Page 10 of Save the Dance

“I vote for the Captain’s Cottage. I’d like to see every nook and cranny,” she said with a growing enthusiasm. Who knew what secrets she might unearth? “There’s no need to take up your valuable time, though. I’m sure I can see myself around.”

“I wouldn’t dream of sending you off on your own. There are so many twists and turns in this old place, you might get lost and we’d never find you again.”

There was that glint in his eyes again. The one that said at this particular moment in time, he wouldn’t mind getting her out of his hair. But if he expected her to disappear, he could think again. She fully intended to put her best effort into this assignment. She had too much riding on it to do otherwise.

“Then it’s settled,” Jason said when she didn’t respond. “Let me take your bags to the Prep Room. I’ll meet you in the foyer in …” He let the words trail off.

“Twenty minutes ought to do it.” She just wanted to splash some water on her face, run a comb through her hair and, at most, replace her rumpled shirt.

Jason gave a curt nod to his cousin. “Evelyn, wait for me here, please?”

The attractive owner of the Captain’s Cottage was being far too accommodating. The last thing Tara wanted was to spend the afternoon with a man who smelled like the ocean and caused her to lose her balance. But what else was she to do? She couldn’t very well ask him to share his family’s darkest, dirtiest secrets with her. Not when everyone thought she was here to write a puff piece about America’s longtime favorite wedding destination. Not when, in fact, she was here to destroy the myth behind it.

After dropping Tara’s bags off in the Prep Room, Jason double-timed it back to his office. They hadn’t even reached the official start of the Weddings Today evaluation, and already things had gone horribly awry. He wouldn’t panic, though. His years at the helm of some of Boston’s largest conference venues had taught him how to deal with the pressure when things wandered from the plan. He’d get everything back on track. His thoughts racing with ideas, he burst into the room.

“Okay, Evelyn. We have a lot of work to do,” he said, getting right to business. “First, get the word out that this Tara Stewart person has arrived early and isn’t at all who we expected.”

Evelyn traced one finger along the top of the bookcase. “Do you think that’s a problem?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately.” Jason stared out the door. This was exactly the kind of thing he’d been afraid of when he’d heard that Regina Charm’s wedding had crashed and burned in Heart’s Landing. It didn’t matter that the town had nothing to do with the breakup. The woman would naturally feel they were at least partly to blame. “She’s young and, I’ll bet, inexperienced. It’s out of line to send someone like her to evaluate us. It makes me think there’s something more afoot. We still have a chance, but we can’t hold back. We’ll have to double-down on everything in order to make an impression and win her over.”

Evelyn straightened like a woman who knew what was at stake. “Okay. I’ll let everyone know. I’ll call Mildred and Cheri first. Word will spread like wildfire from there.”

“Good.” Jason nodded. “Next, I need you to find out everything there is to know about our guest. Who she is. Where she went to school. How long she’s been at Weddings Today. Her position there. I want to know everything right down to her favorite foods and if she has any allergies. We can’t afford to mess this up, and I’m flying blind here.”

“Got it.” A troubled look crossed his cousin’s face. “She seems like a nice person, though, doesn’t she? You don’t really think she’s here to sabotage us or anything?”

What did he think? Alarms clanged in his head like the bells of the S.S. Mary Shelby after the lookout in the crow’s nest spotted a pirate ship. One that might have more powerful armament or a hidden army stowed below deck.

Oh, Tara Stewart seemed capable enough, though he knew little more about her other than what he’d been able to observe. From the top of a head that rose above his shoulders to a pair of casual slip-ons, the lean, angular physique of a runner made him wonder whether she was as independent and driven as most sports enthusiasts. He hadn’t been able to glean anything from the hair that hung like sheaves of spun gold to her shoulders where soft curls turned the strands inward. But a wide forehead free of lines and the lack of crow’s feet around a pair of blue eyes told him she’d barely dipped her toes into her thirties, if that. At best, she’d been with Weddings Today for a couple of years. Certainly not long enough to attain the seniority he’d expect from someone who’d been given so much responsibility. That in itself was a huge red flag.

Yet she hadn’t shown the least bit of anger or concern when they didn’t have everything ready for her. If this had been a complete setup, he’d have expected her to turn on one heel, head off in a huff, and demand to return to the city as soon as possible, thus eliminating Heart’s Landing from the contest. Instead, she’d gone along with their new plan. Which told him they had a chance of swaying her opinion. And if they could do that, maybe they could still win.

He squared his shoulders. What was he thinking? Of course they’d succeed. Everyone in town, from the mayor to the boys who sold roses from plastic buckets on the corner, had spent weeks—months, even—getting ready for this review. All they had to do now was let the town speak for itself. Once Tara Stewart saw all it had to offer, Heart’s Landing would retain its place at the top of the heap.

But there couldn’t be so much as one more hitch in the plan. Not with the town’s reputation hanging in the balance.

“Okay, let me know when you hear back from everyone. Feed me updates about her as you have them.” Jason slipped his phone into his pocket and fitted the Bluetooth receiver into his ear. He tapped the switch. Static crackled. “I’ll be available.”

“Will do.” Evelyn reached for her own phone. “Where are you going to be?”

“We’ll start in the attic and work our way down.” He paused.

Evelyn cast a look at the ceiling. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“She said she wants to see everything. Taking her up there will show her how deep our roots go in Heart’s Landing. Besides, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they react to a little dirt and dust.”

“Well, you’ll find plenty of that.”

He frowned. “Did you move all the logbooks and diaries to the library like I asked?” Regina Charm had sent a special request to have the journals on hand.

“Yes. Last week.”

“Good. We’ll end up there.”

“Do you have any idea why she wanted to see Captain Thaddeus’s books? No one’s ever asked about them before.”

“Who knows? Maybe it wasn’t Regina’s idea at all. Maybe this Tara person is a history buff. That’s part of what I want you to find out.” He checked his watch. The allotted twenty minutes were nearly up. “I’m on the move. If you need me, or you find out anything, I’m right here.” He touched the device in his ear.

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