Читать книгу Return To Rose Cottage: The Laws of Attraction - Sherryl Woods, Sherryl Woods - Страница 8

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Ashley muttered as she sat with Maggie on the porch of the farmhouse Maggie and Rick lived in a few miles from Rose Cottage. It had an orchard out back, the trees laden down with ripe apples. The sun was beginning to drop in the western sky, splashing everything with orange light. It was so serene, it should have creeped Ashley out, but she had other things on her mind, like that ridiculous accident she’d caused by driving too fast on an unfamiliar winding road. For a split second she’d lost her concentration, and that had been enough to nearly cause a tragedy. There would have been no adequate defense for it.

“What is wrong with me?” she asked her sister plaintively.

Maggie glanced at her husband. Both of them were fighting a grin.

“What?” Ashley demanded. “Why are you two laughing at me?”

“We’re not laughing at you,” Maggie rushed to assure her. “It’s just that the saint is discovering she’s human. It’s a wonderful thing to see. I, for one, never thought it would happen. I can’t wait to tell Melanie and Mike when they get here.”

Ashley gave her sister a sour look. “You know, if you keep this up, you’re going to make me sorry I agreed to come to Virginia for five minutes, much less three weeks,” she told Maggie irritably. “I can go back to Boston first thing in the morning, you know.”

“But you won’t,” Maggie said.

Ashley found her confidence annoying. “Oh? Why is that, Ms. Know-it-all?”

“You made a deal with us. If you break it, then we’ll know you’re in some sort of emotional meltdown that probably requires hospitalization.”

Ashley scowled. “Not even remotely funny.”

“I didn’t mean it to be,” Maggie assured her. “You need this sabbatical, Ashley, and one way or another we’re going to see to it that you take it. Rose Cottage is much cheaper and a whole lot more pleasant than some quiet sanitarium in a tranquil setting with shrinks watching your every move.” She let that image sink in, then asked, “Don’t you agree?”

Ashley stared hard at her sister to see if she was joking. She didn’t appear to be. “You wouldn’t do that to me.”

“If it was the only way to assure that you get some rest, we would,” Maggie retorted emphatically. “Don’t test us. That’s how worried we are about you.”

“Mom and Dad would never allow it,” Ashley said.

“Are you so sure of that? They’re worried sick, too.”

“I’m not having a damn breakdown, though you could easily drive me to one,” Ashley said, barely keeping a grip on her temper. The last thing she needed to do was give them ammunition to have her committed. And they would do it. She could see that now. There was no mistaking the resolve in Maggie’s eyes.

“You’re not having one yet,” Maggie agreed. “But you’re on the verge, Ashley. None of us have ever seen you strung this tight before. Everyone has their limits. What happened in court was only the final blow. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard for too long.”

“I think we need to change the subject before you really get on my nerves,” Ashley told her sister. She deliberately turned to Rick. “Do you know of a Josh around here?”

Rick looked as if he didn’t really want to be drawn into the conversation, even if the subject seemed to be neutral. Ashley could hardly blame him. When he shrugged, she turned back to Maggie. “What about you? Do you know a Josh?”

“Is that the man you hit?” Maggie asked.

Ashley nodded.

“No last name?”

“He didn’t offer one,” Ashley said, then remembered the exchange of notes. Maybe he had written it down. “Wait. Here it is. Madison. Josh Madison.”

Maggie’s expression turned thoughtful. “There were some Madisons who had a summer place not far from Rose Cottage. I think Grandma knew them. Maybe he’s related to them. That would certainly explain why he was on that road. Melanie and Mike might know him.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Ashley said. “But he said he was local.”

“Maybe he is now,” Rick finally chimed in. “But I don’t recall the name, and I talk to a lot of people around the area. I could ask Willa-Dean next time I go to Callao for lunch. That girl knows everybody, especially the single men.”

Ashley shook her head. “No need. I doubt we’ll even cross paths again, unless he changes his mind about me paying for the damage to his car.”

Maggie grinned. “Why so interested, Ash? Is he gorgeous? Sexy?”

