build a bridge before deciding on whether to build a house?”
“They were eccentric.”
As if that explained it, and maybe it did. “I assume this wasn’t all woods then.”
“Correct. Most of this land was farmland a hundred years ago when Vic’s house was built.”
Adrienne squatted down for a closer look at the bridge. It looked so small. “It’ll hold me?”
“Yes.”
She glanced up at Adam and smiled. “I like that you didn’t hesitate.”
She sat on the bridge and kicked off her shoes, dipping her feet in the crystal clear water. She rested her toes on a submerged rock, slippery with moss, and leaned back, placing her hands next to her on the rough stone of the bridge. “A bit chilly but feels great. Probably you
don’t want me in your photos, though.”
“You’d be a modern touch,” Adam said.
She pulled her feet out of the stream and shook them off as best she could before slipping on her socks and shoes. He held out a hand, and she took it, standing up and jumping lightly from the small bridge. Her toe caught a stone and she plunged right into him. He slipped an arm around her waist, and she clutched his upper arm, just managing to avoid his camera.
“Phew.” She laughed, steadying herself. “Skinned knee and sprained ankle averted, although I like to think I’d have landed in a bed of ferns if I hadn’t found my footing.”
“Your feet are probably numb from the water.”
“Definitely numb.”
“It can throw you off.” He loosened his hold on her. “Steady?”
She wasn’t really, but in another way from what he meant. “Sure. Go on and take your pictures.”
“Light’s still bad,” he said. “Too harsh. I’ll come back later. I want to get some shots with fall foliage, but most of the trees out here turn later.”
“So this is a scouting mission.”
“Yep.”
“Sure you don’t want to dip your feet in the stream?”
He looked at her as if he had no idea why he would want to do such a thing.
Adrienne laughed. “I know you Sloans are rugged, but your feet get hot, too.”
“Let’s walk down to the lake. The water will be warmer there.”
If not as warm as the afternoon of their swim in the lake. The cooler nights in particular would have taken their toll.
In fact, she quickly discovered, this was true, although the water was warmer in the lake.
She and Adam sat on a sunny boulder, rolled up their pant legs and eased into the water, wading up to their knees. The lake bottom was sandy, with only a few rocks and slimy things. Adrienne found herself relaxing, noticing the nuances of her surroundings, and of the man next to her. His scarred hands, his blue eyes that seemed to soften and spark in the sunlight, his hard muscles—from his work, maybe still from his military training, just from being a Sloan.
“I must trust you if I’m out here in the boonies alone with you,” she said lightly.
He turned to her. “You can trust me, Adrienne.”
“I didn’t think twice about it. We were alone a half-dozen times last winter. Did you ever think about kissing me in Vic’s kitchen?”
“Nope.”
“Kissing me at all?”
“Bold questions, Ms. Portale.”
She squinted at him in the autumn sun and tried to assess whether he was shocked or offended. “I guess I’m not going to pretend what happened didn’t happen.”
“I was wondering about that.”
“Were you?”
“Ah-huh.” He eased to her, the water rippling off him at each step. With one hand, he tilted her chin up. “I thought about walking with you out here on a beautiful day and kissing you here.”
“Not last winter—this morning.”
“Yes, last winter, and yes, this morning.”
“Good,” she whispered, as his mouth found hers.
He lifted her up out of the water, their kiss deepening as she wrapped her arms around him. He was a strong, solid, sexy man. But that was her only thought once he held her tighter, her feet dipping back into the cool lake water. If he was standing on any slimy, slippery things, he didn’t tilt or teeter off balance.
Then it was over. She was standing on a rock up to her knees in pretty Echo Lake, a thousand sensations going through her. She’d been thoroughly kissed and the rest of her body was reacting accordingly. She squinted up at Adam in the sunlight. “Regrets already?”
“No regrets.”
Succinct. “Me, either.” Not yet, anyway.
“I have to get to work.”
He took her hand and they waded back to their boulder. They put on their shoes and socks and unrolled their pant legs.
“Your pants aren’t as soaked as mine,” she said.
“I’m taller.”
“There’s that.”
He didn’t smile. He scooped up his camera and slung it over one shoulder. Adrienne got to her feet and they made their way back to the path. “Does Vic ever walk out here?” she asked.
“I’ve seen him head this way a few times.”
“Keeps the trails open, I guess.”
“Yeah.”
Was he feeling awkward or just his usual untalkative self? Adrienne stopped hard when they reached the dirt road. She put her hands on her hips and turned to him. “Are we going to talk?”
“About what?”
“About what just happened.”
