Molly devoured each review and mailed copies to her parents in L.A. They were the only people besides Benjamin who knew that Molly had ghost-written every word of those mysteries for her dear friend Dana. Dana was thrilled with the recognition, and Molly was happy for her.
But the more famous Dana became, the more she craved participation in the creative process, including face-to-face “brainstorming sessions” with Molly. Molly’s brain felt stormed, all right. Dana’s ideas were mostly terrible, and Molly had to find diplomatic ways to get out of using them. The process was exhausting, and ended with Dana’s name huge on the cover and Molly still invisible. It was time for Molly Drake to appear in print.
Missing this meeting wouldn’t be a good beginning. Maybe if Benjamin thought the manuscript was a block-buster, he might forgive her. She’d had fantasies of that kind of success, of course, but she tried not to get carried away.
Finally she gave in to her impatience, grabbed her large shoulder bag and went outside to wait on the porch. She’d save a couple of minutes if Alec didn’t have to knock on the door. She locked up, to save another minute, and sat on the porch swing Grandma Nell used to love so much.
This cottage in Old Saybrook felt more like home than the Beverly Hills mansion where she’d grown up. Even so, she hadn’t accepted her grandma’s offer of coming to live here because the one-bedroom cottage was so obviously suited for one person and crowded with two.
Maybe she should have come anyway and slept on the couch. At least then she could have spent more time with Grandma Nell before she died. That thought still brought a lump to Molly’s throat, but she could think about her grandmother without crying now. The first week she’d lived here, she’d nearly moved away because of the teary spells, but the flood had eased, and now she loved being surrounded by her grandma’s antiques, chintz and lace.
Molly nudged the porch floor with her foot and set the swing to moving while she listened for the sound of an engine. Keeping her eye on the spot in the winding road where she’d first be able to see the Town Car’s pewter hood, she hoped nothing had happened to Alec. Damn, that hadn’t occurred to her until now, and the worry made her stomach twist.
Late was one thing. An accident—well, she didn’t even want to think about that. It was a good thing the Town Car was heavy. She’d given her hero a Lincoln, but of course her hero actually owned it, whereas Alec only drove one for Red Carpet. Alec owned an old Blazer, although she’d never seen it.
She willed the Town Car to shove its elegant nose around the bend in the tree-lined road. No such luck. She stopped pumping the swing when she realized how fast she was doing it, as if swinging harder would make him show up. Dreading to see the time, she finally peeked at her watch and panicked. No way would they make it to the station, but that was the least of her worries. Alec wouldn’t be this late unless something had happened.
When the phone rang inside the house, she leaped from the swing so fast that it banged against the white clapboard siding. She fumbled in her purse for the key. Finally she located it, unlocked the door and dashed to the phone, a corded model that sat on a little stand in the hall. Her answering machine picked up right as she got there.
She shut the recorder off and snatched up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Molly, I know I’m late, but—”
“Alec! Are you all right?”
“I’m on my way. Listen, you can’t make the train now, so I’ll drive you to New York. I’ll be at your house in five minutes.”
“But you’re okay, right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” He sounded puzzled. “Why would you think I wasn’t?”
“I just…was afraid you might have had an accident or something.”
“Oh.” There was a brief silence.
In the space of that silence it came to her that maybe she shouldn’t have sounded quite so concerned. She’d have to be careful or he might figure out that he was more to her than a chauffeur. And she didn’t have time for a real boyfriend. The fantasy kind was much easier to fit into her complicated life.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ll be right there. ’Bye, Molly.”
“’Bye.” She disconnected the line and stood with the receiver in her hand. His tone had been different at the end, softer, more intimate. Damn it. Sure, she’d flirted with him in the past six months he’d been driving for her, and he’d flirted back. A smart chauffeur would do that to increase his tips, but Molly thought the chemistry between them was real enough. She just didn’t want it to get out of hand.
Back in L.A., most of the car services had a policy against dating clients. She knew that because once when she’d been chauffeured to a premiere of her dad’s latest movie, the driver had said he’d quit his job if she’d agree to go out with him. Maybe things were different in Connecticut, but she doubted it.
Alec couldn’t afford to quit. Besides, he probably didn’t have time for a girlfriend any more than she had time for a boyfriend. He was either working or studying. She was either ghost-writing for Dana or stealing hours for her own story.
Okay, that was settled, then. Even if Alec suspected she liked him a lot, and even if he kind of liked her, too, nothing would come of it. The timing was off for both of them.
“Molly?”
She turned to find him standing in the open doorway. She’d dashed inside to answer the phone without closing the door. He had a smudge of grease on his cheek and another one on the front of his white knit shirt with the Red Carpet logo on the breast pocket. His brown eyes held a tenderness that she hadn’t seen there before.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “This old couple had a flat tire, and I stopped to help them change it. But you’ll still get to your appointment if we leave now, because I can take you right to the door and you won’t have to mess around with a taxi at the train station.”
She didn’t have a lot of choice. “All right. I’ll take you up on that.” Whenever she saw him her tummy tickled, but this morning that look in his eyes caused the tingling to move a little lower. Good grief, he was turning her on just with a look.
“Good,” he said. “Then let’s go.”
“Right.” She put the phone back in its cradle. Her front-door key was still in her right hand, but she had no clue what she’d done with her purse. She glanced around.
“You left it by the front door.”
“Oh.” She’d been so distracted about Alec that she must have dropped the bag the minute she’d found the house key. “Then I’ll just get it and we’ll be on our way.”
“I left the car running and the air on.”
“Great.”
He stepped aside and she walked out onto the porch. Sure enough, her purse was lying beside the door, and fortunately nothing had spilled out of it. She locked the cottage door and picked up her bag by the leather strap.
Alec stood at the end of the flagstone walk holding the passenger door open for her, as he’d done countless times before. Long ago they’d dispensed with the tradition of her riding in the back seat. Today Molly wondered if that had been wise. For their own good, they needed to maintain their distance.
But she couldn’t very well change the rules now without making things awkward. “Thanks.” She slipped into the cool interior of the Town Car, tugging at her short skirt to keep it in place as she avoided his gaze.
She needed to cut way back on the flirtation factor. Deliberately showing a little leg if she happened to be wearing a short skirt or looking