“Oh, really? What do you know?”
“I know you were born and raised in Toronto. I know you vacationed here every summer until about five years ago. You’re an only child. You don’t smoke or use any drugs. You seldom drink and always socially. Your favorite color is yellow. You’re a hard worker. And you’re smart, but you lack self-confidence.” He picked up a bread stick and chomped on it.
Rainey couldn’t believe her ears. “How do you know all that?”
“Loose-lipped Lilly. She talked about you all the time.”
“Okay, what about you? I don’t know a thing about you except that you’re a hopeless flirt.”
“Okay, okay, I’m a fourth-generation native of Edmonton, but I prefer to live in Bragg Creek. I have twin brothers, both married, and three nephews. I love to ski. I love to fish. I love to fly. I went to college but didn’t quite graduate.” He grinned. “So many parties, so little time.”
Right, Rainey thought. So many women, so little time.
“I don’t smoke or use any drugs,” he continued, “but I like a brandy on a cold winter night.” He fell silent and gave her a dreamy, almost melancholy look. “Did I tell you, Rainey Miller, that you’re a knockout?”
She shot him a warning look. “You’re doing it again, Beck.”
“Darn! I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Maybe we should talk business.”
“Okay. What do you know about running an inn?” Rainey meant to sound merely inquisitive, but somehow the words came out sounding like a challenge.
“Less than nothing,” Beck admitted with a shake of his head. “But I’m willing to learn. What do you know about fixing one? I expect you’ve had a look around the Haven.”
Rainey nodded. “What on earth happened? That inn was Lilly’s pride and joy.”
With a shrug, Beck replied, “Well, partly, she just got old, I guess. Lost her enthusiasm for it. And partly, I think she just wanted to have a little fun before her time was up.” Rainey gave him a questioning look, and he explained, “I may be wrong, but I think she borrowed some money against the inn last year, to buy a few personal pleasures.”
She asked what kind of pleasures, and Beck told her about some of the crazy stuff Lilly and her cronies had done.
“Her cronies?”
“Yeah. There’s a service club in town called the Women of the Wapiti,” he explained. “They raise money for charity, visit the sick…”
“Women of the what?” Rainey’s laugh startled the nearby diners.
“The Wapiti. It’s a big deer. They’re all over the roads here. Anyway, Lilly was a member. My grandmother is a member. So is Freda Norman.” His eyebrows shot up. “Have you met Freda?”
Rainey rolled her eyes. “I had the pleasure this afternoon.”
He snorted. “Yeah, well, don’t be too quick to judge her. She’s actually the sanest employee there.” Ignoring Rainey’s frown, he continued, “Anyway, the three of them blew a bundle last year and the year before on trips. Caribbean cruises, little jaunts to Cancun, that sort of thing. There was other stuff, too, but you’ll know about it soon enough. I suspect Lilly paid for all those trips.”
Before Rainey could digest that information, their food arrived. “Hope your steak is okay, Beck,” the waitress purred. Once again, she ignored Rainey. With nothing more than a curt nod, Beck said he was sure it would be fine. Ooh, but he was smooth. They obviously knew one another. Rainey could just smell a history coming off them. But Beck was with another woman tonight. Like all poker players, he knew which card to play.
Between bites of the delicious, perfectly cooked food, they talked about the repairs that needed to be done, and about the vacancy problem. Rainey commented that an inn like the Haven should be fully booked all year round. Some fresh marketing strategies would have to be developed.
“You know, you’re right about that,” Beck said. “I don’t know much about marketing, but just for starters, don’t you think the name Honeymoon Haven is a little dated? I mean, it’s kind of corny, isn’t it?”
Pleasantly surprised, Rainey nodded. That very thought had occurred to her just this morning. Obviously there was more to Beck than just dazzling good looks and a beautiful body and a simmering sexiness that could reduce a woman to mush in two seconds flat. Maybe, just maybe, this partnership thing was going to work out after all.
Then again, maybe not. Time would tell.
When the meal was over, Beck ordered two brandys for them, then sat back and searched Rainey’s eyes. She returned his soul-searching gaze and the air grew thick around them. Finally he ventured, “So, ah, I guess this business partnership thing sort of rules out other kinds of partnership, huh?” He gave her a look of such hangdog disappointment that Rainey nearly laughed. Instead, she replied, “I don’t get involved with colleagues, Beck.” Or with hustlers like you.
“Hmmm.” He tilted his brandy snifter from right to left so that the gold liquid, so much like his eyes, sloshed gently from side to side. “Maybe you should buy me out,” he murmured in the soft, seductive tone he had obviously mastered. “Then I can devote myself to trying to get you into bed. Seems like way more fun than running an inn.”
Rainey was instantly grateful for the dim lighting; it concealed the hot blush that spread up through her skin like wildfire. It wasn’t hard to imagine making love with Beck. On the contrary…But it was out of the question. Working with Trevor after their breakup had been a miserable experience, but at least she had been able to get away from him by climbing on a plane and coming west. How would she get away from this guy?
Because as surely as he was drop-dead gorgeous, Beck Mahoney would break her heart. He had said it himself: A tiger can’t change its stripes.
“Don’t you ever quit, Beck?” she asked with a weary sigh.
“I guess not. Maybe I am hopeless.”
It was time for ground rule number two. “Beck, I think we need to do more than stop flirting. For the sake of the partnership, I think we should agree to keep our business and personal lives separate.”
For a second, he looked devastated. As usual, he recovered at the speed of sound. “Well, that’ll be tough in Bragg Creek, Rainey. It’s a small town. Everybody’s in bed with everybody else, so to speak.”
Rainey laughed. After Toronto, small-town life was definitely going to take some getting used to.
On the way to her car, she informed him of the meeting tomorrow morning with Hollis Harriman, and warned him not to be late. If there was one thing she couldn’t tolerate, it was tardiness. He accepted the warning with a lazy shrug. She sensed he had something else on his mind.
Sure enough, as she searched for her keys, he ventured, “So, I guess we can rule out that massage too, huh?” He chuckled.
“It was never going to happen, Beck.”
“Okay, then, how about a simple handshake to seal our partnership?”
“Of course.” Rainey grasped the keys in her left hand and stuck her right hand out. Beck ignored it. Instead, he gently cupped the back of her head with one hand, leaned down and lightly touched his soft lips to hers.
“Beck Mahoney!” she cried when he pulled away, grinning like a frat boy who had just got to first base. “Didn’t you hear a word I said in there?”
“Hey, lady, that’s how we shake hands in Bragg Creek. You should see what happens when we hug!”
On the drive home, all Rainey could think about was how right she had been about him. He was delicious.
“TWO