“Nice,” Ashley said, refusing to be drawn into a discussion of Josh Madison’s appeal. Nice was safe. Nice didn’t stir up hormones.

Unfortunately, Josh Madison was a bit more than nice. As rattled as she’d been by that stupid accident, she’d noted that he was sexy and gorgeous, just as her sister had guessed. Not that Ashley cared, of course. Men were the last thing on her mind these days. But accepting that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a fine specimen when one happened to cross her path, even if this one was clearly not her type.

After all, he’d been dressed in a faded T-shirt and equally faded jeans, with boat shoes and no socks. It wasn’t a look that appealed to her. She was drawn to men in designer suits and expensive imported footwear. She was drawn to men who reeked of ambition and success. Josh Madison looked…normal. Just an everyday guy. Ashley didn’t do ordinary.

Not that she’d done all that well with the overly ambitious type, either. The one serious relationship in her life had been with a man every bit as driven to succeed as she was. He’d worn all the right clothes, gone to all the right places, been seen with all the right people.

But Drew Wellington turned out to have this nasty habit of lying to her, hiding things from her such as the supposedly unimportant detail that he had a high-school sweetheart back home whom he saw every chance he got. He’d also failed to mention that his old flame was pregnant with his child.

Not that he intended to marry her. She wasn’t suitable, he’d tried to explain to Ashley when she’d discovered his tawdry little secret. Ashley was the woman he wanted to marry.

She wasn’t sure which part of that had made her sickest, the lying or the snobbery, but the betrayal had all come flooding back to her in that courtroom a week ago when she’d realized that her ex and Tiny shared a common lack of familiarity with the truth. What was it about her that made people think they didn’t have to be honest with her? Did they think she was too stupid to discover the lies, or that she wouldn’t care if she did?

Either way, she definitely hadn’t done so well with her one foray into love of the proper kind. Still, that didn’t mean she was ready to start compromising her ideals for a man utterly lacking in style and ambition, even if that did make her into the very kind of snob she claimed to despise.

Which was unfortunate, she concluded when Melanie and Mike arrived not five minutes later with Josh Madison in tow. Her heart promptly began the kind of enthusiastic staccato rhythm she hadn’t felt in years. Josh had cleaned up nicely. His hair was damp and spiked with gel, his cheeks were smooth and he’d changed into chinos and an expensive knit shirt with a designer logo emblazoned discreetly on the pocket. He was still wearing the disreputable-looking boat shoes, though, and no socks.

“Look who we found,” Melanie announced cheerfully. “We ran into Josh on our way over and invited him to tag along. He’s our neighbor. You guys must remember the Madison house. And Josh remembers Grandma Lindsey. Hope you don’t mind, Maggie, but we didn’t want to leave him on his own. I know you always cook enough for a mob.”

Ashley frowned at Maggie, who was struggling unsuccessfully to contain a chuckle.

“I think it’s great,” Maggie enthused. “I just hope you didn’t run into Josh the same way Ashley did earlier. I doubt his car could take another encounter like that.”

Melanie’s eyes widened as she turned from Josh to Ashley and back again. “Ashley is the person who hit you?”

Ashley turned her scowl on Josh. “Couldn’t wait to spread the word, I see.”

“Actually, I didn’t volunteer anything. Mike noticed the dent and asked about it,” he said. “Would you have wanted me to lie to him?”

She sighed at that. “Of course not.”

He regarded her speculatively. “I hope it’s not going to make you uncomfortable having to sit across a dinner table from me?”

Ashley frowned. He seemed to be relishing the prospect of causing her a little discomfort. “Absolutely not,” she lied.

Josh grinned. “You can always think of it as that penance you were so anxious to exact from yourself earlier,” he suggested. “Though don’t think tonight will get you off the hook on that other dinner you promised me. I’m counting on that.”

Maggie and Melanie stared at them, clearly fascinated by the exchange. They were going to make way too much of this, Ashley could tell. She needed to defuse their speculation as quickly as possible.

“Whatever,” she said with a very deliberate shrug of indifference. “I can stand it if you can. I’m used to uncomfortable situations.”

