AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What makes you think I’m leaving something out?”
“Instinct.”
“Okay, then, here’s the whole story in a nutshell. I suppose I owe you that, since I’ve shown up on your doorstep out of the blue,” he said. “Your aunt was the one who encouraged me to start the company. I’d been with another toy manufacturer for a few years. I’d learned all I could, and I had a lot of ideas for ways to do it better. Mae was an early investor in Franklin Toys. Over the years she and I made a lot of money together, but I owe every bit of that success to her initial encouragement.”
“I see,” Savannah said slowly. “So that first trip here wasn’t a waste of your time after all. Did your relationship with the woman last?”
“Only for as long as it took me to get her back to her apartment in New York that Sunday night,” he said with no hint of regret. “My friendship with Mae lasted much longer.”
“Then you came back here often?” she asked, feeling a vague sense of regret and guilt that he’d spent these last years with her aunt, when she should have been the one spending time here.
“As frequently as I could,” he said. “Your aunt was a remarkable woman. I enjoyed my visits with her.”
“Even if she did live essentially in the middle of nowhere,” Savannah said, needing to remind herself that this man bore way too many resemblances to her ex-husband.
“Funny thing about that,” he said, picking up one of the few sugar cookies they’d managed to salvage and breaking off a bite. “I got used to the peace and quiet. And the phone lines, fax and Internet connections work just fine.”
“So even though you’re here for the holidays, I suppose you brought all of your equipment along,” she guessed.
“Of course.”
Savannah shook her head. “I hope you watch your cholesterol. Anybody who’s as much of a workaholic as you appear to be is clearly a heart attack waiting to happen.”
“I’ll try not to have one while I’m here,” he promised solemnly.
“Thank you for that. I’m afraid I don’t have the kind of insurance it would take to cover your medical expenses if you collapse and fall down the stairs.”
He grinned. “I do.”
“Well, then, I suppose you can stay,” she said grudgingly, thinking of the extra work involved in having a guest in a house that was all but falling down around them.
He regarded her with a wry expression. “I had no intention of doing anything else.”
“You’ll have to pitch in and help,” she said, deliberately ignoring his remark. “I’m afraid the inn isn’t officially ready for guests again.”
“I’m not a guest—not the way you mean, anyway. And I came expecting to take care of myself. The attorney said the refrigerator would be stocked, and I brought along plenty of food from the city.”
“Caviar, I imagine,” she said, feeling strangely testy at the thought of sharing the house with a man whose tastes, like Rob’s, probably ran to the expensive and exotic. “Maybe some imported Stilton cheese? Smoked salmon? The finer things you absolutely couldn’t live without?”
His grin spread. “Junk food, if you must know.”
Once again, Savannah felt the full effects of that devastating smile. She hoped he wouldn’t do it too often. It might make her forget that he was completely unsuitable for a woman who’d already been burned by a man who put his work before his family.
“What exactly do you consider junk food?” she asked.
“Potato chips. Popcorn.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice to confide, “I also have a cooler filled with chocolate mocha almond ice cream. I’m addicted to the stuff.”
Her eyes widened. Chocolate mocha almond was an indulgence she rarely allowed herself. Aside from the calories, the brand she loved was outrageously expensive. She’d developed a taste for it during her marriage, but had had to forgo it since the divorce. The store brands simply didn’t live up to the gourmet ice cream. She had a hunch that cooler of Trace’s was stocked with the best.
“Exactly how much ice cream did you bring?” she asked, hoping it sounded like a purely casual inquiry.
“Enough for you and Hannah…if you’re good,” he teased.
“When it comes to chocolate mocha almond, I can eat a lot,” she warned him.
He surveyed her slowly, appreciatively, then shook his head. “Not as much as I can,” he said. “And I brought enough for a week. I’ll make you a deal. If you let me share in whatever you’re fixing for Christmas dinner, I’ll provide dessert.”
“But that’s three days away,” Savannah protested.
