Page 20 of Eclipse Bay

“I’m surprised you even gave it a whirl. You always said you wouldn’t be any good at it.”

“Turned out I was right.”

“One thing you should know,” Jed said quietly after a while. “Dell Sadler still thinks you pushed his sister over that cliff. You might want to stay out of his way while you’re here in town.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

“Sure. What are friends for?” Jed looked down the length of the broad front porch that encircled the mansion. “What are you going to do with this place?”

“Open an inn and a restaurant.”

“Whew!” Jed was clearly impressed. “Talk about big plans! Gonna cost a bundle, though.”

“Not a problem,” Rafe said.

chapter 4

Hannah stood on the rocky beach below the Harte cottage and watched Winston chase seagulls in Dead Hand Cove. The tide was still out this morning. The five tall, finger-shaped stones that had given the cove its name thrust upward from the wet sand in a pattern that was eerily reminiscent of the outflung hand of a corpse. Or so she and Nick and Lillian had concluded years ago. When the tide came in a few hours from now, all but the very tip of the forefinger would be submerged.

The cove had been a favorite playground for all three Hartes in their youth. In addition to the macabre rock formation, it boasted an intricate network of small caves in the cliffs that framed the tiny beach. Together with Nick and Lillian, Hannah had spent hours exploring the rocky passages. The caves weren’t dangerously deep or convoluted, and they had made excellent hiding places for adventurous children.

Out in the cove, Winston dashed off after another seagull. He was certainly enjoying the stay in Eclipse Bay, Hannah thought. What surprised her was that she was strangely content also, in spite of the looming problem of Rafe Madison.

She and Winston had been here for the better part of a week, but she was no closer to resolving the sticky situation involving Dreamscape than she had been that first afternoon. Rafe refused even to discuss the possibility of selling his share of the mansion. A war of nerves was taking shape. They couldn’t go on like this indefinitely, she told herself. Sooner or later one of them would have to make a move toward ending the impasse.

Out on the sand, Winston found a piece of driftwood, seized it in his jaws, and pranced triumphantly back toward Hannah. Halfway across the cove he came to a sudden halt and looked up toward the cliff path.

Simultaneously a whisper of awareness tingled through Hannah. She sensed Rafe’s presence just before he spoke.

“Nice to see that Winston doesn’t stand on formality all the time,” he said.

Hannah braced herself for the little shock of excitement she always got when she first encountered him. She turned and saw that he had reached the bottom of the path. He came toward her with that supple masculine grace that was so much a part of him.

Time had not refined Rafe. The cool, savvy intelligence in his green eyes was more intense and more dangerous—the result of hard experience, no doubt. The bold, sharp planes and angles of his lean face had always had a strict cast, but the years had added an aura of brooding asceticism.

He had left behind the few traces of young manhood that had still clung to him that night on the beach. Nevertheless, for some reason he actually looked better than ever in a pair of jeans. Beneath the tautly stretched fabric of the black, long-sleeved T-shirt he wore, his shoulders seemed broader and stronger. His stomach was still very flat.

What was the matter with her? she wondered. For eight years she had excused herself for her small, youthful, short-lived crush on Rafe Madison. After all, he had been the bad boy of Eclipse Bay, and he had once walked her home after midnight. That was enough to induce a few lusty imaginings in any healthy young woman. But she was far too mature for that sort of romantic nonsense now. Wasn’t she?

She had never admitted the crush to anyone, of course—not even Lillian, although she suspected that her sister had guessed the truth. She had a right to her private little fantasies, she told herself. And it wasn’t as if she had spent the past few years wondering what she had missed. In fact, she had all but forgotten Rafe Madison until Isabel’s lawyer had called to give her the news about the will.

“Good morning, Rafe. Fancy meeting you here. Come to talk about Dreamscape?”

“I make it a policy not to talk business before noon.”

“Do you talk about it much after noon?”

“Only if I feel real energetic.” He leaned down to greet Winston. “I’m on my way into town to check the mail. Thought I’d see if you and the mutt wanted to go along.”

Her first reaction was surprise. This was the first overture of any kind that he had made since the initial confrontation at Dreamscape. Maybe he was going to blink first.

Or maybe she ought to be very, very careful.

On the other hand, sooner or later they had to start communicating.

“I do need to do some grocery shopping,” she said warily.

“Might as well go into town together.” He gave her an unreadable smile. “Give the good folk of Eclipse Bay a thrill.”

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