“She’s used to staring down prosecutors,” Melanie explained. “She’s very good at it.”

Josh’s grin spread. “A lawyer. I should have guessed. It explains a lot.”

Normally she would have challenged him on a remark like that, but Ashley was in no mood to be drawn into the kind of passionate debate that might be misinterpreted by her sisters as some sort of chemistry. Instead, she reminded them mildly, “But right now, as I have been repeatedly told, I’m on vacation.” She turned her gaze on Maggie. “By the way, I’m starved. Didn’t you say something about dinner when you invited us over here, Maggie? Or was that some bait-and-switch thing?”

“See, there you are in lawyer mode again,” Maggie retorted. “How are we supposed to forget if you can’t?”

Ashley could see her point. “I’m working on it,” she swore. “I really am.” But something told her it was going to be easier said than done.

When she glanced at Josh, she caught a commiserating look in his eyes. It seemed as if he actually under stood what she was going through, and that made her wonder if she’d totally misjudged him. Then again, maybe that kind of sensitivity merely went along with being nice. Neither were traits with which she had a lot of experience. Drew had been smart and savvy and sophisticated, but definitely not nice. Her male colleagues were brilliant and clever but rarely nice, and hardly ever sensitive or considerate.

“Something tells me there’s a story behind that,” Josh said quietly, his expression thoughtful.

“Not one we’re going to get into tonight,” Maggie said decisively. She turned to Ashley. “Since you’re so anxious to eat, Ashley, you can help me in the kitchen. Rick, get Josh a glass of wine.”

Ashley reluctantly followed her sister into the kitchen. She knew precisely what was coming, especially since Melanie was right on her heels.

“First day in town and you find yourself a keeper,” Maggie taunted as she handed Ashley another place setting.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ashley retorted. “We don’t know anything about him.”

Melanie beamed. “That’s why it’s so nice that you have all this time on your hands to change that.”

“Even if I were interested—and I am definitely not saying that I am—what makes you think Josh doesn’t already have a girlfriend?”

“Oh, please,” Maggie said. “Have you seen the way the man looks at you? It’s as if he can’t quite believe his luck.”

“Drew used to look at me like that, too,” Ashley commented wryly.

“No, he didn’t,” Maggie responded, her voice laced with derision. “Drew looked at you as if you were a particularly valuable possession he’d acquired along with his BMW and his Rolex.”

Ashley couldn’t deny Maggie’s take on the past, but she rolled her eyes anyway. “Could we just get through dinner with the least amount of humiliation possible? Do not try to foist me off on Josh like some pathetic thing who needs to be entertained.”

“I won’t have to,” Maggie said confidently. “You’ll see. Josh strikes me as the kind of man who’ll take things into his own hands if he gets the slightest bit of encouragement from you. Hasn’t he already gotten you to agree to have dinner with him?”

“Yes, but—”

“I rest my case,” Maggie said, her triumph plain.

“I am not here to encourage some man I’ve barely met,” Ashley insisted.

“I agree with Maggie. Just open yourself up to the possibilities,” Melanie pleaded. “That’s all we’re asking. Now go set a place for Josh, then sit down right next to it. Maggie and I will get dinner on the table.”

Ashley laughed despite herself. “You two never give up, do you? Just because you landed fantastic men doesn’t mean everyone has to settle down to be happy. It’s possible to be single and totally fulfilled.”

“Maybe,” Maggie conceded with obvious skepticism, “but you can’t blame us for wanting you to be as happy as we are. You nudged me and Rick together. Now it’s my chance to return the favor. Melanie’s, too.”

“I don’t consider this a favor,” Ashley said, giving it one last try.

Maggie smiled serenely. “Something tells me you will,” she said.

Melanie nodded in agreement, then added with a grin, “Eventually, anyway.”

Josh noted that Ashley had managed to seat herself at the opposite end of the table from him, much to her sister Maggie’s very evident dismay. He, on the other hand, was a little relieved. The woman overwhelmed him. He literally needed some space between them so he could catch his breath.