“We walked out to an old stone bridge, light wasn’t good for photographs, we cooled off in the lake and you slipped and I caught you and one thing led to another.”
“I didn’t slip.”
“You didn’t?” He gave her one of his slight, impossibly sexy smiles. “My mistake.”
“Ha. It’s going to happen again, isn’t it?”
“Slipping?”
“Very funny. One thing leading to another.”
His eyes, deeper blue in the shade, settled her in that steady, focused way he had. “I expect it will.”
Then he started up the road.
Adrienne touched a finger to her lips. She still could feel their kiss. Just what were they doing? She shook off the question. It was easier to get carried away out here in the middle of nowhere, wasn’t it? Nothing and no one else to think about. Just themselves and their attraction to each other. But as they walked down the road and Vic’s house came into view, and then the guesthouse, Adam’s van and her car, the realities of their lives took hold.
“I need to take Violet for a walk before I head out,” Adam said. “She’s going to be annoyed we didn’t take her with us.”
“Next time,” Adrienne said.
He turned to her, touched his knuckles softly to her cheek. “I’ll tell her that.”
Fourteen
The promise of that wild kiss in the lake didn’t materialize through the next two weeks, and Vic didn’t return. Adrienne concentrated on her work. With autumn taking hold in Knights Bridge’s corner of New England, she had plenty to keep her busy. Carriage Hill was booked every weekend and several weekdays with adventure travelers and guides, a wedding, a family reunion, an entrepreneurial boot camp and lunches for local nonprofit organizations. Even with Felicity MacGregor as their event planner, Adrienne honestly didn’t know how Maggie and Olivia would have managed without an innkeeper. But they’d realized they’d needed help when they’d started booking for fall, and they’d found someone.
“Me,” Adrienne whispered to herself as she drove out to Echo Lake in Vic’s old car. It was late afternoon on a beautiful, crisp day.
She’d done well with the first round of events, if not without a few small mistakes—fortunately none involving 911 calls or negative feedback from guests. Normal stuff, Maggie called them. The worst had been letting the wood box get emptied on a frosty evening. She’d trekked out to the shed in the dark, remembering, of course, encountering Adam that first time.
Adrienne doubted she’d have managed—or at least managed as well—without Felicity MacGregor. Felicity was thorough, experienced and unflappable, and Adrienne was fast becoming friends with her and her fiancé, Gabe Flanagan. Gabe and Felicity were comfortable with each other in the way two people who’d grown up together and had been friends forever often were.
Unlike Adam and me, Adrienne thought as she passed Elly O’Dunn’s farm.
Not comfortable with each other in that known-each-other-since-nursery-school way. Attracted to each other, yes. Undeniably so. At the same time, unspoken between them was their mutual certainty that getting involved with each other would only lead to pr
oblems. For him, for her—for Vic. No one believed she’d stay in Knights Bridge. Adam was a member of a beloved family in town. He’d had his heart broken once and had ended up with a puppy he’d nursed back to health. Imagine if they started seeing each other for real and it didn’t work out? Even if she hightailed it out of town, what about Vic?
Adam and Vic didn’t need a romantic disaster on their hands, and neither did she.
She and Adam had run into each other a half-dozen times during the past two weeks but only in town, not at the lake. Just as well, with Vic off to parts unknown. She’d had an innocuous exchange with Adam in the vegetable section at the country store. At least it’d seemed innocuous at first. By the time she returned to Carriage Hill, she’d realized his comment about getting things sorted out there the way she had at Kendrick Winery maybe hadn’t been that offhand. She’d left the winery after getting things sorted out.
But how could she blame Adam for thinking she’d bolt after a few months when it was what she thought she’d do, too?
He wouldn’t want to hem her in. He wasn’t that type. From what she’d gathered, he’d let the woman he’d fallen for back in his military days go without a fight.
But that was different. She’d wanted to stay in the military. He’d wanted to come home.
Adrienne was relieved when she arrived at Vic’s house. Enough thinking already.
She got out of the car, squinting at the bright sun, relishing the sight of the colorful foliage against evergreens, blue sky and sparkling lake. It was getting dark earlier and earlier. She was surprised when Violet wandered up to greet her. “Hey, Violet. You miss Rohan, don’t you, girl?” The golden retriever wagged her tail as if she understood. “Where’s Adam, hmm? I know he didn’t leave you running around here on your own.”
And he hadn’t. He walked up the driveway toward her. She inhaled at the sight of him in an old barn jacket, jeans and work boots. Sweating. Damn, he was sexy when he was sweating.
“I thought I’d stop by and check on the place, get a change of scenery,” she said.
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