Page 22 of Homecoming Heartbreaker

Even as a kid Mack had a code of honor, a steel rod in his backbone, lines that couldn’t be crossed. Because his dad had been so unreliable and immoral, he valued truth, taking responsibility for one’s choices and integrity above all else. He had incredibly high standards and, on hearing about her teenage crime, she’d fall short in his eyes.

She still couldn’t bear to disappoint him, dammit.

Besides, Mack had always fought her battles as a kid, but she was an adult, and she didn’t need him to do that anymore. No, Beth was her problem, her mess, and it was her job to clean it up.

“Moving on from the never delightful Beth, how is it going with Mack?” Autumn asked, curiosity on her face. “Are you still attracted to him?”

Attraction was such a tame word for her yearning and burning emotions. But basically, yes.

Hell yes.

She wanted to know what making love with him, as a grown-up, felt like. She wanted to explore that incredible body with her hands and mouth, taking time to discover all the ways he’d changed. And all the ways he’d not.

It might take some time, but Molly was very okay with that...

Lord, she was in a world of trouble.

“You are, aren’t you?” Autumn crowed. Then her eyes narrowed. “Something happened,” she stated.

A lot of somethings had happened... “I love you dearly, Autumn, but I don’t want to discuss Mack...or not just yet,” Molly said, resting her bottle of water against her forehead.

Autumn pouted, disappointment in her eyes. But because she was a lovely friend, she nodded. “Okay.”

Autumn looked at her watch and sighed. “I need to head into town for a meeting with a newly engaged couple.”

“Try and persuade them to have their wedding here,” Molly said, standing up. Weddings brought in a lot of money and they didn’t have enough booked for summer.

“I always do,” Autumn said on a small shrug. “Unfortunately, the mothers of the brides love Moonlight Ridge but the brides want less country house and more cool.”

It was a criticism she’d heard before and something she wanted to change. Molly walked around the table to drop a kiss on her friend’s head. “Thanks for the chat.”

“Anytime,” Autumn replied. “Trust Mack, Mol. I really think you can.”

Molly disagreed. She didn’t trust anyone, except Jameson. Everyone else had, in some way or the other and to different degrees, let her down. And sometime in the future, she’d do the same to Jameson.

The thought made her want to throw up.

At around eight that night, Molly shut down her computer, finally done with the day. Not wanting to go back to an empty apartment, Molly considered visiting Jameson. But it was getting late, he would be watching TV, possibly dozing, and she didn’t want to disturb him.

She stood up and walked to the window of her office, staring into the shadows down below and rested her throbbing head on the cool window. She was mentally drained and physically exhausted and the thought of dragging herself across the grounds to her apartment above the stable block was, right now, too much to contemplate.

She glanced back to look at her laptop screen and grimaced. Having spent most of the day doing calculations and projections, she came to the unwelcome conclusion that the resort was in more trouble than even she suspected. Oh, she’d had her suspicions for a while but it was worse than she’d thought.

The reality was that they were facing the quietest summer season on record; the bookings they had wouldn’t cover costs. She needed to do something to pull people in, something to bolster the cash flow. If she could get authorization to implement her ideas, she’d have a chance at saving the resort.

She couldn’t let this fabulous place slide away or shut its doors. Without people, Moonlight Ridge would lose its magic.

Dammit, if only she and Jameson had discussed her plans for the resort before he got sick; that way she could instigate her strategy to revitalize Moonlight Ridge and he could concentrate on getting well.

She wanted to succeed because she loved the resort and could see its immense potential. And also because Jameson had been so good to her and she couldn’t tolerate the idea of letting him down. He’d offered her a job at fourteen, paying her half her wages in cash and putting the rest into a bank account she hid from her family. In her senior year, shortly after she stole the money from him, he offered to pay for her college degree. Molly, consumed with guilt, proud and already in his debt, refused, insisting she’d apply for a dance scholarship. When she damaged her knee, she knew she’d have to find another way to fund her dream of a decent education.

The next few years had been tough but she managed, eventually returning to Asheville and sliding into a management position with Jameson.

Moonlight Ridge was still the only place she wanted to be. And if she didn’t do something quickly, it would fade into obscurity. She refused to let that happen; therehadto be something she could do.

She could ask Mack, Grey and Travis to throw some money at the problem; they were all self-made millionaires, a fact Jameson was exceptionally proud of. But even if Jameson agreed to that, and he never would, their infusion of cash would be like placing a Band-Aid on an open wound. It wasn’t a long-term solution.

Molly heard the knock on her door. Sighing, she turned and watched as Mack stepped into her office. It was brutally unfair that, at the end of a long day, he still looked as good as he did this morning. His white cotton shirt wasn’t wrinkled, and his pants looked like he’d pulled them on ten minutes before. The only hint that it was the end of the day was the dark shadow of stubble on his jaw and his less-than-perfect hair.

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