Besides, he hadn’t made that call to Stephanie yet. It was a point of honor with him that he needed to officially break things off with her before he moved on. If Ashley were too close, he might toss aside his better judgment and try to figure out some way to crawl directly into her bed before the night was over. That kind of reckless, breakneck pace was a very bad thing, especially for a man who had supposedly taken some vacation time to make some tough decisions about his future.

He’d always been a plodder, taking things slowly, thinking them through. He’d just about thought the whole engagement thing to death, which was one reason—thankfully—that it had never happened.

The woman sitting opposite him made him want to seize the moment, which was a very scary proposition. When he’d agreed to come to dinner tonight, he’d had no idea that Ashley would be here. The hop, skip and jump of his pulse when he’d spotted her dented car in the driveway had been way too telling. He was about to throw caution to the wind. The length of the dinner table and the presence of four obviously fascinated observers were the only things standing in his way.

Well, those things and that look of distress in Ashley’s amazing eyes, which had turned a golden topaz in the candlelight. She was clearly vulnerable and hurting. It evidently had something to do with her career. Since his own was likely to go up in flames as soon as he broke things off with Stephanie, he could relate to Ashley’s professional uncertainty.

Brevard, Williams and Davenport was one of Richmond’s premier law firms. Josh had been proud when they’d hired him straight out of law school, then promoted him quickly. But it had been increasingly evident that his future there was directly tied in to his relationship with Stephanie. If he broke up with her this weekend, he was very likely to be fired on Monday. The thought didn’t terrify him nearly as much as he’d expected it to. In fact, when he could ignore the churning in his gut, it seemed to give him an amazing sense of freedom.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Mike said. “You sure you didn’t bump your head in that accident?”

Josh shrugged off his concern. “Just thinking about how life takes a lot of unexpected twists.”

Mike glanced over at Melanie, and his entire expression softened. “Indeed, it does.”

“How long have the two of you been married?” Josh asked him.

“Four months.”

“Long engagement?”

Mike grinned. “Hardly. We just met in March.”

Josh stared at him in shock. “You seem like you’ve known each other forever.”

“I guess that’s the way it is when you meet the right woman,” Mike said. “What do you think, Rick?”

Rick blinked and dragged his gaze away from his wife. “What?”

Mike chuckled. “Josh and I were discussing whirlwind courtships.”

Rick laughed. “You’re definitely asking the experts. Maggie and I were together for, what, a couple of months?”

Josh’s jaw dropped. “And you’ve been married how long?”

“About four weeks,” Rick said. “The D’Angelo women don’t waste a lot of time. A smart man seizes the moment when they’re around.”

Josh fell silent, staring at the three women at the opposite end of the table, their heads together. How had he missed it? Of course, the three women were more than just friends. They were sisters. Melanie had even said as much when she’d referred to their grandmother Lindsey earlier. He’d been fooled by the different last names or maybe by the fact that they’d all grown up into such vibrant but distinctive women.

As girls, they’d been cookie-cutter versions of each other, varying only in height. Oh, they’d been gorgeous enough to catch his attention and leave him tonguetied, but they’d worn their hair in similar styles and dressed in variations of the same shorts and halter tops. Back then, there had been no mistaking the family resemblance. In fact, only those who knew them well could keep them straight. Josh hadn’t known them at all. They’d been on the periphery of his life, a taunting reminder of what an outsider he was.

Josh studied them quizzically, then asked Mike, “Isn’t there another sister?”

“Jo,” he said at once. “She still lives in Boston. You knew the D’Angelo sisters, growing up?” Mike asked.

“Not really. It’s more like I knew of them. We didn’t exactly travel in the same circles.”

“But didn’t Melanie say your family knew their grandmother?” Rick asked.

“Fairly well, as a matter of fact,” Josh admitted. “But you know how kids are. They find their own friends, especially in the summertime around here.” Determined to move on, he asked, “How did you meet them?”

“Maggie and I met in Boston,” Rick said. “I stepped in at the last minute to handle a photo shoot for her magazine. She came down here, and I followed her.”

