Stay cool, she commanded herself, ignoring the way her breath caught in her throat. Abruptly, she drew her gaze away.
In the next line over, ready to check out, was Marian Shelton, one of her neighbors. “Hi, Alexa,” Marian said. “How’s the B&B business?” Fiftyish, Marian wore her black, curly hair in a frizzled mop about her head.
“Not bad,” Alexa lied.
“You own a bed-and-breakfast?” It was the stranger talking. She recognized that rumbling deep voice from moments ago.
She turned slowly, sucking in her breath for fortitude. She pasted a bright smile on her face. “Yes,” she said.
“The Hideaway By The Lake,” Marian said. “It’s the most charming inn around, with the absolute best lake view. And it’s all the better because of Alexa’s restaurant. She serves gourmet food there, you know.”
A few months ago, if a friend had talked up her establishment and her cooking, Alexa would have been thrilled. But now…things were different.
“That sounds great,” the man said. He held out his hand. “My name is John O’Rourke. I’m here on a vacation, and to scout out a possible place for a new store. I’m in home improvements—sales, mainly.”
“How do you do, Mr. O’Rourke,” Alexa said formally. “I’m Alexa Kenner.” She didn’t want to be rude so she took his hand. It was warm, and his grip was firm. Reassuring, somehow.
But his look was anything but reassuring. There was a blatant sensuality in the way his eyes captivated hers, almost familiarly.
She pulled her hand, and her gaze, away quickly. “I’m happy to say my inn is pretty full right now.” She didn’t want him to ask about a room. She wouldn’t want to have to tell him no—not in front of Marian, who knew she still had vacancies. Marian, two doors down on the same side of the street, was the kind of neighbor who counted cars in the driveway. She would believe there was room for several more—and therefore several more guests.
But Marian didn’t know what was happening at the inn. No one knew, except for Vane.
Alexa couldn’t rent a room to anyone. It wasn’t just because of the way this man had started, by his very presence, to unnerve her.
“Oh.” O’Rourke’s tone was noncommittal. Maybe he hadn’t been about to ask for a room. She felt relieved…didn’t she?
Marian finished making her purchases and left, thank heaven, before she could try harder to promote her neighbor. Picking up a magazine from beside the checkout, Alexa pretended to study it.
Soon, it was her turn. When she had paid for all her groceries, she wheeled her cart toward the automatic glass door.
“Wait!”
Moving out of the way of someone entering the store, Alexa turned at the voice, which was now becoming familiar. Too familiar. “Yes, Mr. O’Rourke?”
He took two strides before he stood beside her. He gripped a white plastic grocery bag in one large hand. He was tall, as tall as Cole had been.
“I’m John,” he corrected, startling her.
Of course he couldn’t read her mind. He was just being friendly, asking her to call him by his first name.
“Alexa, rent me a room. Please. I’ll need it for a week or two.”
“But—”
“I don’t want to beg, but I will. I came to Skytop Lake for the lake. I told the travel agent that before I left L.A., but she stuck me in a perfectly awful place in the woods that’s a mile away from the water.”
Alexa tried again. “The thing is, John—”
“Plus,” he interrupted with a devilish grin that somehow reminded her she was a living, breathing woman, “I’m scouting for an inn where a professional organization of salesmen I belong to can hold a meeting in a few months. If I like your place, and I’m sure I will, I can bring you some more business.”
Darn it all! Marian was standing outside the door as it opened and closed, chatting with another woman but keeping an eye on John and her. Could she hear them? Alexa could hardly say to this handsome, disconcerting man, right in front of her neighbor, that she didn’t want any more business.
And she did want more business. Much different business from the guests she had.
There were a couple of rooms that remained empty. Over the past miserable months, she had insisted on renting a room, now and then, to someone from outside if she had a good reason: a former guest, a friend of a former guest, a neighbor’s relative. That allowed the pretense, at least, that everything was normal.
Normal? For her, turmoil had become normal.
She glanced outside as the door opened again. No one stood out there to stop her.
Still…her nerves tensed. Half unconsciously, she reached for the ostentatious diamond on her left hand—the damnable symbol of all that was wrong. She wasn’t considering this because the man reminded her of Cole, was she? He wasn’t Cole. He couldn’t help her. She had to help herself.
“You should know our rates first,” she waffled, glancing as a couple of teenagers moved past them. She quoted an amount that was higher than normal, but wasn’t too far out of line.
“Done!” he said with no hesitation, though she saw his eyes follow her fingers to her engagement ring. A hint of a scowl furrowed his broad forehead, and there was no hint of his earlier sensuality when he caught her glance this time.
Good. At least he wouldn’t get the wrong idea. She needed no further complications in her life. Her life was much too complicated as it was.
At his request, she gave him the address and directions.
“I’ll check out of my other place and be there in an hour.”
Before she could change her mind, John O’Rourke headed out the door. “Fine,” Alexa said with forced enthusiasm to his retreating back. “See you then.”
Oh, Lord, she thought as she wheeled her cart slowly out the door. What had she done?
Despite her resolve to be calm and forthright, her knees grew weak as she approached one of the two large SUVs that Vane had insisted they needed for the inn. It was parked in a crowded area in front of the gourmet food store, the last of a row of busy shops in Skytop Lake Village.
Vane sat sideways in the driver’s seat talking animatedly with his prize minion, Minos Flaherty, who was seated behind him.
Alexa took a deep breath. This wouldn’t be easy, but she had to say something now. It would be much too embarrassing to have an argument in front of John O’Rourke when he appeared to claim his room. And with so many people around here, Vane was unlikely to make a big scene.
Vane spotted her. He immediately stopped talking and slipped out the door. A smile lit his face as he approached.
Vane Walters was a man who would make any woman look twice. He was not quite six feet tall and worked out daily, and his attention to his physique showed in the proud way he held himself. He wore a blue button-down shirt tucked into blue jeans. His dirty blond hair was combed carefully to hide the fact that his hairline had begun to recede, and the deep lines that underscored his brown eyes when he grinned made it appear that he had a great sense of humor.
Perhaps he did—at the expense of other people. Alexa included.
“Hi, darling,” he said, and gave her a kiss full on the mouth. She forced herself to respond, even though she knew his attentiveness was for show. Once, his kisses had stirred her—some. She had cared for him, a lot. He had been so kind, so supportive…so deceitful.
She had wished fervently lately that she could simply end their partnership—and their engagement—like