A Chesapeake Shores Christmas. Sherryl Woods

likely to ask.”

      “Absolutely not!” she said stubbornly, then backed down at his hurt expression. “It’s not that I don’t want you to see the business plan, Mick. I’m sure your insight would be very helpful, but I just feel this is something I have to handle on my own.”

      “Why?”

      “To prove to everyone that I’m my own person now.”

      “Well, before you go dashing off to the bank, you need to come with me,” he said, looking thoroughly disgruntled. Instead of parking on Main Street as she’d requested, he drove around the corner to Shore Road. At the end of the block, he pulled into a spot in front of an empty corner storefront. Large windows faced both Shore Road and Seagull Lane, while the door opened at an angle to both streets. It was a prime location, no question about it, and more square footage than she’d dreamed of having.

      “I was planning on giving you this as a wedding present,” Mick said. “But I can’t very well have you going off to get a loan from the bank to lease something else in the meantime.”

      Megan turned to him, mouth agape. “You leased this?”

      “I bought it,” he corrected. “Well, truthfully, I already owned it. Jeff and I still own all the property in the business district. He manages the leases. I’ve put the lease for this in your name for as long as you want it.”

      “Mick, I can’t afford the rent on a property this size,” Megan protested. “It’s bound to cost a fortune.”

      “It’s yours for a dollar a year,” he said, his jaw set stubbornly. “The lease is already drawn up and signed.”

      The generosity of the gesture brought tears to Megan’s eyes, but she shook her head. “Mick, you know I can’t accept this. I told Connor I wasn’t marrying you for your money, that I intended to stand on my own two feet. Accepting a free rental property is the same as taking money from you.” She shook her head. “I just can’t do it.”

      “Leave Connor out of this. I want to do this for you,” he said. “I know you value your independence, but a husband ought to be able to do something nice for his wife. Opening this gallery means a lot to you, and I want to be some small part of that. Bree let me do the finishing construction on her flower shop, and Jess allowed me to do a few small things for her at the inn. She even accepted that fancy stove her chef wanted. Think of this the same way, as my contribution to getting your business up and running.”

      Reluctantly, Megan nodded. Arguing further not only seemed ungrateful, but pointless. “It’s an amazing gift, Mick. Thank you.” Shoving aside her reservations, she regarded him eagerly. “Can we go inside? What was here before? I can’t recall that I was ever in this space.”

      He shook his head. “I doubt you were. It sold sunglasses, beach floats, boogie boards, bathing suits and some sporting equipment. Probably would have gone over in Ocean City, but with Ethel’s selling a lot of the same things for a whole lot less money, it didn’t stand a chance. Jeff tried to warn the owners, but they were a couple of young guys with big ideas and a bankroll from their fathers. Couldn’t tell them a thing. They barely covered their overhead. Lasted through the summer, then threw in the towel after Labor Day.”

      “Well, their loss is my gain,” Megan said as she waited for Mick to open the door.

      Once inside, Megan knew she couldn’t possibly change her mind and say no. The property was ideal. It was filled with natural light. The walls had already been painted in the same neutral tone as the gallery in New York.

      “You’ve had it painted?” she asked, sniffing the scent of fresh paint in the air.

      Mick nodded. “I called Phillip and asked him what color he recommended. That’s as far as I’ve gone, though,” he assured her. “I haven’t done anything to upgrade the lighting yet, because I thought you’d want to have a say in that.”

      Megan pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You really are amazing.”

      He studied her worriedly. “You’re not mad at me for being presumptuous?”

      “How can I be?” she said. “This is an incredible space, and the location couldn’t be more perfect.”

      But she did wonder if she’d just set a dangerous precedent. Mick had always been the kind of man who, in his zeal to make his family happy, had a way of taking over. Give him an inch, he took not just the proverbial mile, but most of the county. It was going to take every bit of strength she possessed to stand up to him.

      After leaving Mick, Megan walked over to the bank. She was aware when she stepped into the lobby that several of the people who’d worked there for years were giving her surreptitious looks, but no one actually met her gaze as she walked over to Lawrence Riley’s longtime secretary, a woman with whom she’d once had at least a casual friendship.

      “Hello, Mariah,” she said quietly. “Is Lawrence available?”