Читать книгу The Millionaire Comes Home - Mary Lynn Baxter - Страница 9

Somehow Grace managed to derail that traumatic thought and force herself to behave as though Denton Hardesty were a stranger, someone she’d never known. But that wasn’t easy, as she was more than a little overwhelmed and flustered by his showing up on her doorstep out of the blue. Holding on to her fractured composure was even more difficult because her senses had leaped at the sight of him.

Dear Lord, that would never do.

“What on earth are you doing here?” she finally asked, the silence having built to an almost thundering roar, at least to her. Maybe it was the sound of her heart beating. Absurd. She no longer gave a fig about him.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I live here,” she said simply, feeling her chin jut slightly and her spine stiffen.

As if he picked up on the slight edge of defiance in her posture, he sighed. “I was wondering if you’d ever left.”

“Again, what brings you back to Ruby?”

His sigh deepened. “So that’s the way it’s going to be?”

For a second Grace was confused. “Excuse me?”

“I can’t say that I blame you for not inviting me in.”

Grace flushed, realizing that she hadn’t budged so much as an inch since she’d opened the door. In fact, she seemed to be guarding the door as if he was an intruder who might force himself inside. In a way that was exactly what he was. However, she had no intention of letting him know that her senses still hadn’t quite settled, that his unexpected presence had definitely thrown her for a curve.

“Of course you may come in.”

His head leaned to one side. “Are you sure?”

“Certainly,” she said, swallowing her irritation at his assumption that she gave a damn one way or the other. She’d best be careful. He’d always had the uncanny ability to read her heart. But that was then, when she was just a teenager. Now she was an adult and he didn’t know beans about her.

Finally she stepped back and gestured with one hand. “Welcome to Grace House.”

He pulled up short. “You mean this is your place?”

“Yes.” Again her tone held a note of defiance, this time with an edge of acid.

Denton chuckled. “I see you haven’t lost that sharp tongue.”

“Some things never change,” she said, more breathlessly than she intended.

“In some cases that’s not bad.”

It wasn’t so much what he said as the way he said it that set off a warning inside her. That raspy note in his voice was just as much a turn-on now as back then. What had she done to deserve this cruel twist of fate? She’d never expected to lay eyes on her first love again.

And why now, when she was lonelier than she’d ever been?

“I’m impressed.”

Grace forced herself back to the moment, though what she really wanted to do was tell him to leave, to go back where he came from and not disrupt her life one more second.

Instead she made her way into the garden room and watched as he strode to the long expanse of windows before turning and facing her again.

“Would you like a glass of iced tea?” she asked. “Or would you rather have coffee?”

“Both, actually.”

A spontaneous laugh erupted before she could control it. “That’s not a problem.”

He answered with a smile that hit her like a sledgehammer. He was still too good-looking for words, even if the added grooves of maturity made him appear older than his thirty-four years, two years her senior.

Too, there was an uptightness, a restlessness that she didn’t remember. But it had been so long since that summer evening after her last year in high school, when she’d been so madly in love with him, she couldn’t be expected to remember every detail about him. Nor did she want to.

Liar.

Right now she was standing there like an idiot, soaking up every detail about him. His hair, while still brown, was now dusted with silver. Not a bad thing, she noted, since the silver highlighted his tanned skin and green eyes that were surrounded by such thick lashes they appeared darker and sootier than they actually were.

As for his over-six-foot frame, he hadn’t added an ounce of fat to it. At one time he’d had washboard abs, and since his knit shirt hugged him in all the right places, she knew that hadn’t changed. Nor had his long legs and powerful thighs. When her gaze reached that part of his anatomy, and she saw the slight bulge behind his zipper, she averted her eyes back to his face. Those perfect white teeth hadn’t changed, either. Or that smile. Both had always been high-wattage and still were.

Not fair.

Here she was, aging, gathering wrinkles in all the wrong places. So what? It didn’t matter whether the years had been kind to her or not. Except that it did. Granted, Denton was just passing through, but it was important to her that she at least didn’t look like the wrath of God, for heaven’s sake.

Then it hit her she was still wearing her apron.

Feeling her cheeks flood with color, she reached for the sash at the back and jerked it.

“Don’t.”

Her head jolted up. “Don’t what?”

“Take it off.”

Her hands stilled, and when she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out.

“It’s…different.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Right.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“What you are is ‘seriously’ making fun.”

“Somehow it suits you.”

“You don’t have a clue what suits me,” Grace snapped, then mentally kicked herself.

“True,” he said, his mouth slightly downturned. “But I know what I like, and I like your apron.”

“Fine. But I don’t.” She jerked it off and headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll get the drinks and be right back.”

“Need any help?” he called to her back.

She didn’t so much as slow down. “No, thanks.”

By the time she had a tray filled with both iced tea and coffee, her hands were shaking. It was a miracle she had glasswear of any kind left. Just get through this, she told herself. Be polite, make small talk, then get rid of him. Send him back from whence he came.

Blowing out a deep breath, Grace planted a smile on her face and went back into the garden room. Denton had taken a seat in one of the wicker chairs. When he saw her, however, he rose and reached for the tray.

She shook her head, then set it down on the coffee table in front of the settee. “Your choice?”

“Coffee,” he said, reaching for it on his own.

She chose a glass of iced tea. For a moment they each sipped in silence, though for Grace that silence still had undertones of booming thunder.

“This is really yours?”

“You sound like that’s not possible.”

“Hey, that’s not it at all. It’s just that I’m impressed.”