“Melanie and I met here,” Mike explained. “She was staying at Rose Cottage for a bit.” He grinned. “Sort of the way Ashley’s staying there now for a little R & R.”

Rick gave Josh a considering look, then added pointedly, “History tends to repeat itself at Rose Cottage.”

Not this time, Josh thought. Not that he wasn’t attracted to Ashley. He was. Not that he didn’t intend to see more of her while she was here. He did.

But his life was in chaos, and something told him hers was, as well. That made it a very bad time to be thinking in other than the most immediate terms. Dinner. A few laughs. That kind of thing.

When he glanced around the table, he noticed that four pairs of eyes were regarding him way too speculatively. The only eyes that counted, however, were watching him with unmistakable wariness. Clearly, Ashley was no more inclined to be railroaded into a relationship than he was. And wasn’t that all that mattered?

“Maybe you and Ashley should get together to work out a settlement for the damages from the accident,” Maggie suggested without any attempt at subtlety.

“We’ve taken care of that,” Ashley replied at once.

To his shock and dismay, a streak of totally unfamiliar perversity sliced through Josh. “I’ve been thinking maybe we were a little too hasty. Neither of us was thinking too clearly.”

“I was thinking just fine,” Ashley retorted. “I offered to pay for all the damages since it was my fault. That offer still stands.”

“As a lawyer, you should know an offer like that could open you up to exorbitant demands,” Josh countered. “You’ve admitted guilt. You couldn’t possibly have been thinking clearly or you would never have done such a thing.”

“I was taking responsibility for my actions,” she retorted. “You turned me down.” Her gaze narrowed. “Are you changing your mind? Suddenly feeling the onset of whiplash, perhaps?” she inquired tartly.

If it would keep the fire in her eyes, Josh would have prolonged the argument as long as possible, but they were being watched with total fascination by everyone else at the table. He didn’t want to encourage the meddlers.

“Possibly,” he equivocated, rubbing his neck. Sure enough, sparks of indignation lit her eyes.

“Well, be sure to let me know when you’ve made up your mind,” Ashley replied, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “Why is it that men can never make a decision about anything?”

“Hey,” Rick and Mike protested in unison. “Don’t turn this into some sort of gender war and drag the rest of us into it,” Mike went on.

“Uh-oh,” Maggie said. “Watch your step, Ashley. You’re about to unite these men in a common cause. Something tells me it won’t be pretty.”

“Doggone right,” Josh agreed, suddenly eager to stir the pot. “Men are not the problem. We think logically and rationally.”

“Oh, please,” Ashley said. “What was logical or rational about letting me off the hook so easily?”

“You were clearly shaken up. I was trying to be a nice guy,” Josh retorted.

“Ha!” Ashley muttered.

“Women hate that,” Rick advised.

“They see it as a sign of weakness,” Mike confirmed.

“Well, you can be sure I won’t make that mistake again,” Josh vowed. “I thought you were a reasonable woman.”

“I am. You’re the one behaving like an idiot. You’re no more injured than I am.”

He frowned at her. “You’re calling me an idiot?”

“You bet I am.”

As the exchange ended and her declaration hung in the air, Ashley suddenly blinked and looked embarrassed. “What just happened here?”

Maggie grinned at them. “Offhand, I’d say we just witnessed an explosion of hormones. I, for one, found it rather fascinating.”

“Stimulating,” Melanie added, casting a pointed look at her husband.

Before Josh could utter a desperate denial, Ashley whirled on her sisters. “Eat dirt,” she muttered, then stood up. “I have to go.”

Josh was way too tempted to follow her. Instead, he merely winked as she passed. “Drive safely,” he murmured under his breath.

She stopped and scowled at him. He waited for her to utter the curse that was obviously on the tip of her tongue, but she fought it and won.

“Lovely seeing you again,” she said sweetly. Her voice, thick with Southern syrup, nonetheless lacked sincerity.

“I’m sure we’ll cross paths soon,” Josh said. “Hopefully without colliding.”

Though he had to admit, as he watched her walk away, that bumping into Ashley D’Angelo, literally or figuratively, was starting to make his life a whole lot livelier.