AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Teo’s welcoming smile faded a bit. Jase had never bothered with one in the first place. He wasn’t much of a smiler, but then neither was Gina.
Still money was money and this was cash. Jase should be clapping Teo on the back and claiming him as his new best friend. She wanted to.
The men stared at each other so long, Gina thought they might refuse to do the meet and greet altogether. If they’d been dogs, their ruffs would have been lifted along with their lips.
Gina cleared her throat, and Teo’s hand shot out. “Pleased to meet you.”
Jase blinked. Because the welcoming words did not match the level, challenging stare or because the drawing room vocabulary sounded so strange in that ruined Clint Eastwood voice?
Gina took a step forward. Why she had no idea. Did she plan to forcibly lift Jase’s arm and make him shake Teo’s hand?
At last Jase found his manners, placing his palm against Teo’s and shaking once. From Teo’s stifled wince, once had been enough.
Men.
“I’ll just show Teo to his room,” Gina began. “Then—”
“No.” She glanced at Jase. He was still staring at Teo. “I’ll show him the room.” Jase jerked his chin toward the front of the house, where she could hear the others milling and murmuring. “You deal with them.” He stalked into the hall.
Gina gave Teo an apologetic smile. “One of the new guests must be a…” She paused, not wanting to speak ill of one paying customer to another.
“Royal pain in the behind?” Teo finished, and Gina laughed.
“Yeah. Those Jase leaves to me.”
“Hey, buddy!” Jase shouted from the hall.
What was up with him?
“I’d better go.”
“Once everyone’s settled,” Gina said, “we’ll meet at the barn and get you a horse that suits your riding ability.”
Teo lowered his head, a mini-bow. “I’ll look forward to it.”
Gina watched him leave—she couldn’t help it; the view was incredible. Still, there was something about the guy that made her twitchy.
She just wished she knew what it was.
* * *
Matt hadn’t planned to give a false name and join the party. But the instant Gina had torn up his latest letter, then tightened her mouth and narrowed her eyes as she explained why, he’d known that she would throw him off the place as quickly as she’d destroyed not only that letter but also every one he’d sent before.
Luckily, he’d dressed and packed for the trail, as he’d naively believed he could explain what he wanted and Ms. O’Neil would take him to it.
Matt gave a mental eye roll as he left her office. Sometimes he was as clueless about human behavior as any absentminded professor.
He was also thankful that the need to grease local wheels, hire day laborers who weren’t exactly legal, and buy things at places where only cash would suffice had ascertained he had enough money to pay for the package. He couldn’t very well offer a credit card with his real name emblazoned on the front.
Matt found McCord at the bottom of the polished wood staircase, fingernails tapping on the newel post, boots scratching against the floor as he shifted his feet. The guy reminded Matt of several of his students.
After they’d gone off Ritalin.
He tried again to smile. Again, he earned a scowl before the man stomped up the steps with a muttered: “Come on.”
If this was how they ran their business, Matt was surprised they had any customers.
He cast a longing glance toward the office. He would have liked to study those photographs further and ask Gina about them. Though none of the images matched the one in his bag, the similar style made him even more certain that the place depicted in it was located here and Gina knew exactly where.