“Impressed, huh?”

“Yeah, impressed. This is a grand old house, and apparently you’ve made a success of operating it as a bed-and-breakfast. To me that’s impressive.”

“I’d like to think so. I know that I love every minute of being an innkeeper, so to speak.”

“You would. It fits your personality to a T.”

Again she wanted to tell him he didn’t know jack about her personality, but she refrained. She was already in water over her head. Why purposely drown herself?

“Did you buy the old place?”

“I’m buying it. Right now the bank and I are partners.”

He chuckled. “I hear you.”

“One of these days, though, it’ll be mine free and clear.”

“You’re that busy?”

“Ruby’s grown, despite the fact that it maintains its status as a quiet country town. Being so close to Austin has given us the tourist boost we needed to grow our economy.”

“I noticed several antique stores as I drove down main street. Ruby never had anything like that before.”

“Again, it’s the boom going on in Austin that’s responsible.”

He looked around for a moment, then faced her again, his eyes probing. If only he didn’t have that certain way of staring at a woman as if she was the only person on the face of the earth. Denton could rival Richard Gere when it came to that feat. At one time she’d loved that. Now she hated it.

“You look great, Grace. Have I told you that?”

A warmth spread through her, which she promptly ignored. “No, but that’s okay. I’d rather talk about you.”

“I’m sure you’re curious.”

“Let’s just say I know you’re not passing through for old time’s sake.”

Did he flush or had she imagined that?

“You’re right,” he said, reaching for his coffee and taking a drink. “I’m here to see a client.”

“In Ruby?” She didn’t bother to mask her astonishment.

“A quirk of fate. What can I say?”

“Whatever,” she said, hearing that breathlessness in her tone again and wishing she could get her act together.

He set his cup down, then crossed an ankle over the other knee. “I’m an investment broker in Dallas, have been for several years now.”

“That’s nice.”

He chuckled. “‘How boring’ is what you’re really saying.”

“I wish you’d stop trying to second-guess me,” she said, trying to control her edginess but failing miserably.

“I was always pretty good at doing that, if you’ll remember.”

His voice had dropped to a husky pitch, and his eyes were so intent on her lips that she felt a rush of color to her face while all the air seemed to have been sucked out of the room. “Look—”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to go down that road. It’s just that I never expected to see you again, especially not here in Ruby.”

“Just because you hauled it—”

His lips thinned. “You’re right to be pissed.”

“Look, Denton, I’m not pissed, okay? Let’s just leave the past where it is. Buried.”

“So my car just broke down. How’s that for a mundane topic of conversation?”

Ignoring his hint of sarcasm, she asked, “Where?”

“At the station across the street.” Denton went on to explain what was going on.

“Ah, Raymond’s in charge.” Her lips quirked in a smile. “No doubt he’s proudly displaying that BMW for all the town to see.”

“Reckon?”

They both laughed at Denton’s choice of words. Then, realizing how chummy that sounded, Grace sobered. “What if he can’t fix it?”

“The dealership in Austin will have a loaner car here in no time.”

My, my, how nice, she almost said in a snippy tone, but didn’t. Obviously, he was making money hand over fist. She wondered which rancher in Ruby had the kind of big dollars it would take to invest with him? She wasn’t about to ask, for several reasons, the main one being she wanted to get rid of him. The longer this indulgence stretched itself, the more dangerous it became to her peace of mind, especially with his gaze seemingly fixed on her breasts.

In spite of her efforts to the contrary, the color lingered in her face. “You’re welcome to wait here,” she said, glancing away.

“Are you sure?”

His husky tone drew her back. “I even have a vacant room,” she quipped.

“I just might take you up on that.”

Her jaw went slack. “I didn’t—”

“I know you didn’t mean it, but I do.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen.”

Both of his eyebrows shot up. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“Are you married?” she asked bluntly, more for herself than for him. She was desperate to steer things back on course after she’d opened her mouth again when she shouldn’t have. But no way was he going to remain in Ruby. The thought of him sleeping in her place as a guest was ludicrous and she wouldn’t let it happen.

“Not anymore,” he said in answer to her question.

“Ah, so there was a Mrs. Denton Hardesty?”

“Was is the correct word.”

“Not an amiable parting, huh?”

“Not hardly.”

“Sorry.”

“Me, too. I hate failing at anything. But nothing about our relationship was right from the beginning. Thank goodness there were no children.”

She wanted to amen that but didn’t.

“What about you? I don’t see a ring on your finger.”

“There hasn’t been one.”

He raised his eyebrows again. “I find that hard to believe.”

“That I’m an old maid?”

Denton made a snorting sound as his gaze roamed hotly and blatantly over her. “You know better than that.”

She turned away, her heart in her throat, feeling the inability to handle much more of this togetherness. “Let’s just say I’m happy with my life the way it is.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

A silence fell between them during which she made a conscious effort not to meet his eyes.

It was then his cell phone rang. Grace tried to ignore what he was saying by concentrating on what she was going to serve for snack time. The Brenners would be back shortly, and on rare occasions even Ralph was known to appear for the afternoon goodies.

Only after Denton shoved his cell back into its clip did she face him again.

“I’ve been stood up, at least for today.”

“Oh?”

“My client had an unexpected emergency to deal with. That was his housekeeper.”

Relief almost made her giddy. “I guess you’ll have to come back to Ruby another time.”

Their eyes met and held for the longest time.

“I have a better idea. I’ll take that vacant room and hang around.”